Confusing Airlock/Yeast Pitch

[Bobbynogz]

Hi guys,

Registered after finding you all on Google. I'm having some problems with my mead brew, and can't quite figure out if it's normal, or something is getting stuck.

So, I have two one gallon demis with about 4.5lbs of honey in each, on Friday afternoon. It's now Saturday evening. I have spring water in both, and two teaspoons of extra nutrients (along with the yeast pack's nutes). Everything was thoroughly sanitised before use. Shouldn't be anything in there that has harmed or inhibited the yeast.

Yeast is Wyeast Dry Mead smack pack, split 50/50 between both demis, the 5 gallon innoculation packet was used, so there's easily enough to go around. This is where my concern lies though, when I received the yeast, I put it straight in the refigerator, and then three days later smacked it three hours before pitching. It didn't swell up. I waited and waited for another two hours and it still didn't swell up much.

I pitched it into well aerated must, but not at alot seems to be happening. There are no air leaks in the demijohns as I've tested if its water tight, and the only passage for air is through the bubbler airlock. The water in the bubblers is getting pushed though. I keep checking it once every few hours and I'm pretty sure the water level is moving (perhaps there ARE bubbles passing through, but just very very slowly?).

My thinking is that there is a large amount O2 in the must that the yeast is eating up first, and isn't producing alot of CO2 yet, maybe it'll start pumping out more once it gets into full swing?

If it's worst case scenario, and I was supplied dodgy or dead mead, what's the time limit on the must being saved? Do I have time to get more yeast and re-pitch without everything going tits up?

On another note, I do not have an OG measurement, because I don't have a testing container to float the hydrometer in (I forgot to buy that!).

Any suggestions? Many thank in advance.

 

[Bugeaud]

Well, if your refrigerator is pretty cold, it could of conceivably killed the yeast. But they say to store it in a cold dry place, so if it wasn't TOO cold it should be okay. You didn't re-hydrate your yeast in warm water before pitching so it will take maybe even up to a week to kick in (Has for me before, but this is rare, usually shorter). You have to be patient wait a week and see then. You have quite a bit of honey over the usual though if your yeast comes through it won't be too sweet. Could be dead yeast, wyeast dry mead does have a notorious reputation for being well..... dead. You would have had a better bet with Lavin EC 1118.

 

[Robusto]

I'm fairly new at mead making, so take my advise with a grain of salt.... But first, 4.5lb of honey is a lot in one gal. Second, the "mead yeasts" are notorious for bing, ironically, not the best yeasts for mead... Or for much else. I would get some Lavin 1116 or1118 yeast and give it another go.

The other thing is that with that much honey it may just take a while for your yeast to get going. I had a Cyser that I made as my first "real" mead that I accidently added too much honey to. It took over four days to show signs of fermentation, but when it was done it was delicious... Remember, after sanitation the next most important ingredient in brewing is patience.

 

[biochemedic]

I agree with Robusto that 4.5 lbs per gal is a fairly big mead (depending on the honey, you could be looking at an OG well in excess of 1.160). I think it's possible that this could be your culprit. Now I do note that the OP is in the UK, so if he's talking about an imperial gallon, it might not be quite as bad, but still a pretty high OG (at least 1.130). Depending on the OG, you might have shocked the yeast a bit.

Second, I'm surprised to hear all the negativity surrounding the Wyeast Dry Mead strain...it's by far one of my favorite yeasts. Robusto, the Wyeast SWEET mead strain, I agree is known to be pretty finicky, but not the Dry strain.

Regarding the others, perhaps the conditions of getting the packets to the UK or even to Canada aren't as optimal as in the US? FWIW, I've never known that strain to bulge it's smack pack nearly as much as some other yeast strains; however, I do know that the older the yeast, the less you may see in bulging, even after a couple days. Bobbynogz, do you happen to know the Mfg date on the packet? IF it was more than a couple months, this can cause a decrease in the viability and a lower cell count, but you should still have enough good yeast to eventually get started, all other things being equal. I once got two free packs of this yeast from my LHBS that were about a year old, and they barely bulged at all, but I made a starter from them, and make a couple great batches of mead with them.

 

[Bugeaud]

Hmm, interesting. From the research I've done, it seems people have more problems with the wyeast dry yeast strain that sweet. Idk.. maybe there is a discrepancy with location and shipping and what not. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/info-about-wyeast-4632-dry-mead-yeast-59330/index2.html this is one thread I've been looking at. one person it took him over a year for it to fully ferment. Another person had it stuck so re-pitched with lalvin. Malkore commented saying the sweet mead yeast is decent but not great, but apparently a lot better than the dry wyeast mead. Maybe this was just a by chance occurrence, but I doubt it. Either way, we'll see when the OP posts what's going on with the mead in a while here.

 

[fatbloke]

Ok.

4.5lb per gallon is quite high, but not insurmountable.

Liquid yeasts have their place, but they will always have a much lower cell count than dry yeasts. It's not the Wyeast dry mead yeast that's a PITA, it's the sweet mead yeast that is very finnicky (some have great success with it, but the couple of times I've tried it, it's been problematic).

There is probably something going on in there, but if the pack was still a little on the cold side when you pitched it, then it's likely that it's still in it's "lag phase". That's where it's building up the yeast cell colony to a high enough cell count to actually start the ferment properly.

Worst case scenario would be that it doesn't start at all, but you should really leave it for a week or so (get the test jar, or soak a piece of string in sulphites and tie the top of the hydrometer, gently lower it into the brew, making sure of no tension on the string, let it settle and get a reading - it won't be mega accurate but close enough to give you an idea of what might be happening - and no, sanitised string, cotton thread or whatever isn't best practice, but should do for now).

While you're waiting for something to happen, get the test jar (and possibly a wine thief or a turkey baster to be able to easily sanitise it and actually be able to take the sample out when you've got the jar/tube - you can often use the plastic case that the hydrometer was probably in when you bought it), and have a read of the gotmead NewBee Guide.

Don't bin it whatever you do. Because if it doesn't start, just keep it sealed up, but get a 2 gallon bucket from the HBS, and a pack of Lalvin K1V-1116 yeast (lots of mail order places if the HBS doesn't do the Lalvin yeasts). Then you can just sanitise the bucket, put both gallons in, rehydrate the yeast as per the pack instructions and pitch that. The bucket makes it easy to take a gravity reading, but also makes it easy to aerate the batch until it get's to the 1/3rd sugar break e.g. if the must is at a gravity of 1.100 then the 1/3 break is 1.065 or thereabouts. Plus when you are stirring it (I use a sanitised whisk) you are likely to get a lot of foam rising up, just stop the stirring/aeration until it drops back - stirring is often done once or twice a day.

Then once it's hit the 1/3rd mark, you can then give it a final stir, to keep all the yeast into suspension and split it back out into the DJ's, which are then airlocked and left to finish.

Remember, it's about patience. Some batches start quickly, some start slowly and it's the same with the ferments. You're gonna have to be patient anyway, as once it's finished, it will most likely, taste bloody horrible. You do the racking and clearing processes, then either bulk or bottle age it, 6 months is a minimum, a year more likely. Then you'll be surprised in the changes that happen during ageing.

regards

fatbloke

p.s. plenty of other info in my blog, with some links and info relevant to the South East........

 

[Bobbynogz]

Many thanks guys. Just to clarify I got my maths totally wrong and thought the bottles of honey I used were larger than they were in lbs. I actually have just over 3lbs of honey in each gallon!

My fridge is notorious for being on the colder side (my butter always does that thing where it's rock hard and rips your bread up ;P) but I think it shouldn't have KILLED yeast.

Chances are, i'm in a long lag period. I'll leave it for a week and see what happens. Will post results on here. Cheers!

 

[biochemedic]

Liquid yeasts have their place, but they will always have a much lower cell count than dry yeasts.

I think this is the issue some people have with liquid yeasts in general...meads tend to have a pretty high OG in general, and it confuses people that the tubes/smack packs say "pitchable." If you really run the numbers, you really do *need* to do a starter to get proper pitching rates with liquid yeast. Honestly, even with dry yeast, I always pitch more than one packet, and yes, I know it's not "necessary," but you know what, my lag times are *always* less than 12 hrs, and it rarely take longer than 3 weeks to hit FG. The last exception I've had to this rule was when I pitched a single tube of White Labs Dry English Cider yeast to my current cyser...I had no choice in this case b/c the LHBS ran out until the day I got the cider, and I was only able to get one tube each for my cider and cyser respectively. You better bet next year I'll be planning ahead more so I can make a nice stepped starter and have plenty of good health yeast slurry to pitch....

If you have a must in excess of 1.100, and you pitch a tube/pack of liquid yeast, don't use nutrients, and perhaps your pH is on the low side for whatever reason, yep, you'll get a long lag, and a slow sluggish ferment. Still, even with no nutrients, I've never had a fermentation last longer than 4 weeks...

 

[Bobbynogz]

Hey guys, noticed some progression!

One of the bottles appears to have developed a bit of head! The other gallon is slightly behind but is also developing bits at the sides:

There still isn't much activity in the airlock, but I think it's getting there.

In terms of the picture, I am slightly concerned. I'm 99% sure the brown sedimenty bits are just ground cinammon I put into the must which are now floating to the surface, I somewhat noticed this in the must before, but shook it up to get the flavour dispersed into the must. Not alarmed.

What I am alarmed by is the notable distinctive "mouldy" look of it. Does this look to you guys like normal, healthy yeast froth? Or does it look like wild yeast moulding on the surface?

Cheers fellas! Your help and guidance is greatly appreciated.


EDIT:

Everything is in full swing, bubbling like a champ.

 

[Bugeaud]

It looks cool to me, not moldy. The one time I had contamination (good thing it was only a small batch) I had a very vinagery and sulfery smell to my mead. And yeah cinnamon does that in liquid, but will eventually settle.

 

[biochemedic]

Yeah, don't worry about it...if you do a search for "is my xxx infected" you will find a gazillion threads, and the common theme is don't worry about it, don't f*c% with it, let it finish, and it'll be fine!

 

[Bobbynogz]

Edited- made a new thread.