Am I worrying too early about low fermentation activity in my mead?

[Ashley Wilson]

So I'm brand new to brewing but my goal is simplicity. This is probably going to sound noob as hell, but that's why I'm learning...

I made a mead using 3 lbs of honey, spring water, and Nottingham ale yeast with some mulling spices and orange peels, cloves, allspice berries, a cinnamon stick, and roughly 25-30 raisins in the 1 gallon carboy.

SG is 1.114, and is more or less what I was going for since I wanted this on the sweeter side.

I thought I mixed well with shaking and stirring, I hydrated the yeast ahead of time and sealed it. It's been sitting for roughly 24 hours now and the bubbles in the airlock are about 30 seconds apart and there is about a 1-2 inch layer of what I am assuming is multiplied yeast(?) at the bottom with the raisins. It isn't solid though, actually it just looks like a settlement of a denser and more opaque liquid that moves and behaves like a liquid as well.

From what I've been seeing, I'm supposed to have had more vigorous fermentation by now, but I want to make sure I'm staying ahead of any problems now just in case, or if I need to just chill.

speaking of chill, I live in a basement where it's roughly 65 degrees C, though sometimes during the night it can drop below that.

Any helpful advice would be much appreciated. <3

 

[Lefou]

I think you're off to a good start, but don't expect a mead fermentation to be as vigorous as one using beer wort.
Beer wort made from grains will have a higher concentration of nitrogen and free amino nutrients you won't get in a honey-water mixture unless it's added in. If you'd like to take mead-making to the next level consider buying Fermaid and adding portions during the fermentation process to keep your yeast going strong.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/improve-mead-staggered-nutrient-additions/

Also, try hitting the mead/wine forums here. Way more knowledge and experience there to help out.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Welcome to the forum, Ashley. All sounds good with your mead, my advice is just chill be patient, fermentation is done when it’s done. The sediment on the bottom is called lees and it will settle eventually. Patience is the one ingredient recipes never mention. Being your first brewing experience it is totally understandable that you are watching it like a newborn. Cheers!

 

[Lefou]

Patience. Hum! Exactly.
Lack of patience led me from cider to home made wine and mead. When I found out how long it took to age a stronger wine I started brewing beer instead. Since then it's become an enjoyable experience down the hobbyist rabbit hole ...

 

[Yooper]

I'll move this to the mead forum so you can get some meadmaker's advice since this isn't brewing, but instead meadmaking/winemaking.

That's a high OG for ale yeast, so pamper them. Stir the mead well a couple of times per day for the next couple of days, and add some yeast nutrients by first dissolving them in some water or some of the mead you extract from the batch, and stir that in.

 

[Maylar]

In lieu of proper yeast nutrient (raisins are inadequate) you can boil a 1/2 cup of water with a packet of bread yeast and dump that into your mead (when cool). Your working yeast will cannibalize the bread yeast as a nitrogen source.