Degassing, Staggered Nutrient Additions & the Risks

[B3nj@m!n]

Hello all!

I'm currently brewing my first batch of mead. I utilized the SNA and degassing. My schedule is as follows:

Day 0: Rehydrated with Go-Ferm.
Day 1: After seeing the airlock bubbling, I degassed and added Fermaid-K and DAP.
Day 2: Degassed. Lots of airlock bubbling.
Day 3: Degassed and added nutrients, same amount. Lots of airlock bubbling.
Day 4: Degassed. Airlock bubbling starting to back off.
Day 5: Nothing. Airlock bubbling the same. (Came home from work late.)
Day 6: Degassed. Added nutrients at half strength. Airlock bubbling had definite drop.
Day 7: Nothing. Airlock barely bubbling.

I'm hoping that I didn't do anything wrong. Each time I added nutrients I used a stir stick attached to my drill which definitely added a healthy bit of oxygen. But I feel that the airlock wasn't doing much when I added the last batch of nutrients so I'm worried about oxidation. I did my absolute best to make sure I washed and sanitized each time but opening the lid for each time of degassing I'm so nervous.

Help reassure me!

 

[SKBugs]

Hey mate.
First of all I think you’d get a better response posting this on the mead forum page, which tends to be read a lot more than the recipe page.
So, it all looks like it’s going pretty well to me. Most meads slow down considerably after 7 days so I wouldn’t be too concerned at all.
However, the only way to tell how the fermentation is going is to use a hydrometer to take gravity readings at the beginning of the process. Then take more readings as time goes on and when you have 2 or 3 days with the same reading your mead is done.
I would wait for another couple of days and then rack onto a fresh carboy. Leave it for a couple of months to finish up the fermentation then bottle.
Enjoy

 

[B3nj@m!n]

Thank you for your response. Not sure how I didn't know where I was posting. Thank you!