Wierd airlock movement

My airlock of mead seems to be pulling air into the demi Jon but the beer beside it is still working correctly

How long has it been going could the fermentation have finished or the yeast become less active?

If the temperature drops in the demi Jon like when fermentation slows or stops the the cooler gas will condense more than a warmer gas which with a sealed container creates a vacuum. That's the best theory I have without more info.

It's been fermenting for about 4/5 weeks

4.5 lb of honey
15 g citric acid
15 g yeast nutrient
Water to bring up to a gallon

Og was 1114
Gravity now is 1006
But I have added 340g of a local honey as I didn't think it was sweet enuff

Arpolis said:

How long has it been going could the fermentation have finished or the yeast become less active?

If the temperature drops in the demi Jon like when fermentation slows or stops the the cooler gas will condense more than a warmer gas which with a sealed container creates a vacuum. That's the best theory I have without more info.

Click to expand...

+1 even moving it to a warmer room could cause enough imbalance in atmospheric pressures to cause the vacuuming. Temp varies in direct proportion to pressure. When it gets freezing outside the ole car tire pressure drops out.

Ok ya it hasn't moved since i started it gravity after tat extra honey is 1026 is that to sweet ???

Being that sweet does tast ok so gess ill leave it alone it hasn't bubbled or anything for last few days tastes good infact reckon it about 14% is that about right

Yeah, its just an air pressure thing.

1.026 would be a little sweeter than I generally like.

If you tasted and tested stuff like Lyme Bay, Lurgashall or Lindisfarne then you'd be tasting stuff that measured about the 1.040 area. That would be described as "dessert" mead. The actual flavour of those was fine but I found them cloyingly sweet.

I usually ferment dry and then stabilise and back sweeten - too about the 1.010 to 1.015 area which I enjoy.......

If you think yours is too sweet tasting, you can fortify it, vodka would be neutral and any brown spirits would alter the flavour too. Plus you would likely notice a little reduction in viscosity/mouth feel and possibly a bit of an increase in "alcohol hot" taste. It would likely mellow with some ageing though......

i think any sweeter would be to much for me I added extra honey as a way to get rid of some of the heat it had and do give more of a honey flavor .

Its sort of worked its changed to a more pleasan honey flavour instead of wine and the heats still there but not as intense nice think it will be very drinkable

Sounds about right.

Ken Schramm's book "The Compleat Meadmaker" is aimed mainly toward US mead makers, but I found it helpful with a lot of the understanding if so called "faults" as well as technique/method etc.

He was the first I saw who used the term "alcohol hot". But it rang bells with me straight away.

It does mellow with time and ageing, but when you first get making mead, you want the damn stuff NOW......

Patience is hard to learn, but not laziness. I just have to remember to do any important bits on time i.e. the ferment related stuff or racking a 71B batch promptly on completion of the ferment (preventing off flavour etc), but the rest waits until I can be bother.

My "P" word isn't to be professional..........its to procrastinate:cross: