Mead at 1.080 after 4 weeks

Hey guys, so I'm new to mead making (made beer lots), and have a question. I had 1 gallon (10 lbs) of local unfiltered honey that I used Malkors Ancient mead recipe. I followed the recipe (scaled) and topped it up to 4 gallons and my OG was 1.130 (a touch higher than anticipated). Anyway, I used Wyeast sweet mead yeast, popped the pack it swelled and I added to the mead. It took about 1 week to get going, then I had 3-4 days of good fermentation. I added nutrients a couple of times (once right after I saw activity, and again a few days later). I also degassed every day during this phase where things seemed like they were going good.

Anyway, after it slowed the airlock pops once every minute or so. I took a hydrometer reading today and its at 1.080 and still super sweet. Its been a month and I am getting a bit concerned as the activity seems low (compared to what I have seen with beer/ cider, etc).

Is this normal or should I try to something to get it going? I would like for it to be sweet, however only slightly sweet.

A touch higher than anticipaed might be a little of an overstatement. With an OG like that, you are looking at about a 17% PAV. I just looked at the wyeast website, and they claim the sweet mead yeast only does up to about 11% alcohol. If it's at 1.080 now, you're probably down to about 11%, with a capability of getting down to about 6% PAV, or a SG of 1.045. It's going to be insanely sweet at this level unless you either dilute it a little - so that the yeast can handle the sugar content, or follow up the sweet mead yeast with another that has only a little higher tolerance to alcohol.

When you added nutrients, how much of what did you add?

KBentley57 said:

When you added nutrients, how much of what did you add?

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I added a teaspoon of nutrient each time. Its the wyeast nutrient I use for beer.

Hmm, well crap, I guess I should have paid more attention to the yeast. What should I do to fix this thing?

That could be the problem with the stuck fermentation in its current state - Honey is very lacking in nutrients, it contains almost nothing except sugar and a little water. You'll need a nitrogen source; your yeast nutrient is fine, but if you have any DAP on hand, it would be better.

If it were me, I would put about another 2 tablespoons of the nutrient in about 1 G of water, mix it up, and add it to the fermenter. I came up with 1 G using the old chem eq. M1 V1 = M2 V2, where M are the two concentrations, and V are the volumes. It needs to start out at about 1.100 for that yeast to be in the perfect range. The math works out at needing 1.2 Gallons, but 1 G is safe enough.

0.130*4 G =0.100* V2, V2 ~ 5.2 Gallons,

(V2 - V1) ~ (5.2 G - 4 G) ~ 1 G.