Fermentation/flavor questions?

[Zbay]

Hi,
Well i'm a total newbee but attempting my first batch of mead as we speek. I wish I would have done a little more research before I started on this journey, however, I guess a trial by fire is sometimes the best way to get started. So here goes my laundry list of question for you guys. Due to some advice from a friend I didn't put any yeast energizzer, or nuetrients into my must. Is this going to be a problem? I have not taken a hydrometer reading yet but I do have signs of airlock activitiy at the rate of a big bubble ever 7 sec or so. We are a little over 24 hours after putting it into the fermetator so I guess this is good. When mead is at its peak fermentation rate how many bubbles should be coming out of the airlock? I did a basic mead recipe and was wondering if I could add a flavor to it even though it has been going for a little over 24 hours now. I was thinking about doing this when transfered to the carboy, or is that totally the wrong time to do such a thing? Well any advice on making this batch of mead turn out better would be great.
Thanks,
Zbay

 

[Blackbox_Brewing]

Batch size? 5g, 1g? Yeast strain?

 

[Zbay]

I did a 4 gallons of water, with 15 pounds of honey and used 2 yellow redstar packs of yeast.

 

[Zbay]

Here is a link to the information on the yeast I used http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/RedStar/English/FTPasteurChampagneEN.pdf

 

[Raudhbjorn]

Thors Teeth! Now that's mead! If you're getting activity, you should be fine, just be prepared for a very long ageing period. Your recipe is going to turn out an extreamly sweet mead. Possibly too sweet to be drinkable. IIRC Redstar baking yeast doesn't handle alcohol all to well, so you're probably looking at about 6% - 8% ABV. If it's too sweet, consider increasing your water and allowing the mead to age for a longer period.

 

[Bhunter87]

Errr bread yeast will ferment to 12-14%

 

[Zbay]

Sorry for the confusion, The yeast I used was a champagne yeast which says can live in an envioirment greater than 16%abv. Do you think this will still have to be watered down more to be drinkable? I was hoping to get a medium sweet strong mead but I may have miscalculated somewhere along the way. I attempted to put a link in earlier with technical details about the yeast but It would let me. would the addition of fruit into my primary fermenation bucket help or hurt with yeast activity at this point do you think?

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

The champagne yeast should go to pretty dry but you did go with a big heavy dose of honey so that may help you stay medium sweet, you can add flavors like fruit, spices etc. when you rack into the secondary. not going with any energizer or nutrients is going to give you longer fermentation and aging times but will give you a "Show Mead" (competition rules of not using nutrients)

 

[Zbay]

Well thanks for the advice once I switch it over to the carboy I will be sure to post a picture. So you can see the strange brew concoction I'm working with. I'm really not sure what fruits i'm going to add yet but I should have a few weeks to come up with an idea. Right now I'm thinking apples and cinnamon, but you never know that just might change.