Fermentation stopped?

[Drummerj2]

Ok, I'm a newbie here and to home brewing. My wife gifted me a mead making kit for Christmas.

I started my first batch of mead following a recipe included with the kit, nothing fancy, just a pretty basic recipe. After a few days my airlock blew. I searched around found saw where someone had a simualr problem and just put it back on. A few days layer it blew again, I put it on again. It stayed on for several weeks with no further issues although I never really saw the airlock work or the batch bubble.

I racked the mead the other day and started a new batch. While cleaning all of the supplies I noticed that the rubber stopper that my airlock was attached was not molded properly and was not allowing the gas to escape. Essentially it was a rubber cork.

I cut the excess rubber away and I started a new batch. This time it seems to be working quite well and looks as I expected the first batch to look like.

I'm worried that my first batch did not ferment, or maybe only very little. Is there anything I can do with it, or should it just be thrown out?

 

[Rish]

Welcome to HBT! No need to throw it out at this point unless it tastes/smells terrible. It was fermenting; that's what blew the cork out. You should check the specific gravity (sg) then leave it in your secondary with an airlock until the sg is stable for a couple of readings 3 or 4 days apart. Good luck and happy meading!