garlicbee

Recipes 

Made a batch of this 4 months ago, bubbled away nicely, seems to have stopped but never cleared (house is pretty cold...)

Racked it today
the sg is 1.14 potential alchol is 14%

have no idea what this means??

didnt take a sg at the beginning....

smells good...

is it safe to try

have put it back into carboy with air lock but it has a large airspace now- is that a problem

any ideas

thanks in advance!~

MedsenFey

Recipes 

Did you follow the recipe EXACTLY?

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garlicbee

Recipes 

Yes ! first time so even crossed out each step as did it!

MeadMax

Recipes 

If you dont use Clover honey, sometimes it wont clear as well.
I made it with Orange Blossome honey last time and it did not clear all the way as well.

MedsenFey

Recipes 

Something is not right. You usually won't get a gravity of 1.140 using 3.5 pounds of honey in a gallon. Usually that will get you 1.120-1.130. If it was bubbling and fermenting the gravity should be much lower than that.

Can you double check the gravity reading (it isn't 1.014 is it?)
Are you sure you only used 3.5 pounds of honey - using more could leave you stuck at 1.140.
You used Fleischmann's yeast?

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"Our results are merely the result of carefully managing the transformation of bee spit into yeast excrement."
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garlicbee

Recipes 

thanks for all the replies

maybe am not looking at hydrometer right?

looking at hydrometer again- mead was at 60F (hydrometer says this on scale)so that should be right
there is .999 at the very top of the scale
1.100 at the middle of the scale
reading was just below the1.100
1.100
10 so reading was in here
20
30 ect all the way down to 70

possible the honey was higher than the average 18% (honey can range up to 22%)

learning lots !!

yes was fleichmans nice new bottle

huesmann

Recipes 

There is no way your FG is 1.14. That's an OG.

dummkauf

Recipes 

"Is it safe to try"....absolutely, make sure everything that comes in contact with it has been sanitized, outside of sanitation issues it's always safe to try.

As far as clearing, I usually make this with wine yeast instead of the bread yeast. That said, the last 1 gallone batch I made cleared in a few months, I have a 5 gallon batch downstairs that I made 13 months ago that still hasn't cleared.

The real question is, has fermentation completed? If it's done fermenting and it tastes good, bottle it and drink it. If you're worried about the appearance, you either need to wait or try finning it, but drinking it cloudy won't hurt anything. It's really up to you.

garlicbee

Recipes 

mead is at 1.90 one month later- is this good?

Brad1775

Recipes 

I suppose you meant 1.090, but that's not good, it should have been going faster than that. you should read about re-starting a stuck fermentation, and staggered nutrient additions, in the FAQ at the top of the parent page.

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