First mead and after 2 1/2 weeks I’m worried

[Joshua Hughes]

Everything seemed fine the first two weeks. First few days looked like fermentation was good then it stopped being real active as I expected. Yesterday I noticed a ring of bubbles at the top like it was fermenting again. But I also noticed some spots on top. This morning I took a pic. My recipe if you want to call it that was 2 lbs of honey and gallon carboy filled up with water. Used a white wine yeast.

 

[videojunkie1208]

Looks pretty normal. Did you add any nutrients?

 

[Joshua Hughes]

no I just pitched the whole pack. It was more of a covid boredom thing lol. My little brother likes mead so I thought I’d make a batch for the first time I go over there once this crap is over. It looked ”clean” for two weeks until yesterday.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Temps rising can cause more gases to start coming out, or cause the yeast to speed up (and produce off flavors sometimes).

 

[Joshua Hughes]

I’m Sure it’s fluctuating serve but it’s staying in the mid to upper 60s

 

[Seamonkey84]

Unless you see mold you’re all set. But without taking any gravity readings you really can’t tell when it’s done. Bubbles in air lock are fun to watch but don’t mean anything once the fermentation starts.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

I didn’t say it was done, planned at last a month in the fermenter its only been 2 and a half weeks.
not sure if it’s mild but it looks like a white floating patch

 

[videojunkie1208]

if you have some nutrients to throw in there gently, I would. otherwise, sit back and enjoy the slow ride... take it easy... mead without nutrients takes - a while. i used to brew 1 batch a year... now I can get it done and tasting good in a matter of months.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

Thanks guys. I’ll let it ride. If I see anything else weird I’ll snap a pic.

 

[videojunkie1208]

looks like your (calculated) OG should have been around 1.075 with a predicted ABV around 9.75%

Two weeks with proper nutrition might just about do it. Without taking a sample and seeing what your gravity is, you're going on the educated guesses of a couple of guys on the internet. My guess is that your SG could be around 1.020 (ish) and that's where things slow down a lot.

If you can take a sample, (or if your gallon jug is deep enough for your hydrometer...) that would tell you a lot about how things are progressing.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

There are More of those white spots and they look like they are “elevated” like almost like contacts floating or something. I couldn’t get a good pic for some reason.

 

[videojunkie1208]

What kind of honey did you use?

 

[Joshua Hughes]

 

[videojunkie1208]

White staff is probably some waxes or other unfermentables.

I wouldn't worry too much. When you rack it in a few weeks, you'll leave it behind.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

Alright since this was a quick mead I bottled it today. Part of the reason was I needed the car boy and another is I wanted to see if it was ruined. The taste wasn’t great. Tasted like a strong wine where alcohol was present. It didn’t taste like vinegar and I didn’t think it tasted sour just sweet with alcohol presence.

will this smooth out in bottles? Will it continue to clear. It wasn’t real clear but I didn’t rack to a secondary after a week or so since I usually don’t like to open fermenters. Do I need to open the bottles and put in a sanitized car boy?

it was 2 pounds of honey for a gallon batch

 

[videojunkie1208]

sounds like a typical young mead. age will improve it considerably.

It will clear in the bottles, but you'll wind up with some 'sludge' in the bottom that you'll want to avoid when you pour it. you're also going to want to drink this soonishly (I'd give it about 3-6 months in a cool place) as with the extra stuff in the bottle, it wont age out much beyond a year or so without getting some funky flavors. my older meads I've wound up pouring out because A) the new ones are so much better, and B) because they really did not age very well.

good news! if it's not the most amazing mead ever, you've learned a few things, and there's not much of it to drink. bad news, if it turns out great, you get to wait a while to get a new batch....

For years I made 2.5 gallon batches, and I was always loathe to hand out bottles. I now consider a 5 gallon batch small, and am happy to have others sample and give feedback. I am always thinking about what I want to drink 6 months to a year from now.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

good to hear. I’m actually sipping on half a pint of it. not bad after it sat out a few minutes. I put some in the fridge before I sent this post since one bottle was a screw top. Is that an issue?

 

[videojunkie1208]

not if you're drinking it... lol

chilling it will also bring out the better parts of some meads.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

 

[Seamonkey84]

If it’s at all fizzy still, try shaking it or swirling it In a glass like your letting it breath. Lots of off flavors just need to gas out.

 

[Joshua Hughes]

That was sure true for my sample.

 

[equator_brew]

I am experimenting with rice wine yeast on Honey and this is what i got after 2 weeks.
Not sure if this is normal as this is my first time doing this.

There is a clump of matter that gathered at the bottom of it. The Honey water was initially clear, with all the matter settled at the bottom before stirred them up.

 

[videojunkie1208]

I am guessing that by 'rice wine yeast ' you mean rice yeast balls?

What was your recipe?

 

[equator_brew]

I had about 5 table spoon of water dissolved in water, and added a finger tip amount of yeast into it (Those are the only available yeast in my area), then had them all kept in a small glass bottle. The yeast i had came in powdered packets instead of those yeast balls.

Here's how it looked at the beginning of the experiment.

 

[videojunkie1208]

how much honey did you use, looks like maybe a 1 gallon jar? also did you use any nutrients?

I am not familiar with that type of yeast, but I do know that some yeasts are bottom fermenting, and some are top fermenting.

One thing that I have started doing is tasting my ferments as they progress (each time I take a sample, i taste it to make sure that there are no off flavors, etc) that's easy when you have a fermenter with a spigot, but on such a small volume, you'd lose most of your batch to samples if you took them very often.