What should fermentation look like with D-47?

volvodude · 07-07-2009, 09:34 AM

I'm new to the brewing thing, and I just made my first 1 gal batch of a basic mead, just to get the hang of it. I'm especially new to the wine/mead yeasts. My question is: should fermentation be a relatively slow steady small bubbles sort of affair, or is my fermentation slow in any way? OG was approx 1.100 as of 7-5 and I have not checked another as of yet. All looks well, but I wanted a more experienced opinion.

soonann · 07-07-2009, 11:02 AM

i also had some problems with D47. it seems to ferment very slowly. og was 1.128 on 30 May 09. when I take a sample on 3 Jul, it is still at 1.100!
i repitched a new packet of D47 and added 1/2 tsp of energiser, but fermentation is still very slow...
any expert opinions???

gratus fermentatio · 07-07-2009, 11:28 AM

Mead takes time, wine yeast often looks less vigorous than beer yeast. I always use yeast nutrient/energizer & DAP in meads/melomels as there are virtually no nutrients in honey. Regards, GF.

bubbachunk · 07-07-2009, 03:21 PM

It my short experience I have never had a wine, mead, or cider ferment half as fast as my beers. Beer just seems to ferment very vigorous most likely due to the abundance of nutrients it has vs wine.

Hotspur · 07-07-2009, 04:30 PM

I pitched two batches of mead with D47, and used staggered additions of Fermaid K and DAP, and both batches worked steadily.* If you haven't, check out the Brewing Classic Styles podcast when Jamil and John interview Ken Schramm - it's really helpful. It's been about a month, and I think I'm about ready to move them to secondaries.

*By "worked steadily", I mean the airlock with bouncing around and bubbling fairly quickly. Following the suggestion of the podcast, I stirred each to degas it when adding nutrients, and there was a LOT of fizzing when it degassed.

soonann · 07-08-2009, 12:19 PM

Thanks for all the comments. I had actually made a previous batch using same recipe but with Cuvee yeast. That one took 1 month to complete fermentation, hence I was worried about this batch.

Would there be a issue with too much nutrient & energiser? I fear adding too much...