Help me please

[MeadMiser]

Now I’m gonna sound like a total noob when I say all this and that’s because I am. I watched a few YouTube videos on making mead and and they enticed me to brew my own, but none of them really were good at gauging how long you had to wait for certain things to happen or anything really at all, besides dumping everything together and 2 months later you get mead. So I made a simple honey water batch but I’m afraid I didn’t let my dry yeast hydrate enough. If I were to guess I probably let it sit for around 3 mins and then poured it in, mixed it around and topped off the bucket with a little more water. I’m gonna let it sit for a day and if I don’t see any air bubbles in my airlock should I add more yeast, and if so what kind or brand more specifically, and how should I go about doing it?

-Thank you for any feedback

 

[bfbrewer]

Now I’m gonna sound like a total noob when I say all this and that’s because I am. I watched a few YouTube videos on making mead and and they enticed me to brew my own, but none of them really were good at gauging how long you had to wait for certain things to happen or anything really at all, besides dumping everything together and 2 months later you get mead. So I made a simple honey water batch but I’m afraid I didn’t let my dry yeast hydrate enough. If I were to guess I probably let it sit for around 3 mins and then poured it in, mixed it around and topped off the bucket with a little more water. I’m gonna let it sit for a day and if I don’t see any air bubbles in my airlock should I add more yeast, and if so what kind or brand more specifically, and how should I go about doing it?

-Thank you for any feedback

The yeast are fine. Be patient as Mead will often take awhile to show signs of fermentation.

Buckets are notorious for leaking around the seal so you might not see any airlock activity until a few days in when the yeast really takes off.

Co2 will also dissolve into the must so you will often not see airlock movement for a 2-3 days if your fermentation temps are on the cool side.

Give the must a good stir on the first 3 days of fermentation and you will see and smell the signs of it fermenting.

This will also help bring the co2 out of solution and boost the yeast with some oxygen.

 

[SKBugs]

The only real way to gauge fermentation is to measure gravity. Get yourself a hydrometer (or two) and take gravity readings until you get the hang of how fermentation works.

 

[MeadMiser]

The yeast are fine. Be patient as Mead will often take awhile to show signs of fermentation.

Buckets are notorious for leaking around the seal so you might not see any airlock activity until a few days in when the yeast really takes off.

Co2 will also dissolve into the must so you will often not see airlock movement for a 2-3 days if your fermentation temps are on the cool side.

Give the must a good stir on the first 3 days of fermentation and you will see and smell the signs of it fermenting.

This will also help bring the co2 out of solution and boost the yeast with some oxygen.

Okay, thank you very much!

 

[MeadMiser]

The only real way to gauge fermentation is to measure gravity. Get yourself a hydrometer (or two) and take gravity readings until you get the hang of how fermentation works.

I will get myself some hydro meters then! Thank you

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi MeadMiser - and welcome.
Yup. That is really the only way to know whether fermentation has started and how it is progressing and when the active period has ended. If your Youtube videos did not explain this then they are likely garbage or else they were designed to highlight something special to a more seasoned mead maker. How much honey did you use to make what volume of must and what yeast did you pitch (add)? These are also critical factors.