A stalled ferment?

[Maylar]

Posting a blog on my current project. It's a Tupelo traditional with Lalvin DV10, and it's not going quite as expected.

I was shooting for 11-12% ABV, OG between 1.085 and 1.090. Mixed 4.3 gallons of water and 14 lbs. of honey, expecting 1.090. Ended up at 1.098 per the hydrometer, 1.096 per my Tilt device. Rehydrated an 8 gm. packet of DV10 with Go-Ferm and pitched into 68°F must. Added Opti White and Booster Blanc as usual. The next day there was no activity at all. I'm pretty sure that I thermal shocked the yeast going from my cold 60° brew room to the warm 100° hydration slurry. So I did another yeast pack in warm water per the packet directions. Had a nice layer of foam the next day, added bentonite and the first nutrient round, and dropped the temp to 62°.

The ferment proceeded nicely, dropping about 7 gravity points per day. At 12 days it was at 1.007 and I set the temp back to 68° to help the yeast finish up the last few points. But something is odd - there's been virtually no drop in gravity since. It's sitting at 1.0058 after 4 days and moving very slowly. Dunno why.

I expected it to go dry, and I would cold crash for a week before racking onto oak. DV10 is a powerful fermenter and I'm well within its temp range and alcohol tolerance. It's too late to add any more nutrients so there's nothing to do but wait. I've been stirring the yeast daily but it hasn't helped.

 

[Snuffy]

Maybe it's retained a bit of sweetness and is awesome.

 

[Maylar]

Maybe it's retained a bit of sweetness and is awesome.

Let's hope that that's true. I will oak it for 3 months and oaking usually adds a perception of sweetness. That's why I like to do the back sweetening after oaking. I'm OK with 1.005 final gravity if it's not too sweet due to other factors.

 

[MightyMosin]

Yeah... I did that once wo K-Sorbate. Once weather changed it started fermenting again.

Fully stabilize and you should be good... or wait it out.

 

[keystonehb]

At 12 days it was at 1.007 and I set the temp back to 68° to help the yeast finish up the last few points. But something is odd - there's been virtually no drop in gravity since. It's sitting at 1.0058 after 4 days and moving very slowly.

Is the reading based off of tilt or from a hydrometer? If it’s the tilt they can sometimes be off especially in top fermenting beverages.

I've been stirring the yeast daily but it hasn't helped.

At this point I wouldn’t keep opening it up to stir, you’re going to end up adding a lot of oxygen to your mead which at this stage is bad. If you have fermaid o you could try adding a touch of that to it if it’s still slightly moving. But personally 1.005 is a decent final gravity, the touch of sweetness tends to bring out the flavors from the honey more.

 

[Maylar]

Is the reading based off of tilt or from a hydrometer? If it’s the tilt they can sometimes be off especially in top fermenting beverages.

Both the Tilt and hydrometer agree. DV10 is a low foaming yeast and the Tilt has been dead on.

If you have fermaid o you could try adding a touch of that to it if it’s still slightly moving. But personally 1.005 is a decent final gravity, the touch of sweetness tends to bring out the flavors from the honey more.

Yeast can't assimilate nutrients after about 9% ABV and I'm past that. I guess it's lucky that I overshot my OG by a few points - I'll still have 11% ABV even with the loss of .005 points.