...And some general troubleshooting.
As a preface, this will be my first upcoming mead and for it I chose a traditional mead recipe. About 10 1/2 pounds of clover honey + water filling to 3 gallons, Irish moss*, acid blend added at the start*, champagne AND wine yeast*.
*Added by the recommendation of my local homebrewery for, respectively: clarity, sharp flavour, and a "quick-starting, enduring combination".
I had a smooth start except for the fact that I had neither a hydrometer nor ph test when I started, and the lack of bubbles in the airlock caused a lot of worry. Though, seeing the yeast happily spreading on the top when I finally broke down and opened the top made me realize it's probably just the small amount in a large container. One week in I worried about the must feeling cold to the touch at night time and so now I keep the must on the floor, wrapped in a blanket which channeled air from a small heater duct around the bucket. The air itself gets a little hot, but never constant and never hot enough raise the liquid temperature to kill the yeast (I think). I've done a lot of homework since I began, so I also know it's miraculous that the acid blend didn't push the ph into lethal range, and that I should have welcomed some oxygen to my must and not shunned it. Yet, despite my best efforts to kill my must, I have a strange situation. My first stage of fermentation appears to be ending ahead of schedule.
Everything in the recipe was scaled down for the 3 gallon recipe from a 5 except the yeast. I thought, they'll reproduce at their pace anyway, and I'm not going to do anything with two nearly empty packets of yeast. But now I'm wondering if I've done something to end the lifecycle early because: it's exactly three weeks in and I opened the lid today for a gravity reading. My SG reading said 1.037 but there's pretty much nothing left of the yeast on the surface. Should I be worried? Should I add nutrient? Is it normal for the last week or two of fermentation drag out with this little yeast?
One more problem. Although it's only three weeks in, I'm not too sure I like the taste of this simple, clover brew--it's almost identical to an unfinished Riesling, and I was hoping to taste something I haven't had a dozen times before/can buy in twenty varieties at the grocery store. I have some French oak ready for the second fermentation, which I assume will add subtle flavours at best. But what options, if any, do I have for changing the final product this late in the process?
As a preface, this will be my first upcoming mead and for it I chose a traditional mead recipe. About 10 1/2 pounds of clover honey + water filling to 3 gallons, Irish moss*, acid blend added at the start*, champagne AND wine yeast*.
*Added by the recommendation of my local homebrewery for, respectively: clarity, sharp flavour, and a "quick-starting, enduring combination".
I had a smooth start except for the fact that I had neither a hydrometer nor ph test when I started, and the lack of bubbles in the airlock caused a lot of worry. Though, seeing the yeast happily spreading on the top when I finally broke down and opened the top made me realize it's probably just the small amount in a large container. One week in I worried about the must feeling cold to the touch at night time and so now I keep the must on the floor, wrapped in a blanket which channeled air from a small heater duct around the bucket. The air itself gets a little hot, but never constant and never hot enough raise the liquid temperature to kill the yeast (I think). I've done a lot of homework since I began, so I also know it's miraculous that the acid blend didn't push the ph into lethal range, and that I should have welcomed some oxygen to my must and not shunned it. Yet, despite my best efforts to kill my must, I have a strange situation. My first stage of fermentation appears to be ending ahead of schedule.
Everything in the recipe was scaled down for the 3 gallon recipe from a 5 except the yeast. I thought, they'll reproduce at their pace anyway, and I'm not going to do anything with two nearly empty packets of yeast. But now I'm wondering if I've done something to end the lifecycle early because: it's exactly three weeks in and I opened the lid today for a gravity reading. My SG reading said 1.037 but there's pretty much nothing left of the yeast on the surface. Should I be worried? Should I add nutrient? Is it normal for the last week or two of fermentation drag out with this little yeast?
One more problem. Although it's only three weeks in, I'm not too sure I like the taste of this simple, clover brew--it's almost identical to an unfinished Riesling, and I was hoping to taste something I haven't had a dozen times before/can buy in twenty varieties at the grocery store. I have some French oak ready for the second fermentation, which I assume will add subtle flavours at best. But what options, if any, do I have for changing the final product this late in the process?