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No problem, we all do, nothing wrong with letting it run it's course. As a beginner I am obligated to inquire whether or not you have tried a Joe's Ancient Orange Mead? Just a personal favorite that I try to convince everyone to play with.

As it ferments the abv grows so the more alcohol, the more you are going to notice it, over time that will age and mellow out so it's less alcohol and more honey or fruit scents. And 9 days since you added nutrients, might help to add some but check gravity or if it's smelling fine and far...

Those are the rehydration instructions for the yeast, warm sanitary water to temperature then add dry yeast to rehydrate. The alcohol smell is just that, evaporated alcohol so don't worry there. If you just added nutrients wait for the gravity to drop around a "sugar break" roughly when 1/3 of...

That's on the cooler side but check the temp range of the yeast, might be cold which will slow it down, but if it's working try it out.

15.75%, I saw that yeast has an alcohol tolerance of 16 so it was almost done and the campden should stop it. 1.030 is sweet, somewhere between soda and sweet ciders but the aging does bring the honey forward more. Over time I've lowered my final gravity to compensate so I don't get too sweet.

Not accounting for temperature or nutrition, even hydrated before pitching could be a day or two before it really gets going or less than 2 hours, yeast can be crazy. 3# should be done in 10-14 days even without nutrients, again though this can cause stress which prolongs clarity in some cases...

I've never used QA23 so can't offer any input on that, what is magic acid? The pic in graduated cylinder looks like ≈8 brix, can't think of sg equivalent, ballpark it at ≈20 maybe, that would be 130 gravity points gone already. 17 abv from that so what's the tolerance of QA23? Sounds like it's...

The campden tablets are going to sterilize the yeast, if anything survives I don't know how long they could take to ferment. What yeast was used and what is your current specific gravity? Also curious why you added the campden tablets?

What CKuhns said, lower abv is ready sooner, higher abv can change over night or take a year, all preferences and thanks for bringing up the abv bit CKuhns.

Fermaid O would be the Energizer/nutrient. Go Ferm is for prepping a yeast starter to get it going healthy before feeding it Fermaid K, Fermaid O and Diammoniumphospate or DAP for short. Potassium Sorbate or (K Sorbate) is to prevent yeast multiplying and consuming sugars when back sweetening...

Taken care of 'during' fermentation, this is when stress and off flavors can develop at any time based on temperature, lack of nutrients or any number of silly things. Once you get the hang of a clean healthy fermentation, the rest is simple. Get some sanitizer and mix it in a spray bottle which...

Yes it's possible and easy enough to make mead that's drinkable and tastes good while young (2-6 months old) and all it takes is careful monitoring and care. It does get better with age as this allows everything to mellow stress out and flavors to come together but once you've got things figured...

Best thing I've found is after 2 weeks of watching it, I mark the calendar ahead 6 weeks and hide the carboy. Day or two to forget about it then it's a happy surprise 😂

Only things I'm ever willing to fudge on a JAOM is removing the pith from the orange, I find it can get to bitter some times, and swapping an airlock for the balloon. Otherwise, I agree, it's difficult not to play with it but so fun to watch. Never heard of squeezing the orange, must be a...

Haha, gone are the days of sanitized marbles lol someone made a buck on a simple idea.

That's fine, just keep an eye on it as the fruit can get your fermentation going faster than you might expect, raspberry is one of those I need to stay on top of so nutrient doesn't run out and cause an odor issue.

Also, if you pick your own fruit or purchase, it's still a good idea to freeze them as this breaks cell walls and release's juice's easier. Are you planning a primary or secondary fruit addition?

Just realized this post was from March, did you try this recipe and if so how did it go?

The low activity was probably a lag phase, I've waited 5 days on occasion to see it get going. Extra yeast won't hurt, if that really helped then maybe build a bigger colony in your starter next time to see if that makes a difference or it still lags.

If you aren't going to be adding any water to this for at least a 2 gallon batch, the peach juice and honey alone will be very high even with only 3 lbs honey. Assuming the juice is roughly 1.04-5 area adding the honey is going to ballpark the sg around 1.14-1.17 depending on sugar levels. I...