Mead stuck?

**Alchemy** · 02-01-2012, 05:20 PM

Have a batch of cranberry grape mead going that started on December 10th, I racked it about 30 days later and took a gravity reading. It stopped at 1.020 and hasn't moved since. Starting gravity was 1.086 and I used lalvin ec-1118 so it should have gone dry way before now.

I was planning on it going dry and then back sweetening.

Should I repitch the same yeast to try to make it go dry?

Really confused as I have never had that yeast strain do this

Jenks829 · 02-01-2012, 05:23 PM

Any chance you took and original gravity reading? What is the batch size?

GinKings · 02-01-2012, 05:32 PM

Something caused your yeast to stop fermenting, so pitching more of the same yeast may not do anything. Temp or lack of nutrients are the first issues that come to mind.

What's the temp?
Did you add nutrients?

pH could be another possible culprit.

**Alchemy** · 02-01-2012, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GinKings

Something caused your yeast to stop fermenting, so pitching more of the same yeast may not do anything. Temp or lack of nutrients are the first issues that come to mind.

What's the temp?
Did you add nutrients?

pH could be another possible culprit.

Og was 1.086 temp around 70 , 5 gallon batch. Added nutrients and energizer. I've made this before just in a smaller size and no probs....yeast just tuckered out

tweake · 02-02-2012, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Furmental

......Starting gravity was 1.086 .....
racked it about 30 days later.......
It stopped at 1.020 and hasn't moved since.

I used lalvin ec-1118

ec-1118 is a sledgehammer. it will ferment a rock, has wide temp range and is very hardy. fairly hard one to kill off.
at moderate temps it should have been done in 5-10 days range. so 30 days means something is wrong.

i would suspect its gotten way to hot/cold (check night time temps)
or its been severally under fed. tho sometime excessive feeding at the start can cause it to be under fed later on.
could have been a bad pitch.

what nutrients and energizer did you use and how much?

**Alchemy** · 02-02-2012, 03:10 AM

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/yeast-nutrient.html

Not sure if that's the exact one but that and the energizer, 1 tsp of each , the nutrient I have says 1/4 tsp per gallon and the energizer says 1/4 to 1/2 so it might be different stuff...

I made this same batch with no nutrient and it was fine so maybe I over fed it? I will try repitching tomorrow and see if it dries out. Temps at night are the same as the day. My brew closet is in the house and sustained by a thermostat at around 70

Not a huge deal if it doesn't dry out I guess, it will just be a bit sweeter than I wanted.

tweake · 02-02-2012, 03:33 AM

really need to know whats in each. if one of them is brown looking put a little bit of that in and see what happens over the next few days.

if it is that brand in the link then 1tsp of each is way under fed. the rough rule of thumb is double what the say on the packet. so if it says 1tsp per gal, you will need 10tsp for a 5 gal batch, spread over the first 1/3 of the ferment. you should be safe to trim that amount as ec-1118 is not a hungry yeast.

**GNBrews** · 02-02-2012, 03:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Furmental

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/yeast-nutrient.html

Not sure if that's the exact one but that and the energizer, 1 tsp of each , the nutrient I have says 1/4 tsp per gallon and the energizer says 1/4 to 1/2 so it might be different stuff...

I made this same batch with no nutrient and it was fine so maybe I over fed it? I will try repitching tomorrow and see if it dries out. Temps at night are the same as the day. My brew closet is in the house and sustained by a thermostat at around 70

Not a huge deal if it doesn't dry out I guess, it will just be a bit sweeter than I wanted.

I've used the staggered nutrient technique with my meads. For a S.G. of 1.086, I'd of used a little over ~1tsp energizer and ~1tsp nutrient (DAP) initially, then another 3/4tsp energizer and 3/4tsp DAP about 24hrs later, followed by another 1/2tsp energizer and 1/2tsp DAP at around the 1.040 mark. Total energizer and DAP additions would be ~2.25tsp ea (4.5tsp total).

I would degass and get the yeast back in suspension, then add 1/2tsp ea of the energizer and DAP. Although you're ~2.5tsp short, you don't want to add too much this late in the fermentation. Rousing the yeast and removing the toxic CO2 should get you back in business.

After you've restarted fermentation, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring the temp down to a few degrees to 66-68 to avoid off-flavors from the yeast eating the nutrients too fast.

**Alchemy** · 02-11-2012, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GNBrews

I've used the staggered nutrient technique with my meads. For a S.G. of 1.086, I'd of used a little over ~1tsp energizer and ~1tsp nutrient (DAP) initially, then another 3/4tsp energizer and 3/4tsp DAP about 24hrs later, followed by another 1/2tsp energizer and 1/2tsp DAP at around the 1.040 mark. Total energizer and DAP additions would be ~2.25tsp ea (4.5tsp total).

I would degass and get the yeast back in suspension, then add 1/2tsp ea of the energizer and DAP. Although you're ~2.5tsp short, you don't want to add too much this late in the fermentation. Rousing the yeast and removing the toxic CO2 should get you back in business.

After you've restarted fermentation, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring the temp down to a few degrees to 66-68 to avoid off-flavors from the yeast eating the nutrients too fast.

Going to give this a try and hopefully i can save this batch

thank you for the very helpful reply