mead that won't ferment! 117 hours

We have a mead that won't ferment. It's been 117 hours since pitching. We originally used a smack pack of wye yeast 4184 Sweet Mead and dumped it straight in the mead. After 72 hours we made a starter with another pack of 4184. 24 hours after pitching that the SP is still the same. We know we started with healthy yeast; whats going?

OG 1.092
In case it matters all that's in the recipe is honey and orange cinnamon tea.


Thanks yet again for any help!

I would check to make sure your seal around your blowoff tube/airlock is completely sealed.

avidhomebrewer said:

I would check to make sure your seal around your blowoff tube/airlock is completely sealed.

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Thanks for the idea, i checked it, and it seems sealed. But even it wasn't sealed, wouldn't the gravity reading show the fermentation? It's remained unchanged.

Give the carboy a good swirl for aboout 2 minutes to make sure the yeast is in suspension.

Based on your info, I would think there is either a leak in your carboy/tube seal, or your hydrometer isn't reading correctly.

avidhomebrewer said:

Give the carboy a good swirl for aboout 2 minutes to make sure the yeast is in suspension.

Based on your info, I would think there is either a leak in your carboy/tube seal, or your hydrometer isn't reading correctly.

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I really do think i have a good seal. As for the hydrometer, do those go bad some times? it's floaty kind that a came with homebrew starter kit years ago.

I couldn't get that yeast to work in my mead... I pitched a different kind and it took off...

Smburnette said:

I couldn't get that yeast to work in my mead... I pitched a different kind and it took off...

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how long did you wait before pitching a second type? thanks

2 days...

We'll i put it on a fresh beer yeast cake. I hope that gets it going

The sweet mead yeasts are notorious for being dodgy.

a leak in the airlock/lid seal/etc.. wont prevent fermentation from starting. Some oxygen will actually do some good in the beginning since yeasts need oxygen to multiply.
To check your hydrometer, water should have a 1.000 SG
my suggestion is to aerate your must, switch to kv-1116 yeast and look into adding some yeast nutrient.

Some yeast nutrient and aeration will help! Take off the airlock, stir it up well to get some oxygen in there, and add nutrients. Hopefully that will get it started.

Yooper said:

Some yeast nutrient and aeration will help! Take off the airlock, stir it up well to get some oxygen in there, and add nutrients. Hopefully that will get it started.

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It had yeast nutrient, It was pretty well aerated, we shook it for 5 minutes before pitching the first packet, and again for 5 minutes before pitching the starter. maybe the OG was just to high for that yeast, who knows It's working now with the ale yeast.