No bubbles, HELP!

First off, I'll say that this is my first brew of any kind (beer, wine, etc.). Sunday I started a mead in a brew bucket using 12 lbs local pure honey, 4 gallons of distilled water and a packet champagne yeast (Lalvin ec-1118). I intended to add some fruit after first fermentation but I'm still waiting on some strong bubbling. I haven't seen any action from the airlock, however, there is some decent carbonation after stirring. I'm VERY naive to the brewing process and curious if I need to take action to save the batch or if it will work itself out. Please be gentle to the ignorant . Thanks in advance!

Oh gosh. Just tighten your bung. The co2 is prolly getting around it somehow. Forget the airlock. If its not bubbling, it means nothing tbh. If you used 1118, it could ferment a sugar cube in lava. You haven't messed anything up and there is nothing to save. Just let it be.

Bubbles are not indicative of fermentation. You should get a hydrometer and go off the actual measurements.

Also, I don't see any mention of nutrients, which are also necessary in meads since honey doesn't have many trace elements. Quick solution would be to boils a few teaspoons of bread yeast and add it in.

Other than that, relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.

Wine and mead tend to just look like champagne while fermenting...there will just be small bubbles rising, not like beer. If it's really going some bubbles might build up.

Sounds like you're on your way to making a decent "show mead". If you add anything like nutrients, boiled bread yeast, anything to supplimentally feed your yeast you will ferment out faster but it will put you into the "traditional mead" category, which is what most of us do. The "show" and "traditional" categories are based off of competition requirements. So you have a couple options, leave it be, let it slowly ferment out and if have the patience you have a decent quality drink....or... get yourself some nutrients from your home brew store or get some bread yeast add to a little water let it boil some, cool then pitch and again in some time you have a decent quality drink....in both cases stir it up good to degas and aerate, let it roll and enjoy.

1118, it could ferment a sugar cube in lava

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:cross:

I think I'll be leaving this bucket as it is and waiting it out.. Since most responses say it should be alright. I'm pretty dopey on the time frames but I'm thinking 3-4 weeks before I move it to the carboy with fruit. I'm going to get another batch going this weekend (I'm already addicted). Any suggestions on a tasty mead? I'm thinking about the Mayan themed one with vanilla and cocoa. I'm not very seasoned with mead varieties, just a beer snob that stumbled on a bottle of Viking Blod.

Id let it stay in the primary longer than that. 2-3 months.. Watch your sg. Mead is a slow moving creature. Nothing like beer.

Did you rehydrate the 1118 before pitching?

banik said:

Bubbles are not indicative of fermentation. You should get a hydrometer and go off the actual measurements.

Also, I don't see any mention of nutrients, which are also necessary in meads since honey doesn't have many trace elements. Quick solution would be to boils a few teaspoons of bread yeast and add it in.

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thats the main things. get a hydrometer, they are cheap.

nutrients are very important. honey does not have any real nutrient so your fermentation is very poor. boiled bread yeast will not do anything at this stage. need to get some proper nutrients, both vitamin and DAP based.

Bhunter87 said:

Id let it stay in the primary longer than that. 2-3 months.. Watch your sg. Mead is a slow moving creature. Nothing like beer.

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imho the "mead is slow" is a crap saying and should not be uttered !
in most cases the mead is slow due to poor fermentation, this thread is a perfect example of it. mead should be brewed slow due to low temps not bad nutrition.

MacrosNZ said:

Did you rehydrate the 1118 before pitching?

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Yes, I did.

I haven't added anything as of yet. I just took off the lid for a stir.. It actually looks pretty good. I could hear the "fizzing" sound as soon as got the lid off. Still no action from the airlock, but I'm a lot more confident about it now.

imho the "mead is slow" is a crap saying and should not be uttered !
in most cases the mead is slow due to poor fermentation, this thread is a perfect example of it. mead should be brewed slow due to low temps not bad nutrition.

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Pretty sure he meant it is not a beverage that ferments out and is truely ready drink in a couple weeks. It is slow, a test a patience. A properly managed primary fermentation may be complete in a reasonable amount of time, but then the racking, clearing, aging, bottling and maybe even aging some more is a "slow" process to get to a quality product.

Also possible he was referring to how it ferments, as in it is not as vigorous as with a beer or other beverages, the occurence of krausen and need for blow off tubes only occur in certain circumstances so is more an exception than a rule...so depending on how you look at it the "gentler" ferment could be technically be phrased as slow.

unfortunately i've see the comment posted way to many times. specifically that mead is a slow fermenter ie it takes months to do the actual fermenting.
the comment is often aimed at newbies who do not add any nutrients, which gives them the wrong idea about mead and fermentation.

I was simply stating that you can't expect mead to finish out and rack to a secondary in less than a month like you can beer. I understand that with proper nutrient and environment, mead can and will ferment out more quickly, and improper preparation and application will slow the process, but I just wanted him to know that if he is expecting a finished product in a month, he is mistaken, and that with a mead, fermentation may not kick off or look like a beer would.

Thanks

but it should finish within a month (with some exceptions of course) unless your doing something wrong.
i've got a mead and a beer fermenting side by side and they both ferment about the same speed and "look" about the same (beer would be dropping about 10 points a day and the mead 15 points).
this old thing that mead is slow, doesn't ferment like wine/beer imho is bogus.

the only real difference is that mead typically has a much longer aging time. however even that is not that much difference from some wines.

it would be far better if you explain why its should be longer rather than pander to some old misused saying.

Bhunter87 said:

I was simply stating that you can't expect mead to finish out and rack to a secondary in less than a month like you can beer.

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Sure you can! A mead that takes more than a couple of weeks to ferment out is obviously a stressed fermentation and needs correction.

A stressed fermentation can cause off-flavors so it needs to be fixed immediately.

I have never, ever, had a mead in primary more than 10 days. That should be more towards the norm than a month!

One day, when I grow up, I hope my mead finishes as fast as you guys.

Until then, I guess I'll have to wait a few more weeks.

More questions! Any idea what am I looking at here? Is that a krausen like substance or is that bacteria?

Never seen anything like that before. The brown stuff doesn't look awful, but the white.... Not sure.

Did you boil your mead?

Bacteria isn't in honey. It would be bad sanitization in Te fermenter or something...

That looks like it could be yeast sort of "proofing" up there, but it's hard to tell from that picture.

Bhunter87 said:

Bacteria isn't in honey. It would be bad sanitization in Te fermenter or something...

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Yeah, I didn't mean bacteria from honey. I sanitized efficiently to my knowledge, but being my first time, I could have overlooked something.

Tyrone said:

Did you boil your mead?

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No boil.

it looks a lot like yeast.

btw there is plenty of bacteria in honey. its just not the bad bacterias you have to avoid.
no different to wild yeasts.

People get confused about bacteria in honey because honey can sit forever and no bacteria grows. That's because there is too much sugar and the osmotic pressure it too high. Same reason syrups and jams can be kept a long time (fungus is a different creature, we'll ignore it for now.) There can be bacteria in honey, especially ones that form spores and once the honey is diluted and conditions are better they can start to grow again.

Lots of people recommend against boiling honey as you'll lose aromatics. (and maybe other reasons I don't know) I just add an appropriate amount of Campden tablets to make sure other organisms besides my yeast don't grow. The campden tabs won't inhibit wine yeast but will inhibit other organisms.

Also, my meads seem to take about 2 weeks to ferment, and my beer often finishes in 4 days (don't worry, I don't rack it for at least 3 weeks). At any rate, wine/mead looks more like champagne when fermenting as opposed to that foam spewing vehicle on Willie Wanka and the Chocolate Factory. Check the gravity to see what's really going on.

OG on 3-17-2012 was 1.084. I checked SG on the 26th and it was at 1.072, and again yesterday (29th) and got 1.060. I THINK that means it's going alright, just not at a lightspeed pace. What exactly am I looking for to rack? Also, thanks to everyone for the feedback. I stumbled on this site while I was panicking and have REALLY learned quite a bit here already.