Dead mead

[Henrik Hebsgaard]

So I am not a total novice, but I have only done 3-4 meads.
I have done some ciders and fruits wines also, and I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the fermentation process.
But I have to give and ask for help.

I had some som fruit and berries from our garden in the freezer that wanted to use in a small batch of mead, as an experiment
It is about 50% plum, 30% gooseberries and 20% redcurrant. (The color of the must is just amazing)

Trouble is it never started fermenting. Nothing at all. No bubbles. No activity. No smell of active yeast doing its thing.

I repitched the yeast 2 days after first pitch. And a bread yeast 2 days after that. Still nothing.

Then I had the idea to piggyback on a fresh fermentation, so I made about a liter of must in a sepeaerate bucket, at roughly half the SG, with only a tiny bit of nutrients added.
This thing was bubbling the very next day, and I poured about 100 ml / 3 oz of my original must into the active bucket and BAM. Never saw another bubble.
The ratio was like 10% dead must with 90% active. DEAD!!! I did not see that coming at all.

What do I do now?

Recipe:

In a clean bucket:
- 1,5 kg plum w.o. stones from freezer
- 0,8 kg gooseberry from freezer
- 0,5 kg redcurrant from freezer
- 1 gram campden powder
- 6 grams enzyme
- 3,5 gram of calcium carbonate, to address the tartness of the berries. (Must tastes fresh, but not overly acidic afterwards)
- 0,5 L of water

After 1 week in a cool place I strained it into the fermenter and found the SG to be 1,042 naturally.
Then I added:
- 0,85 kg of honey (SG = 1,093)
- 1 pinch tannin powder
- half teaspoon nutrient (premixed pouch that I do not know the exact content of) https://www.hembryggeriet.se/jastnaring-super-for-25l-vin-cider-mjod-2741

Total volume 5,0 L.

Yeast pitch
1/4 packet Lalvin 71B (slightly old packet from last brew, stored in fridge)
2 days later the pitched the remaining 1/4 packet.
2 days later I pitched fresh bread yeast.

The piggyback fermenter was also bread yeast, from the same pack, which sprung into action immidiately.


What am I missing? What is killing of yeast using just small amounts of must?

Thanks for inputs!

 

[MightyMosin]

On the surface it all sounds like there shouldn't be any issues.

Your fruit is fresh, so there shouldn't be any chemical stabilizers present there that would cause a fermentation issue.
Your campden powder amount might be a bit high depending on the pH of your must, but your experiment where ~10% of the old must killed of fermentation doesn't look promising as that being an issue.

Your enzyme is a pectic enzyme?
What is your water source that you used to bring it to the 5L total volume? Any chance that it is chlorinated or has chloramine and has killed off the yeast?

If you aren't rehydrating the yeast before pitching it, I would do that also. Don't use distilled water or any DAP in the hydration process.

So what stops the active fermentation?
A high enough level of K-Meta might. You could dilute a sample of your must and try your experiment again to see if it kills off the fermentation.
A very high gravity must, but you aren't in that territory.
A very low pH might also cause you an issue. Do you have a meter to test it? If not, you could also repeat your experiment and add some more carbonate to the sample to raise the pH and see if it kills off your fermentation.
Chlorine or chloramine in the water would be a possibility.

 

[Maylar]

Campden powder? How much is a gram?

 

[keystonehb]

Campden powder? How much is a gram?

If he is referring to the weight of crushed tablets, usually they are about 0.5g per (some people say less, some more but this seems to be the middle ground).

What am I missing? What is killing of yeast using just small amounts of must?

I have to ask since it wasn't mentioned. You talked a lot about not seeing activity, but did you at least take another gravity reading to ensure nothing did in fact happen? Sometimes fermentation happens before we even realize it.

 

[Maylar]

If he is referring to the weight of crushed tablets, usually they are about 0.5g per

So that's about 2 tablets for 5 ltrs, which is kinda high. I wonder if the sulfite is inhibiting fermentation.

 

[keystonehb]

So that's about 2 tablets for 5 ltrs, which is kinda high. I wonder if the sulfite is inhibiting fermentation.

It's definitely high but at least its not double. I would assume after the second pitch of yeast and (assuming) 48hrs+ later i assume that the suphite levels would drop enough to allow the second addition of yeast would take.

 

[MightyMosin]

It's definitely high but at least its not double. I would assume after the second pitch of yeast and (assuming) 48hrs+ later i assume that the suphite levels would drop enough to allow the second addition of yeast would take.

IT can be stirred a lot to convert free SO2 to bound SO2

 

[Raptor99]

It sounds like your Kmeta (campdenpowder) was approx. double of the usual amount. So this is good advice:

IT can be stirred a lot to convert free SO2 to bound SO2

Do the vigorous stirring first. Then...

Make a yeast starter, which is the best way to start a difficult ferment:
* Rehydrate the yeast in a small amount of water at the temperature recommended on the package (usually around 95 degrees F). Preferably with some GoFerm to get it started.
* After 15-20 minutes, you should see clear signs of fermentation. At that time add a volume of your must equal to the rehydration water, thus doubling the volume. Stir.
* Once that is clearly fermenting, add it to your must, but don't stir for the first 12 hours.

 

[Henrik Hebsgaard]

Thank you for your feedback.
I was going to dump, but the stubborn thing sprung to life a few days after my post, after shaking it a bit.
I am now gradually pouring the stuck must into the healthy fermantation bucket.

Again, thanks for the inputs.