Mead Question

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edost

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After brewing Joe's Ancient Orange Mead last fall and it being a huge success, I decided I wanted to step up my mead making and get a big batch going. Here's what I ended up with:

12 lbs raw wildflower honey
4 tspn acid blend
5 tspn yeast nutrient

Wyeast 4184 Sweet Mead

I did the no pasteurization method, but I did boil about a gallon of spring water to get the rest of the honey out of the jar. I filled the carboy with refrigerated spring water to balance out the hot water and stuck it in my brew closet. That was Sunday.

I'm not sure what the normal lag time is for sweet mead yeast, but what's worrying me is the must is sucking my airlock water down into it, no bubbles still.

Is this pressurized situation normal? Any ideas on normal lag time for this type of mead?

Thanks,

Eric
 
Check out my post on asking about contamination, I had a very similar problem and I just had to keep my pants on a few extra days. It took my simple sweet mead a good week before the pressure started maintaining and a little longer than that for the bubbles to even get below two minutes per.

Granted, I had half the batch and may have pitched the smack pack a bit early but I'd stake that a bit of the advice I got could be pertinent.

A point of interest, one way I scoped the mead was by pressing the airlock down and forcing air out through it because my must was smelling of alcohol within the first couple of days before I even got some unprovoked bubbles.
 
What's sucking the water out of the airlock is a difference in the pressure in the fermenter and outside the fermenter. It's what happens to your ears when they pop.

Pull the airlock out, refill it, and push it back in.;)
 
Thanks for your help. It looks like the pressure is equalizing because the water level in the airlock is back to normal levels. Still no CO2 bubbles, but I'll be patient on that front.

Eric
 
:Update:

I went down this morning and it was finally bubbling away. 6 days of lag before visual fermentation, but things are looking good now.

Thanks for your replies.

Eric
 
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