First batch problems.

So i have been brewing beer for awhile and wanted to try mead. I usually don't like using existing recipes i prefer to make my own. So for my first attempt at mead i used a cherry melomel recipe from stormthecastle.com. It included the use of more chemical than a basic beginner recipe. I followed the recipe to the letter. Using pectic enzyme, tannin, a campden tablet crushed, and yeast nutrient. It called for 5g acid blend, i only had citric acid. It said wait 24 hours to pitch the yeast. So i waited and made a yeast starter and continued to follow the recipe. I didn't rehydrate the tannin or pectic enzymes, i just mixed it directly to the must. Im confused, did the campden tablet kill the yeast, and what is up with the segmentation. More than half the gallon jug is sediment, and no sign of fermentation. Please help. Experienced beer brewer, mead novice. Any input is appreciated .

Sorry for the repeated photo.

I highly doubt the campden tablet killed your yeast, as you pitched it 24 hours later, though the campden tablet was highly unnecessary, it shouldn't have done anything hurtful. Idk what to say besides that mead shouldn't look like that.... never the less, the sediment should settle eventually. Did you take SG readings? Also, a very low temperature could of played a roll in the whole sediment problem as well as inactivity, but this is really strange and beyond me. How well aerated was the must? Was the honey well dispersed when you pitched the yeast? How long has it been since you pitched the yeast. Mead can take, in some cases, 3-7 days for fermentation to really start up. It is because honey is a natural preservative, hence why sanitation or boiling of honey is highly unnecessary and unrecommended. Honey lasts near to forever. (Archeologist found honey in a 5000 year old egyption tomb and they tasted it, it was still honey, and highly edible.)

You say you made a starter? That's like a 1 gal batch of mead, how much starter did you add? Maybe it was just a bit much. I made a similar 1gal batch of blackberry mead with 1 vial of wine yeast and had a lot of residual yeast trub, which cut down on the actual available mead... maybe you just had a bit too much yeast mass.

what yeast did you use?

I used lalvin EC-1118 and go ferm. OG 1056

How long has it been in the fermento? If less than a couple days I would not worry,since it is already together let it see what happens.

Without digging through Will's site to try and locate the recipe, I can't be certain, but that looks very much like fruit sediment/sludge that has settled out i.e. fruit that has been pulped.

If you post the full recipe and method (or even a link) it might be easier to diagnose.

Like for instance, if it didn't ferment, or something like that, did you check the ingredients for the cherry part. Some canned or otherwise processed fruit can have sodium benzoate in it as a preservative - and that's even harder to get round than just fruit that's been sulphited for preservation/shelf life.

Plus, is that a 1 gallon batch ? How much of the fruit ingredient did you use ? etc etc etc.......

nobo_87 said:

I used lalvin EC-1118 and go ferm. OG 1056

Click to expand...

how long after ading the yeast did you notice it had separated like that?

So after this batch of mead separated i took the photo and put it in a closet and left it alone. 24 hours later the 2 layers combined and the airlock began to bubble. I did not arrate the must or do anything, and it seems that everything is going well now. so did the yeast starter bring the layers together?

more than likely it just started fermenting and the co2 dragged the stuff up from the bottom mixing it in.