MrSweet

Recipes 

Greetings folks,

I was hoping to get some guru advice since this is the first I oddity that I have encountered in my young mead making career...

I started a batch of traditional style mead with orange blossom honey 8 days ago (the same stuff I have made 4 other batches with so far). The airlock activity was pretty good after a very short lag phase, but only for the first 3 days.

My previous experience with the exact same process and the same yeast showed signs of a much more aggressive fermentation in the airlock.

Bottom line, should I throw another 5G packet of yeast in there? (after properly rehydrating and letting it sit in a beaker with some of the must, of course)

Initial gravity: 1.126
Today's SG: 1.108 (not what I'd expect after a week+ following my notes from previous batches with the exact same parameters)

Details:

16 lbs. honey
10G Lalvin KV1-1116
15G of Go-Ferm at rehydration
1/2 TSP of nutrient
1/2 TSP of energizer
4 Gallons of distilled water
Staggered nutrient schedule
Stirred once daily to de-gas etc.

Arpolis

Recipes 

I had the same deal with 1116 with my last mead which was a ginger mead with only a little ginger. Nutrient wise almost a traditional. Add in 1tsp of energizer and whip up the must a bit. It should pick up just fine.

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MrSweet

Recipes 

Thanks Arpolis!

After doing some more research, I have found a couple suspects as well...

- PH may be off, which is slowing the yeast down

- Too much sugar (this is news to me)... for high sugar meads, make a starter (so I read)

- Possible sanitation issues (I highly doubt it - I am borderline OCD with this)

- Lack of oxygen during lagg phase (I dont use a lees stirrer, but I beat the absolute crap out of it)

There are a couple more that are far less likely - I will update when I "troubleshoot" a bit more. Did some work on the house today, so I am not opening my primary until the dust settles a bit.