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When making traditional meads, pH drops can be a very common problem and if you intend to make a lot of mead, get a pH meter is one of the best investments you can make. You'll find it helps you in a variety of situations. Usually when making melomels, there is enough buffering capacity...

The problem is this yeast should continue fermenting to a gravity somewhere below 1.000 and in doing so it will produce more pressure than a beer bottle can tolerate and possibly more than a Champagne bottle can stand. This can produce a bottle bomb with glass shards flying in your face if it...

There are a couple of things that may be slowing your yeast down. Temperature is a factor and if you are fermenting in a cold place (less than 60F) it can give a long fermentation (however, slow and cool is good). If you have been keeping it cool, letting it warm up a little at the end may help...

Well managed fermentations, even of high-gravity batches, can usually be accomplished in under 3 weeks. Ashmgee, if you provide the recipe details, we may be able to identify reasons for the slow going. Medsen

Usually it doesn't take 4 years for meads to mature to the point where they are delicious, but it can easily take 2 depending on the honey and the recipe. You can use wine/Champagne yeast to make delicious dry sparkling meads. Typically you make the mead and let it clear completely before...

I have seen a fermentation restart after a year despite having cleared and having been racked. If you use a high ABV yeast strain (like EC-1118, Uvaferm 43, K1V, DV10 or some such) and it stops short of the 18% alcohol tolerance it can definitely happen. If you keep it stored someplace that...

Most traditional meads have the potential to age that long.

Up to 2 years later has been well docoumented. leaping, if you'll see my response in this thread it should help.

In the short run, put the bottles in the fridge to decrease the pressure inside the bottles. Then you can open them and pour them back into a carboy under airlock and let them finish. To prevent this in the future, if you have residual sugar, use stabilizing chemicals (sorbate + sulfite) or you...

Before you bottle, it is a good idea to let the mead clear and that can take months. Otherwise you will get massive amounts of sediment in your bottles. Also, I don't like to bottle something unless I'm sure it is at least decent, and sometimes waiting for a mead to finally prove that it is...

Actually, the alternate equation looks like it gives erroneous reading that are seriously too high. If you use the fundamental chemistry as outlined HERE the calculation will give you a little above 12%. As a example of where this "improved" equation breaks down, try assuming a high-gravity...

You can go with the big one for primary fermentations, as head space is irrelevant during primary. However, after fermentation is complete, you need to have it age in a container that is of the appropriate size to eliminate head space. The cheapest and easiest large-volume fermenters are...

The yeast won't die from the CO2 (you have to have about 7 atm of pressure to kill them), however, if you have a fruit cap, and you don't punch it down or stir/swirl to break it up it can cause the fermentation temp to rise too high creating a harsher mead or potentially harming the yeast (in...

If your mead is already fermented the alcohol will prevent the wild yeast from being active. The unpasteurized juice will have lactic acid bacteria and if you haven't used sulfite on the mead previously, your cider could possibly go through malolactic fermentation if you don't add some KMeta...

Hey, a bit of residual sugar can cover a multitude of sins. You should wind up with a sweet, spiced cyser - chances are it'll turn out good, and for $5 you can certainly afford to say "what the heck?" I hope it tastes great!

How about giving the full details of your recipe and process?

For the moment, I wouldn't add any more. Let this finish fermenting and see where the gravity sits. Then you can make a plan.

Yes, more honey, but you'll have to stabilize it first to prevent the added honey from being fermented. Has it finished bubbling? and can you check the gravity?

You can do nutrients 2 steps, 3 steps, or more. I've read some folks adding nutrients twice a day, but I think you can easily go overboard with the frequency. If you do 2 steps, add some (50-66%) at the end of lag phase and the rest at the 1/3 sugar break. If you do 3 steps, add 50% at...

Typical wine yeast pitch rates are 50 grams per hectoliter (the equivalent of 10 grams in a 5 gallon batch). Whether that is optimal for meads or ciders remains a question. I find that a 5 gram packet of yeast in a typical strength mead works fine. For high gravity batches (above 1.130) I...