CityBear
Member
Hey Everyone,
I am a two days into my first batch of mead, and I am a bit worried already.
I started with 13lbs of honey from a local producer in Marin County, and 4 gallons spring water. I used the AIH mead kit for my additives, and added the .25 tsp. Potassium Metabisulfite, six tsp. Acid blend/2.5 tsp. Pectic Enzyme/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient, to the must the day before pitching the yeast. I started two packs of Redstar Cote des Blanc yeast with 1c of the honey and 1800ml of the spring water on a stir plate and let it go for 48 hours before adding it to the brew bucket. When combined the OG was 1.11.
The yeast went to town right away, and before long the airlock was bubbling. As the morning wore on my apartment started to heat up, and it became difficult to keep StarSan in the airlock as the bubbling was so intense. I must have refilled the airlock and off-gassed three times on day one. I checked the temp on the bucket, and it was 76-78F, so I moved the fermenter to the coolest part of my apartment and switched to a blowoff tube, which also bubbled precipitously.
After a few hours, I started to notice a sulfuric smell from the blow off. I read here that sulfuric odors are indicative of stressed out yeast, which I assume is due to me letting the temp get too high and the yeast not getting enough air. The temp was already dropping so I aerated the must with 5 min of stirring with a sanitized long whisk and closed the fermentor up for the night.
As of this morning, the fermentor temp is showing 68-70F, but there is zero activity in the blow-off tube/jar of StarSan. I opened up my brew bucket and aerated again this morning and got a decent little bit of foaming but a few hours later there are still no bubbles in the blow-off, and the smell though much reduced is still faintly present. I read on another post that I could try adding a round of bread yeast and keep aerating 2x daily, but does it seem like my yeast is toast or just that they were way too active earlier and occasional bubbling will return? Should I pitch bread yeast or more Cote des Blanc? What's a normal rate of bubbling during the primary? Did I already ruin the first attempt?
Thanks for any and all advice!
I am a two days into my first batch of mead, and I am a bit worried already.
I started with 13lbs of honey from a local producer in Marin County, and 4 gallons spring water. I used the AIH mead kit for my additives, and added the .25 tsp. Potassium Metabisulfite, six tsp. Acid blend/2.5 tsp. Pectic Enzyme/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient, to the must the day before pitching the yeast. I started two packs of Redstar Cote des Blanc yeast with 1c of the honey and 1800ml of the spring water on a stir plate and let it go for 48 hours before adding it to the brew bucket. When combined the OG was 1.11.
The yeast went to town right away, and before long the airlock was bubbling. As the morning wore on my apartment started to heat up, and it became difficult to keep StarSan in the airlock as the bubbling was so intense. I must have refilled the airlock and off-gassed three times on day one. I checked the temp on the bucket, and it was 76-78F, so I moved the fermenter to the coolest part of my apartment and switched to a blowoff tube, which also bubbled precipitously.
After a few hours, I started to notice a sulfuric smell from the blow off. I read here that sulfuric odors are indicative of stressed out yeast, which I assume is due to me letting the temp get too high and the yeast not getting enough air. The temp was already dropping so I aerated the must with 5 min of stirring with a sanitized long whisk and closed the fermentor up for the night.
As of this morning, the fermentor temp is showing 68-70F, but there is zero activity in the blow-off tube/jar of StarSan. I opened up my brew bucket and aerated again this morning and got a decent little bit of foaming but a few hours later there are still no bubbles in the blow-off, and the smell though much reduced is still faintly present. I read on another post that I could try adding a round of bread yeast and keep aerating 2x daily, but does it seem like my yeast is toast or just that they were way too active earlier and occasional bubbling will return? Should I pitch bread yeast or more Cote des Blanc? What's a normal rate of bubbling during the primary? Did I already ruin the first attempt?
Thanks for any and all advice!