Hi all,
I have been brewing beer for many years and have just taken the plunge into mead.
I took a stab at the Medium Sweet Orange Blossom Mead from "The Compleat Meadmaker." I used the no-heat method and a stepped-nutrient method that Ken Schramm himself advocated on a broadcast of "The Jamil Show." That is the only alteration I made to the book recipe.
15 lbs. Orange Blossom Honey
4 gallons water (enough to get it to 5 gallons)
2 tsp. yeast nutrient (added 1/2 tsp. at a time every 24 hours)
1 tsp. yeast energizer (added 1/4 tsp. at a time every 24 hours)
2 packets Lalvin 71b-1122 (rehydrated @ 104F)
My O.G. was a whopping 1.120, and the pH is 5.4 (I was expecting both numbers to be lower). I have seen other folks posting opening gravities far lower than this for this recipe. The ambient temperature is 68-70F, and the must measured at about 69F.
It has been a little over 48 hours and I have absolutely no activity...zilch. I have one more feeding to go, so I may be jumping the gun here, but I am accustomed to beer fermentations which take off within a few hours. I know that mead is a different animal and requires patience. However, I just want to make sure I didn't jack something up and if this much lag time is common. By no activity, I mean nothing...no airlock, not even a small bubble breaking the surface of the must...it is like a calm pond!
All I can think of is that the gravity tolerance of the yeast was exceeded, but I can't imagine what I would have done to the recipe to crank the gravity up above the tolerance of the recommended yeast.
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!
Cheers!
I have been brewing beer for many years and have just taken the plunge into mead.
I took a stab at the Medium Sweet Orange Blossom Mead from "The Compleat Meadmaker." I used the no-heat method and a stepped-nutrient method that Ken Schramm himself advocated on a broadcast of "The Jamil Show." That is the only alteration I made to the book recipe.
15 lbs. Orange Blossom Honey
4 gallons water (enough to get it to 5 gallons)
2 tsp. yeast nutrient (added 1/2 tsp. at a time every 24 hours)
1 tsp. yeast energizer (added 1/4 tsp. at a time every 24 hours)
2 packets Lalvin 71b-1122 (rehydrated @ 104F)
My O.G. was a whopping 1.120, and the pH is 5.4 (I was expecting both numbers to be lower). I have seen other folks posting opening gravities far lower than this for this recipe. The ambient temperature is 68-70F, and the must measured at about 69F.
It has been a little over 48 hours and I have absolutely no activity...zilch. I have one more feeding to go, so I may be jumping the gun here, but I am accustomed to beer fermentations which take off within a few hours. I know that mead is a different animal and requires patience. However, I just want to make sure I didn't jack something up and if this much lag time is common. By no activity, I mean nothing...no airlock, not even a small bubble breaking the surface of the must...it is like a calm pond!
All I can think of is that the gravity tolerance of the yeast was exceeded, but I can't imagine what I would have done to the recipe to crank the gravity up above the tolerance of the recommended yeast.
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!
Cheers!