Mead Gravity still too High-Help!

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jrhammonds

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I am making my first mead, and I need some advice. Let me start from the beginning. I am making a melomel with pears. I prepared the must with 12 pounds of wildflower honey and 4.5 gallons of spring water. I added 1/2 tsp of yeast nutrient at pasteurization temp (scared of the potential for off flavors), used white labs sweet mead yeast tube, pitched it at 75 degrees, aerated and let it go (did not add any pear yet--am waiting for secondary). Fermentation started with little to no problems (airlock bubbling every 4 seconds for 2 weeks). Now, at the end of week 2, it is bubbling every 10 seconds and the gravity is .50. I'm worried it won't go down much more than this. SO... my options:

a.) I give it another 2 weeks, calm down, and check gravity--it sounds fine.
b.) Add yeast nutrient directly to the mead right now--and hope for the best.
c.) Go ahead and transfer the mead to the secondary, add the 5lbs. of pear puree and allow the pear nutrients to feed the yeast.
d.) something else?

I do want a "sweeter mead" but after 2 weeks this still sounds/and tastes too high. Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks.
 
I'm in the process of making my first mead as well, it's been going for a month or so and I've yet to take a gravity reading to see where it's at, but my understanding is that honey ferments very slowly.

Airlock activity is a bad indicator of fermentation, I'd probably let it sit another week or so and take another reading. If it's still the same, then I might get worried.
 
I vote for C.

If your ferment is stuck, the pears might pick it right back up. If your yeast has indeed reached it's maximum attenuation, you will at least be able to taste it with the pear and decide then if you need to re-pitch.
IF you end up with a cloyingly sweet mead, you might try to re pitch with D-47 or cote Des Blanc which is good to 14%, let it do it's thing for a while then start adding honey until you max it out and have some residual sweetness.

***Edit. Just noticed that you did not (Depending on what kind you used) use nearly enough nutrient. Give it another scoop of that when you rack onto the fruit.
 
D.

I see mention of yeast nutrient...but not energizer. Your yeast needs nitrogen. I would introduce yeast energizer to primary at this point. boil just 4 oz of water, cool a bit, add energizer per the label so it dissolves...then gently add it to primary. you can carefully pour it down a sanitized rod/spoon/racking cane so it can flow into the fermenting must. then gently stir it in.

that'll help it out, and I'd let it go another 1-2 weeks in primary. when you rack onto the pears, you'll probalby see renewed fermentation there due to the nitrogen and nutrients that become available.

i'd plan on a tertiary for clearing.
 
If we're voting, put me down for "B". I would add nutrient and give it a little time. The yeast may just need a little boost. Add the nutrient slowly to avoid a foam overflow. I'm guessing you started around 1.085, so you have a ways to go if you are at 1.050 now. I think I would hold off on the pears till the ferment is pretty close to done. You should retain more pear flavor if you wait. Pear is a fairly mild fruit flavor and 5 lbs isn't that much in 5 gallons.
 
2 weeks is nothing, add some energizer like malkore said and give it a month.
 
Hey All:
Thanks for all the great advice. I boiled some nutrient and energizer, let it cool, then added it to the primary. I swirled it around (no splashing) and will give it another month. I think I'll do 10lbs. of pears in the secondary as well. Thanks again--and I'll hope for the best.
 
Well, one week after adding yeast energizer and the gravity is down to .030--exciting. I'll give it another few weeks.
 
Sometimes mead just ferments slowly. fast is nice, but as long as you're not getting off flavors from stressed yeast, let em do their thing.

yeast are alive...sometimes they decide to be bastards.
 
Rock on! I think I might actually take a gravity reading on my mead tonight... it's been in there for about a month, I think.
Okay, I actually took that gravity reading on my mead today. I'm down from 1.102 to 1.012, putting me at 11.8% abv. It's been 45 days, I'm not sure if I expect it to get any lower or not. I haven't had any airlock activity for quite some time.

Mostly, this is my first mead, so I don't know what to expect as a final gravity starting around 1.102 as I did. Any more experienced meadmakers able to chime in and let me know if it should get lower? The recipe was purely 15 lbs of honey for a 5 gallon batch, nothing fancy.
 
The recipe was purely 15 lbs of honey for a 5 gallon batch, nothing fancy.

AHHHH BUT THE YEAST?
I'd hang out for like another month, then rack...or at least re sample.
My Leap Year mead was in primary for 3 months. 75% of the fermentation happened in the first month, with the final 25% taking the rest of the time.
 
Yeast is ICV-D47, used two packets of it, rehydrated!

Yeah, I'm not in a hurry on it. I'm planning to bottle it still, so I don't even have to worry about live yeasties making it to bottling time for carbonation. That's why I didn't bother to take a second gravity reading til 45 days later ;)
 
I've had 2 batches with D-47 Crap out on me right at 12%. This seems to be becoming a trend. I wonder if the strain is actually changing, or if its just me? I ended up leaving one very sweet, and re-pitched the other with Premiere Cuvee.

Either way...at 1.012 it's pretty sweet, but may be good that way.
 
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