No fermentation w/ liquid yeast - ideas?

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Cdbrew

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Well this is my first mead batch. I did everything in the sticky guide such as ferm-k and DAP stage 1.

I pitched Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast once the must temp was 77degrees or so. It is made for 5 gallons so I split it amongst 3 1/2 gallons.

its been 17 hours, and I understand the fermentation is not as vigorous as dry yeast which I've used in the past for wine/beer. My Meads are sitting at around 74-75% which is the top end of the fermentation temperature.

There is no foam at all and smell is the same. Of course I will let it sit a few days but if it doesn't change should I just order and pitch another liquid sweet mead yeast? I really wanted to pitch a high quality mead yeast. If you have suggestions on a dry yeast I will take that as well! All I have lying around is Munich dry yeast (is for wheat ale) and Fleischmans.

Cheers!
 
Definitely give it a few more hrs...if you aren't seeing a start after 24-36 hrs you might want to repitch...you'd be better off using a neutral wine yeast like 47D or a champagne yeast as opposed to the wheat ale or bread yeast!
 
I've made over a dozen batch's of mead so far and I've always had the best luck with Lavin 71B-1122. I hydrate it with 1/4 cup of warm water, a little brown sugar, and a pinch of nutrient (let it sit in a warm place for 20 minutes). I get signs of fermentation within two hours 99% of the time.

Unless I'm going for a sack mead I use 1122 most of the time nowadays. It does a great job preserving fruit and herb flavors! Hope my 2 cents helps.

Will
 
Cdbrew said:
Well this is my first mead batch. I did everything in the sticky guide such as ferm-k and DAP stage 1.

I pitched Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast once the must temp was 77degrees or so. It is made for 5 gallons so I split it amongst 3 1/2 gallons.

its been 17 hours, and I understand the fermentation is not as vigorous as dry yeast which I've used in the past for wine/beer. My Meads are sitting at around 74-75% which is the top end of the fermentation temperature.

There is no foam at all and smell is the same. Of course I will let it sit a few days but if it doesn't change should I just order and pitch another liquid sweet mead yeast? I really wanted to pitch a high quality mead yeast. If you have suggestions on a dry yeast I will take that as well! All I have lying around is Munich dry yeast (is for wheat ale) and Fleischmans.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Foam and smell are not necessarily indicators of fermentation. In fact, for most wine yeasts and honey, a krausen is minimal if at all. If there's anything that is a good indicator of activity is checking for swirling inside the carboy. Even then, I'd consider it a less than stellar judge of actual fermentation activity. 17 hours is often way too early to tell. Give it 48 hours and then check for signs, but the only true way to tell is a quality hydrometer reading or two to see the amount of sugar left.
 
patience. I have waited 4 days for visible fermentation to appear when using liquid yeast (with no starter). It eventually got going
 
I just read at the wyeast website that for starting gravity's above 1.08, yeast use should be tripled. I split 1 5gallon packet amongst 4 gallons, so this and the lack of a starter should give it a lot of lag time. It should be fine on nutrients though.

This is a nice experiment though. I would love to get into using some interesting liquid yeasts.
 
Maybe I'm missing it, but I did not see the OG.
Your yeast population may be under pitched, and stressed out.
I like to do my primary fermentation in a bucket, so I can open up the lid and stir, add nutrients, etc. With this setup, I would recommend mixing it up, to degass it, and infuse o2 to help the yeast multiply, and go forth to do what they do best.
I don't even think about oxygenation until I'm halfway through fermentation.
 

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