I am new to brewing and am learning...
I pitched two 5 gallon batches of mead two weeks ago. Both have been bubbling along steadily at a bubble every 10 seconds or so for that time. I was hoping to go to secondary this weekend but it just hasn't slowed down.
I don't have my log sheet here so I can't tell you what the initial gravities were. I also didn't test the pH.
The recipes were:
4 gallons water
1 gallon local light honey blend
1 pound turbinado sugar (in the starter)
6 lemons, juiced and zested (zest in cheescloth)
2 cups of diced fresh ginger
1 tblspoon lightly crushed fennel seeds
2 white tea tea bags
Lalvin EC-1118
4 gallons water
0.5 gallon local light honey blend
0.5 gallon wild honey that I got from amazon
1 pound turbinado sugar (in the starter)
4 oranges, juiced and zested (zest in cheescloth)
1 pound of cranberries, boiled in water to cover, strained off hulls and seeds, 1 pound sugar added a bit more water and the yeast (this was starter #2)
4 bay leaves
Lalvin EC-1118
The fermentation on the ginger batch kicked off much quicker. Had a popping airlock within 2 hours. The wild batch started to really kick in 12 hours or so.
I likely won't be using the EC-1118 again. I had 4 packets left from an apple wine experiment and just went with it.
So the question... When should I go to secondary? Just let it sit in the buckets until the bubbling slacks off? Did I not add enough nutrient? DO I have an acidity problem? Should I rack to secondary with nutrient or acid to get it to finish off?
Really this could be par for the course... I just don't know. My apple wine flew through primary in about 72 hours and I was expecting a similar result.
Thoughts? Advice? Thank you!
I pitched two 5 gallon batches of mead two weeks ago. Both have been bubbling along steadily at a bubble every 10 seconds or so for that time. I was hoping to go to secondary this weekend but it just hasn't slowed down.
I don't have my log sheet here so I can't tell you what the initial gravities were. I also didn't test the pH.
The recipes were:
4 gallons water
1 gallon local light honey blend
1 pound turbinado sugar (in the starter)
6 lemons, juiced and zested (zest in cheescloth)
2 cups of diced fresh ginger
1 tblspoon lightly crushed fennel seeds
2 white tea tea bags
Lalvin EC-1118
4 gallons water
0.5 gallon local light honey blend
0.5 gallon wild honey that I got from amazon
1 pound turbinado sugar (in the starter)
4 oranges, juiced and zested (zest in cheescloth)
1 pound of cranberries, boiled in water to cover, strained off hulls and seeds, 1 pound sugar added a bit more water and the yeast (this was starter #2)
4 bay leaves
Lalvin EC-1118
The fermentation on the ginger batch kicked off much quicker. Had a popping airlock within 2 hours. The wild batch started to really kick in 12 hours or so.
I likely won't be using the EC-1118 again. I had 4 packets left from an apple wine experiment and just went with it.
So the question... When should I go to secondary? Just let it sit in the buckets until the bubbling slacks off? Did I not add enough nutrient? DO I have an acidity problem? Should I rack to secondary with nutrient or acid to get it to finish off?
Really this could be par for the course... I just don't know. My apple wine flew through primary in about 72 hours and I was expecting a similar result.
Thoughts? Advice? Thank you!