72 hour lag, maybe?

stoant27 · Feb 14, 2017

Hi All,

Little description new user, I've made cider, wine and beer before, nothing large but enough to make my wife and I and some friends happy when we have get togethers. Decided to venture into some mead since I was given 15 pounds over the weekend.

So far I've followed steps on here for proper technique and honestly it's simple. My problem is I think I'm in the 72 hour lag and might be even longer? This morning when I checked it, it was on it's 63rd hour and all of my yeast is sitting at the bottom. I then made a quick starter out of quarter cup warm water, tsp of yeast and tsp of sugar and played around with the dog for a bit and when I came back it was working so I know my yeast isn't dead. I got a 1lb pack of that Red Star Dady yeast a few years back and never had a problem with it until now. When I make my cider it's almost within 12 hours my fermentation is working.

Made a 5 gallon batch, mixed honey and water in a 1 gallon plastic jug and then funneled it in that way so it was mixed and ready to go. I made my yeast on the stove top dissolved and dumped in then topped off with water. 15 pounds of honey and rest water, 3:1 ratio as I've read on here.

I have the mead sitting in the basement where I start my cider and wine and I've learned to leave anything I brew alone until a few days and this morning I just wanted to check on it and nothing! What happens after the 72 hour lag? Do I keep waiting? Is there natural yeast that should take over? Should I go real quick to get some new yeast? Any help would be appreciated!

Tony S.

stoant27 · Feb 14, 2017

Maybe I should have done a smaller batch for my first mead attempt? I hate if I wasted the honey.

thm57 · Feb 14, 2017

Is that 3 lbs to one gallon of water or 3:1 by volume? If it's 3 to 1 by volume your yeast is probably in shock from the amount of sugar. Also you said you dissolved the yeast on the stove top? if you got that over 35-40*c you could have killed your yeast. If that's the case just pitch some more yeast on top, just use cooler water to dissolve it.

last thing it could be is nutrients. Honey is very nutrient deficient for yeast and they need some help.

also if you own a hydrometer, posting readings can help a lot with finding problems when troubleshooting.

stoant27 · Feb 14, 2017

Hi, I used 3 pounds of honey per 1 gallon of water. I dissolved per instructions of yeast, I believe 100-104 F. When I make my cider and wine I just dump the yeast in, not sure why the mead will need it dissolved? If nothing takes in the next few days I'll do what you said and add yeast to the top. Also, I dissolved sugar to help the yeast with the honey. I may order some nutrients if you believe that helps it tremendously. I forget off the top of my head but when I get home I'll check the hydrometer reading I have written on the carboy.

Thanks for your help!

thm57 · Feb 15, 2017

Definitely sounds like a nutrient issue. Even adding a few raisins to the batch can help get it going. The other option if you can't get yeast nutrient easily is to boil a tablespoon or two of bread yeast for 5 minutes, cool it down, then add that to your mead.

stoant27 · Feb 16, 2017

I made a quick gallon last night of JOAM and it was instantly bubbling. Definitely like you pointed out the nutrient defficiency. My airlock is now bubbling on the 5 gallon batch but it's not as wild as the gallon. My nutrients come in today so I will add them to the mix and add some more yeast to it and get it going. I have access to many small 1 gallon glass jugs so from here on out I'm just going to make them 1 gallon at a time until I can get a good system going. I wanted to do the 5 gallons dry and then re-rack with flavor into separate 1 gallon jugs but I learned my lesson already!