Fermentation question

[Blarg21]

First time mead brewer here and I have a quick question. I started fermenting my traditional mead a couple of weeks ago and ther OG 1.108. I checked it last week and this week and the SG was 1.030 both times. So there has been no change. I am using a wine yeast that I got from my local HBS. Don't ask me what it was because I don't remeber. I just remember it was in a red packet and it was a wine yeast. Anyways I weas wondering if fermentation was over or if it had stalled. It does taste really good though.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

It's going to be hard to know what the tolerance of the yeast was related to your current ABV. but it kind of sounds like a stall.

Did you add any nutrients throughout the process? Honey has very little to no nutrients for yeast. So a fermentation that seems fine may stop short because of a lack of nutrients in the begining.

If it is stalled you can try to pitch more yeast (something like EC1118 or champagne yeast) to get it to finish. Or you make make a very dry batch (research staggered nutrient addition beforehand) and blend the two together. Finally you can just drink it really sweet once it clears and ages and make sure to stabilize it with that much in residual sugar.

 

[Blarg21]

I forgot to mention also that I added 2lbs of cormn sugar also when it started. It tastes fine like i said before. It actually tastes pretty dry as it is. Ill probably just clear it and drink it as it is. Now do i need to degass it when i go to bottle it or should I just leave it as is? Alswo before I forget, I also started a small one gallon batch of a Strawberry melomel. Would I need a nutrient as well or are the sugars from the straberries more than enough for the yeast to eat?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

So sugar and nutrient are different. Yeasts favorite activity is eating sugar and pissing alcohol (and pooping co2). But it also needs nutrients like nitrogen to keep it healthy and strong enough to not be stressed when the alcohol gets too high.

the 2lbs of sugar goes into effect for the 1.108 gravity and is accounted for.

Yes you should use nutrients on your melomel. At the very very very least, some boiled bread yeast. but if you can, homebrew stores sell "yeast nutrient" that you can add 1tsp per gallon or something along those lines.

 

[Blarg21]

boiled bread yeast you say? a spoonfull with a few cups of water sounds easy enough then. Thanks for the help

 

[Ragnarhammerhand]

I have made a two litre batch with currents and honey with more yeast than normal and only used plain yeast its brewing so fast is this normal, also its been a week and i can smell the strength