Hypothetical and not so hypothetical scenarios

[BrewN00b]

1) Say you may have put the yeast into the mixture when it was a little bit warmer. For this example we say that the mixture towards the lower portion of the better bottle that was in the ice water was around 70, but the upper portion was in the middle 80's, maybe even 90. Say, you already proofed your dry yeast not expecting the more viscous fluid to take a considerable more effort and time to cool, found yourself committed than pitched anyways. If the yeast were to not take could you simply repitch?

2) Say, you question whether you aerated your mixture enough and the fermentation did get stuck. Would it be ok to aerate again, add some yeast nutrient and hope it retook, or would you be best to aerate again, add more nutrient, AND repitch?

I did my first batch today, and had a real tough time cooling my mixture. I used two gallons of 40F water, which dropped it from 150 to about 114, than I used my wort cooler for another 20 minutes, which dropped it down barely at all. Apparently, my water coming out of my hose is around ambient temp, and nothing I do can bring it down, which doesn't make my wort cooler very efficient.

I than capped it and put it into an iced tub with 14 pounds of ice, which cooler the bottle half, but not the top.

After about seven hours in the 5 gal. better bottle, my 15 pounds of honey mixture seems to have a slight layer of bubbling on top, so I think the yeast is still in its respiration phase.

The stuff on top is grated ginger. I think I may have put too much of that in there too. I used about 5oz, maybe 6. I plan on opening this up around Xmas, so hopefully it will mellow by than.

That being said, what do yall think?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Looks fine to me.

 

[BrewN00b]

Progress report:

Mead is foaming quite lively, and a krausen is forming. I just hope that I aerated it enough. If I find that I didn't and the fermentation DOES crap out because of lack of oxygen, what does one do?

 

[summersolstice]

It's easier to introduce oxygen and nutrients during the first 2-3 days of fermentation and then stir daily for the next few days to keep the fermentation going well if you ferment in a loosely covered open top primary (I cover mine with a t-shirt). After the first 7-10 days or so when active fermentation is finished and there's no need to access your must then you can put it in a carboy to get it off the gross lees. Try that next time.

Why did you heat your mixture? I use about a gallon of hot tap water just to help melt and liquify the honey and then add cool tap water to cool it down to the 65F-70F range for pitching the rehydrated yeast.

 

[BrewN00b]

It's easier to introduce oxygen and nutrients during the first 2-3 days of fermentation and then stir daily for the next few days to keep the fermentation going well if you ferment in a loosely covered open top primary (I cover mine with a t-shirt). After the first 7-10 days or so when active fermentation is finished and there's no need to access your must then you can put it in a carboy to get it off the gross lees. Try that next time.

Why did you heat your mixture? I use about a gallon of hot tap water just to help melt and liquify the honey and then add cool tap water to cool it down to the 65F-70F range for pitching the rehydrated yeast.

I tried reading both sides of the argument regarding pasteurizing your honey or not, but there was so little information readily available that I decided to err on the side of caution. I picked up my honey at Smart & Final, a sort of discount supermarket here in SoCal, and I didn't know if I could trust the purity of it, besides Papazian seems to boil all his recipes, so I decided to split the difference and go for a pasteurization. This is my first batch of, so its kinda experimental.

I think I put way too much ginger in it, so it may be undrinkable for a few years anyways.

 

[armorshell]

It's easier to introduce oxygen and nutrients during the first 2-3 days of fermentation and then stir daily for the next few days to keep the fermentation going well if you ferment in a loosely covered open top primary (I cover mine with a t-shirt). After the first 7-10 days or so when active fermentation is finished and there's no need to access your must then you can put it in a carboy to get it off the gross lees. Try that next time.

Mind if I ask a noob question? What's the impetus behind any aeration or stirring after the initial introduction of oxygen? Is the goal to get the CO2 out of solution? I just can't wrap my head around why we'd want to introduce more oxygen to an anaerobic party.

 

[summersolstice]

Mind if I ask a noob question? What's the impetus behind any aeration or stirring after the initial introduction of oxygen? Is the goal to get the CO2 out of solution? I just can't wrap my head around why we'd want to introduce more oxygen to an anaerobic party.

Aeration in conjunction with properly timed nutrient additions early in the process (first 2-3 days or so) keeps the yeast healthy and stress-free. This in turn limits off flavors and promotes rapid and healthy fermentation.

I see a lot, and I do mean a lot, of posts where people have stuck fermentations, or mead still fermenting a month after pitching the yeast. Unlike beer and wine which provide a veritable feast for yeast, honey doesn't offer much for yeast to eat. The oxygentated nutrient additions keep yeast healthy. Make sense?

 

[armorshell]

Aeration in conjunction with properly timed nutrient additions early in the process (first 2-3 days or so) keeps the yeast healthy and stress-free. This in turn limits off flavors and promotes rapid and healthy fermentation.

I see a lot, and I do mean a lot, of posts where people have stuck fermentations, or mead still fermenting a month after pitching the yeast. Unlike beer and wine which provide a veritable feast for yeast, honey doesn't offer much for yeast to eat. The oxygentated nutrient additions keep yeast healthy. Make sense?

It does, thanks for indulging my noobiness.

 

[BrewN00b]

So what would happen if the yeast got stuck due to lack of oxygen? What would be your recourse?

Could you drop some oxygenation caps in there?

 

[summersolstice]

So what would happen if the yeast got stuck due to lack of oxygen? What would be your recourse?

Could you drop some oxygenation caps in there?

I've never used oxygen caps so I can't comment on them. I'd try giving the must a stir. Splash racking might also help.

 

[BrewN00b]

Splash racking?

 

[digdan]

Racking is using a racking cane to transfer the liquid from one container to the next. Splash racking is where you place the end of the incoming hose line perpendicular to the bottom of the container. This creates a slashing that introduces oxygen into the liquid. Yeast grab hold of the oxygen and use it to build up their cell walls to make them strong and resilient to alcohol and other factors that kill yeast.

Shaking won't do you anything, since you already have a layer of CO2 in your fermenting vessel. Just don't let anyone catch you racking off

Splash racking?

 

[BrewN00b]

Si went home today and found that the krausen had fallen, but there was still some healthy fermentation going on. It has been three days so I added some nutrients and vigorously stirred the mead with the thin end of a spoon. Since it is a better bottle I didn't get much diameter in the swirl but I did mix it up nicely, and thus released a lot of CO2 that was stuck in the mixture. I gave it a few minutes of mixing and sloshing and left it to do what it will do.

I know, I seem like a Nervous Nelly, but I never did mead before, so I don't know what I should expect. I tell you this, it smells delicious!