Feedback wanted on my mead progress.

[philodice]

Hello, I'm new to mazing. So far I've made one successful batch but I think that might have been beginner's luck. It was crystal clear and super tasty at only 4 months old. My next few batches taste like straight gasoline, fusils and ethanols and will take a year or two to age. So, I'm understandably nervous.

I pitched on 03/21/17
3 gallons of spring water
6 lbs of Ambrosia honey Raw and unfiltered, 1.5 lbs clover honey.
Lavin d47 started in warm water for 20 minutes until nice and bubbly. Fermax because I have that, and I don't have fermaid k or o. There is DAP in fermax.
Starting SG 1.07 which is a bit low but I'm going for flavor, not hardcore ABV. I want a nice dry sipping beverage with a full nose of honey and pleasant mouth feel. Alchohol is a secondary concern. I'm working up to that.
I'm keeping the must at 60-65 degrees in a brew cooler with packs of blue ice.
I aerated the must and whipped the heck out of it once per day for three days. And then I got confused. Some people say whip it, others say don't whip it...So I degassed once every 2-3 days and step fed a total of 3 teaspoons of fermax yeast nutrient.
On 04/05/17 the SG was 1.042. The smell is ok, perhaps a little gassy but overall pleasantly meady, yeasty overtones, fermented honey and all the good stuff.
Am I on track for a final gravity of 1.00 or will my yeast die? Is it taking too long? Just long enough? Should I stop whipping it? Whip it good? I've read so many things and my head is in a whirl. I'm pretty sure this is where I stop whipping it. Help please? I'm just full of nerves.

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi philodice and welcome.
I would expect the fermentation would have reached 1.000 within two weeks. Dropping only 40 points in that time is a concern.

Not immediately obvious why this fermentation is going so slowly. I would expect the starting gravity to be a little higher than 1.070 - perhaps closer to 1.085 but that should not be a problem. I am thinking that the fermax may be old and the nitrogen and other critical minerals may have been activated and lost because of dampness or oxidation. If that is not a reasonable possibility, then I wonder if the pH may have dropped so low (honey has no chemical buffers to inhibit such a drop and a pH of 3.00 or lower is possible and such a low pH can inhibit fermentation. Can you check the pH of your mead?
The last possibility I can think of is the viability of your yeast. Was this a new pack that you just opened ? Was this a pack that was stored in your fridge for months and months? Do you know what the date stamp was on the pack? How warm was the water that you used to rehydrate the yeast?

 

[philodice]

I've decided to stop degassing it and have filled up the headspace with 14 Oz of water/ 3 oz honey. I've sealed that up in the cooler and I'll be gently rousing the lees once a day. I'll test it in a week. If there is no change I'll follow stuck ferment protocol.