What temperature to add yeast for mead? Also other questions.

[Brewstatic]

Totally new to this, and my first attempt wasn't good since I used the wrong yeast mostly (still waiting on that one, but not too excited about it). I tried searching the forum but didn't come up with a good answer, sorry if this has already been asked a thousand times. What temp do I add yeast to my fermenter? Also, the recipe I have says to add the honey to the water after heating it up on the stove. If the water is too hot though, won't it kill the yeast? Also, if I wait for it to cool down, won't the honey separate from the water a bit? Why not add the honey at room temp and just stir it real good?

I'm planning on using 3lbs honey, gallon of water, and Wyeast dry mead. I boil everything to sanitize it because I'm a penny pincher and don't like to spend cash on sanitizers. Adding in fruit, like an orange, blueberries, etc. Just going by a recipe I found. It doesn't exactly say how much yeast to use though, so that's a second question I have. I ordered a small pack of Wyeast from Northern Brewers. The temp range for the yeast is 55 to 75, so I assume that's the range it should be added at? Also bought some yeast nutrient and some energizer just in case. I assume I use the nutrient when I add the yeast though, correct?

My final questions are: what's the optimum temperature to keep it at while fermenting, and exactly how long to let it ferment? If the range is from 55 to 75, should I keep it at the lower or higher end of that scale? It's hard for me to go too much lower than room temp since I live in a single level apartment and have two cats that don't like colder temps. haha The way I've been adding yeast is just guessing the amount and then shaking up the jug for a while when it was in the temp range, which was rather high since I was using Turbo yeast because I'm foolish and was a bit impatient at first. I've since learned to be patient, don't worry. But exactly how patient do I need to be, and what is the best way to tell when it's done fermenting?

(Sorry for the long post, just a lot I'm unsure of.)

 

[SL 3052]

You can heat water up to ~90F and stir the yeast in. Let it cool down to room temp while you prepare the must, and use part of the must to mix with the yeast before you introduce it to the must. My 71B wine yeast is gram per gallon, not sure about Wyest. You can introduce all of the nutrient when you introduce the yeast, or you can stagger and add a little, then some more the next day. You can heat the honey, then pour it into the fermenter with the water and wait for it to come down to room temp before adding the yeast. I'm keeping my fermenters at ~64-66F. I believe when the bubbling through the airlock slows to 1 every 2 minutes, you can rack it. Or you can wait til the SG drops .01 I read somewhere else. Should tak ~2 weeks. That's all from what I've been reading. I'm only on my first batch of mead right now, so take it with a grain of salt

 

[Amadeo38]

Consider using https://www.meadmakr.com/batch-buildr/
as a guide. You can make it totally custom and it gives you times and amounts for nutrient additions as well as yeast rehydration instructions. I’ve used it with success.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi Brewstatic - and welcome. Unless you live in a part of the world where the water is not potable the reason for heating your water is ... what? You don't "brew" mead. Honey ain't grain so there is no need to convert complex sugars to more simple ones. Heating the water is a waste of energy. It might make brewers happy because heating water is what they do when they brew. But you are making a wine.There's no wort involved. No trub. No mash. No heat. There is must (the fermentable solution before you pitch the yeast).

You want to help make the honey pour more easily then place your unopened bottle/s of honey in a pot of warm water. That's it. You can fill the empty bottle/s with some of the water and shake them for a few seconds. The residual honey will drip down and you can pour this into your fermenter.

At what temperature should you pitch the yeast? At no more than 10 degrees colder or warmer than the must. Where there is a high differential between the must temperature and the temperature of the yeast (and you have rehydrated the yeast, yes? Good) you can seriously shock the colony. It's a bit like you jumping into a bath of either boiling or freezing water. You have a strong heart? Excellent. But that event can kill those who are not so strong. Best if the must and yeast temperatures are the same. Room temperature is excellent.

 

[Brewstatic]

Hi Brewstatic - and welcome. Unless you live in a part of the world where the water is not potable the reason for heating your water is ... what? You don't "brew" mead. Honey ain't grain so there is no need to convert complex sugars to more simple ones. Heating the water is a waste of energy. It might make brewers happy because heating water is what they do when they brew. But you are making a wine.There's no wort involved. No trub. No mash. No heat. There is must (the fermentable solution before you pitch the yeast).

You want to help make the honey pour more easily then place your unopened bottle/s of honey in a pot of warm water. That's it. You can fill the empty bottle/s with some of the water and shake them for a few seconds. The residual honey will drip down and you can pour this into your fermenter.

At what temperature should you pitch the yeast? At no more than 10 degrees colder or warmer than the must. Where there is a high differential between the must temperature and the temperature of the yeast (and you have rehydrated the yeast, yes? Good) you can seriously shock the colony. It's a bit like you jumping into a bath of either boiling or freezing water. You have a strong heart? Excellent. But that event can kill those who are not so strong. Best if the must and yeast temperatures are the same. Room temperature is excellent.

That's what I really needed to know then. Everything will be room temp, so no heat required to activate the yeast I guess? I'll just pitch it in then and shake it real good.

 

[bernardsmith]

we-ell.. The yeast normally has a preferred rehydration temperature. I would stick with that but then monitor this and pitch the yeast when it and the must are at the same temperature. I know brewers love to force separate their yeast cells so the colony is completely scattered, but don't experts on yeast suggest that it is always better to allow the yeast to act as a colony - so you don't do any shaking after you have pitched the yeast. They will find the sugars all by themselves. That said , one thing that mead makers do is stir their meads during active fermentation. This for several reasons (degasing is one) but another reason is to prevent yeast from flocculating too soon and dropping out of solution or forming strata. Another reason is that when yeast drop out of solution and find themselves under layers of sediment and other yeast cells this can cause stress to the cells and create off flavors and inhibit a more active fermentation... so Mead making is the anti-James Bond: Yeast is stirred, not shaken.