Honey mead stuck fermentation?

I am brewing my first mead. Kept it simple. Boiled about 3-4 quarts of water and added 4 pounds of blue agave nectar and stirred til solute. Added 1 ounce of cascade hops pellets. Pitch to a 2 gallon mr beer I wasn't using and stir vigorously before pitching the wlp mead yeast. I let I sit at a room temp varying from 62-70 degrees. Depending on time of day. After four days of not much activity I read that blue agave like honey needs nutrient to feed. So I added 1 ounce of nutrient to the brew. It's been four more days with no change. All I see is a few bubbles here and there. Did I mess up somewhere or sld I expect an incredibly slow fermentation?

How hot was it when you pitched the yeast?

Had about 80 degrees maybe a little hotter.

What was your OG? 4# of agave in 1 gallon (or 2?, can't really tell your volume) seems a little high.

Did you do a yeast starter?

Hard to tell, but the way things sound you pitched too little yeast for your OG.

I didn't do an og. It is 2 gallons. No starter. I pitched 1/2 vile of white labs mead/wine yeast. A vile is for 5 gallons and I used half. I see very little bubbling activity. I should add more yeast it sounds like? I am new and most ppl said just add water, honey, and yeast. But after more research I was seeing ppl talk about og readings and fg readings. I wasn't going to be that precise. Would 80 degrees have been too hot to pitch the yeast? I am thinking about adding a little ale yeast to get it going.

80 degrees is a little on the warm side, but as long as you did an accurate temp reading it shouldn't have killed the yeast.

I would add more yeast, and buy a hydrometer to see what your gravity is. It's hard to know what's going on because without doing any measurements you're flying blind.

Take the other half of your yeast vial and make a yeast starter.

Use a pint of water and about 1/8 lb of agave. Make sure to add a little yeast nutrient.

Side note: I'm estimating on the 1/8#, based on the ratio I use in my mead starters. Agave is a little lighter so you may need some more. Shoot for an OG of around 40 in the starter.

You may want to double the pint to a quart, but I figure at your 2 gal volume you should be OK with a pint.

SagamoreAle said:

Take the other half of your yeast vial and make a yeast starter.

Use a pint of water and about 1/8 lb of agave. Make sure to add a little yeast nutrient.

Side note: I'm estimating on the 1/8#, based on the ratio I use in my mead starters. Agave is a little lighter so you may need some more. Shoot for an OG of around 40 in the starter.

You may want to double the pint to a quart, but I figure at your 2 gal volume you should be OK with a pint.

Click to expand...

bk0 said:

80 degrees is a little on the warm side, but as long as you did an accurate temp reading it shouldn't have killed the yeast.

I would add more yeast, and buy a hydrometer to see what your gravity is. It's hard to know what's going on because without doing any measurements you're flying blind.

Click to expand...

Thanks bk0 and SagamoreAle that's good advice. I think will make a yeast starter and grab a hydrometer reading. I know now that the yeast is alive but working very slow. Needs help. But I will use more mead yeast instead of ale yeast.

Thanks again for all the helpfully advice!