First mead fermenting so slooooooow (10 days drop .15 using Wyeast Sweet Mead)

So I've had my first batch of mead ferming for about 10 days now and gravity has only dropped .15 (from 1.100 to 1.085ish)

Recipe:
13.5 lbs honey from LHBS
4 Gallons water (3 spring, 1 distilled)
1 capsule servomyces at pitch and 1 capsule at the 24 hour mark
2 smack packs of Wyeast sweet mead pitched at room temp
20 drops of cinnamon essential oil
10 drops of wild orange essential oil
5 drops of clove essential oil

I've been opening airlock and swirling the hell out of it usually once a day, the other day i forgot to do it so it went 2 days without aerating. Usually when I aerate it foams up but has never threatened to overflow until yesterday when it started to creep up the neck and look like it was going to foam over the opening but i quickly placed the palm of my clean hand over the opening which stopped it from overflowing, then just in case i sprayed starsan down the opening onto the foam that touched my hand =)

Could the essential oils be the factor why this is taking so long? the oils I used are super pure and theraputic grade and I've read cinnamon oil is highly anti-microbial and anti-bacterial (I would assume wild orange would be too)

Also, im not really worried about this but my last batches of beer were brett clones. I've sanitized the hell out of everything which is why im not really worried (plus I love bretty beers) but assuming some brett did find its way in whats the dead giveaway? Both beers were the Brett Claussenii strain so it doesnt have that barnyard wet horse character to it, more like a sweet pineapple flavor of brett.

I have noticed large waxy looking bubbles forming on the top, but figured that to be proteins from the honey and not a brett infection.

I bet the real culprit here is the Wyeast sweet mead yeast. That yeast is known for stalling out and not fermenting well in meads. Go figure a yeast with the name mead in it does not work to well for meads? To give that yeast the best chances of working you need to double up on recommended yeast nutrients. And your level of yeast nutrient used is pretty low.

Go get some DAP and yeast energizer and mix that in now. Probably a full 5 tsp of dap and 2.5 tsp of energizer. See if it picks up. If not and you go more than 4-5 days of no gravity drop then make a large 1 liter starter of a good strong yeast like lalvin K1V-1116. You will need a nice aggressive mead friendly yeast at that point to pick fermentation back up. It should finish the fermentation then if you wanted a sweet mead you will need to stabilize with crushed Camden and sorbate to allow you to back sweeten to taste.

Arpolis said:

I bet the real culprit here is the Wyeast sweet mead yeast. That yeast is known for stalling out and not fermenting well in meads. Go figure a yeast with the name mead in it does not work to well for meads? To give that yeast the best chances of working you need to double up on recommended yeast nutrients. And your level of yeast nutrient used is pretty low.

Go get some DAP and yeast energizer and mix that in now. Probably a full 5 tsp of dap and 2.5 tsp of energizer. See if it picks up. If not and you go more than 4-5 days of no gravity drop then make a large 1 liter starter of a good strong yeast like lalvin K1V-1116. You will need a nice aggressive mead friendly yeast at that point to pick fermentation back up. It should finish the fermentation then if you wanted a sweet mead you will need to stabilize with crushed Camden and sorbate to allow you to back sweeten to taste.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips!

Ill have to grab some DAP and yeast energizer tomorrow on my lunch break

I would recommend to try using a nutrient mix addition of Go-Ferm and Fermaid-O the try and wake up the yeast a bit.

Even though DAP is commonly used for yeast's source of nitrogen necessary in mead making, it can actually be harmful to yeast, as well as sometimes creating some sulfur like components. Fermaid-O on the other hand, contributes organic source of nitrogen that is easier for the yeast to digest.

Stay away from Fermaid-K, as that actually contains DAP.

Funny story, I heard the head of a reputable meadery on more than one occasion publicly and proudly claiming that they never use DAP in any of their meads. Each time, that statement was followed by the mentioning that they use Fermaid-K.... SMH

PREP YOUR NUTRIENT MIX
Make a mix of 1 teaspoon of Go-Ferm with 2 teaspoons Fermaid-O. This should be enough for three days of additions, as you only want to add 3/4 teaspoons at a time, every 24-hours.

Make sure to rehydrate each nutrient mix addition into a small amount of water (just enough water to properly dilute) before adding into your carboy.

Keep us posted.

+1 on the Wyeast. It's difficult to get it going.

Alright guys, I went out and got DAP and yeast energizer. I didnt see your post til I got home smoutela.

So I followed Arpolis' instructions and dumped in 5 tsp of DAP and 2.5 of the energizer, swirled it around like crazy and sealed that airlock up.

Ill check it out later today to see how its doing