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Snuck in those last three melomels. (Such vivid colors!) 186.7 +3 = 189.7

Either/or works for vanilla, though each have drawbacks. Being an oil, the extract can sometimes integrate weirdly and cause odd flavors in my experience, while the bean can be easy to overdo if it is left in too long. I personally lean toward the actual bean, but neither one is wrong per say...

14 gallons so far. Ten are traditionals (meadowfoam, goldenrod, buckwheat, snowberry), two are metheglins, and two are melomels. I'm probably going to do three final melomel gallons in June, and then that'll be it for the year - I primarily make mead for myself, and there's only so much I can...

Generally speaking, recipes shouldn't tell you a set time frame to rack; the yeast will ferment on its own schedule and will let you know when it is finished (i.e. when the hydrometer FG readings are consistent between multiple readings). With good nutrition, most standard strength meads should...

Welcome to mead! It's a fun hobby, albeit a sometimes pricey one. Individual apples are mostly water and won't lend much flavor. You'll need a lot more than three Fuji apples, but I'd recommend using cider instead of water. Very effective and less lossy. Cinnamon's antimicrobial properties are...

I did! The chouchen didn't turn out well coming out of secondary - the buckwheat funk didn't seem to mesh with dry cider and there was an underlying bitterness that I struggled with. That one might improve with age though. The other two were much more successful and have made me an overall fan...

None of those are nutrients though. They mask some of the off-flavors that nutrient deficient meads can develop, but they don't add any appreciable YAN and meads made with just them are prone to stalling. If you're against chemical nutrients for whatever reason, at least go for Fermaid O and...

Lady at the brew shop had no idea what she was talking about then. Saying it politely, but raisins aren't nutrients and that's a myth that needs to go away. At the least, I'd suggest picking up diammonium phosphate (DAP) and adding 3-4 grams. If you have Fermaid O or K, 2g of either would be of...

If you have any photos, that can help us to determine what it might be. Sometimes people confuse yeast rafts, lees, or floating pollen with infections. Those are harmless overall. But if it is an actual infection like mold, dumping is the only option. No reason to risk one's health over a beverage.

An SG of 1.18 is extremely high (about 22% potential ABV)! At that level, fermentation can get wonky and sometimes the yeast won't even start. Usually people step feed the honey if they want to get that high of an ABV. K1V is a hardy yeast though and a 2-week ferment is actually quite possible...

It isn't really about time so much as it is about how far along the fermentation is. Oxygen is very helpful to the yeast when they're first starting out. Once there's a significant amount of alcohol in the must though (I usually assume 1/3rd mark but have seen some people advocate for half-way...

Bottled a 1-gallon traditional this last Sunday. Roughly 14% ABV and feels promising.

Yep, adding in 8 more gallons, so 110 gallons total now.

Racking over my final mead of the season (an OB traditional) to secondary later this morning. Excluding the 4 gallons of fireweed and snowberry I posted earlier, that comes out to 8 gallons of mead and 6 gallons of wine for this spring. Going to pick back up again when the weather gets cooler in...

Of the two, I'd say 71B - it is more of a red wine yeast but will be easier on the chardonnay must and will add fruity notes. That being said, I'd use D47 or QA23 if you can obtain either. They aide in developing the chard's characteristic mouthfeel and are recommended by the manufacturer for...

I went with Cabernet Sauvignon since I have a fondness for big reds. I actually spoke with the supplier this morning. They said that they didn't inoculate but that they use EC-1118 around their winery and it is possible that some of the yeast ended up in the grape juice by accident. That lines...

Keystone Homebrew for me. Looks like we had the same issue with Gallo though. I actually contacted the supplier today to inquire if they pre-inoculate the must before shipment. That's the only explanation I can think of as to why a spontaneous ferment happened so quickly after using sulfites.

Had this happen to me as well, almost exactly as you described! Picked up 6 gallons of juice on Sunday, split them into two 3-gallon batches so I have an easier time fermenting, and dosed each with metabisulfites to kill any wild yeast. Checked on the buckets this afternoon and both were very...

Just to verify, did you check SG before racking? I only ask because, in my experience, clearing can take much longer if it wasn't finished fermenting when racked over. Mead clearing times can be quite variable in general though. I've had batches where the yeast drop out within two weeks in...

@Phoenix7801 covered the likely error in calculating SG pretty well. I'll chime in to add that bubbling/airlock activity isn't a reliable way of telling if a batch is fermenting. The best way to be sure is to take another hydrometer reading, then one the following day, and so on, and see if the...