I accidentally started my mead too hot, what will happen?

[Beer Viking]

Hello everyone,

I just started my first batch of mead and I forgot to check the water temperature when I pitched the yeast. I used Mangrove Jack's mead yeast and it says that it will ferment at 86 degrees I think when I pitched the yeast and then for the first 10 minutes the mixture was slightly above 90 degrees. Now it is in the acceptable range for the yeast but if it was 90-95 for 10 minutes would that wipe out all the yeast or just create an environment where it could not ferment until it comes down? I'm pretty worried but either way I know what not to do next time.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[Yooper]

The yeast will live- they love warmer temperatures.

But it's odd that your must was so hot. Keep it at 65F or under if you can for the most part. I usually go lower but that's my preference. I've never used that yeast strain.

 

[Beer Viking]

Thanks for the reply. It is my first batch of mead and I thought that really warm tap water would be a good thing and I didn't think to check the temperature.

 

[pvtpublic]

Warm tap water? Did you use campden tablets? If you have chlorine/chloramines in your tap water, the temp is the last thing that I'd worry about.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

He might live somewhere with non-chlorinated tap water, I do.
I've never made mead but yeast is yeast...
Given you got the temp down you should be fine, wait a while and pitch yeast again if nothing happens.

 

[Beer Viking]

Warm tap water? Did you use campden tablets? If you have chlorine/chloramines in your tap water, the temp is the last thing that I'd worry about.

I'm new to mead making what happens if you try to make a batch with tap water with chlorine in it?

 

[Yooper]

I'm new to mead making what happens if you try to make a batch with tap water with chlorine in it?

Chlorine creates off flavors, and can impact the fermentation as well.

 

[James_AZ]

I split a batch of beer over three fermenters, and pitched a different yeast in each. All Ale yeasts, with recommended ferment temps mid 60s to mid 70s F. On the last fermenter I forgot to turn on the water as I ran the wort through my counter flow chiller. I had whirlpooled at 160F ish. I’d guess I pitched my yeast at about 150F. I thought about pouring it out and giving up. Instead I dunked the keg in ice water til the ice melted and then in the kegerator for about 8 hours to get it into the right temp range. Fermentation shot off like a rocket, finished in about 36 hours. Beer turned out fine. I haven’t tried it again though.

 

[pvtpublic]

I'm new to mead making what happens if you try to make a batch with tap water with chlorine in it?

It stresses the yeast into creating unpleasant phenolics that can taste like bandaids, smoke, or burnt matches. Especially bandaids

 

[Beer Viking]

How do you treat tap water so that you don't get off flavors? Do you use tap water and treat it or do you all use bottled water?

 

[DBhomebrew]

The first step is to find out what is in your water. I imagine your water utility is required to share that information on an annual basis or so. Once you know what your water is and how consistent it is, you can make informed decisions moving forward.

 

[Beer Viking]

I checked online and it says that my tap water has 1.5-2.5 mgs per liter of chlorine in it and a small amount of ammonia. Is there a way I can neutralize this stuff without lowering the quality of my mead?

 

[pvtpublic]

There's a few ways to go about it. The first is to stop using tap water, and use either store bought water or if you know someone with a well, become friends with them if you haven't already.
If that person with a well is an arschloch, or you can't justify bringing water home with you, than the next step is to preboil your water. That's good for dissapating chlorine, but not chloramines. Adding a campden tablet the night before is usually the best bet in this scenario.

 

[Beer Viking]

If I add a campden tablet the night before to 5ish Gs of water will it be the same quality as store bought water? If I go the campden route do I also need to boil all the water?

 

[pvtpublic]

If I add a campden tablet the night before to 5ish Gs of water will it be the same quality as store bought water? If I go the campden route do I also need to boil all the water?

Same quality? That depends on your water. If it's good water aside from the chlorine, then why not use it? There are many homebrewers here that do just that. I'm not one of them since I always had well water. Now I have RO water and build my profile from there.

No need to boil afterwards, the tablet degrades the chlorine and chloramines, and then evaporates out of solution due it being a sulfur compound.

 

[Beer Viking]

Wow chemistry is amazing! So If I want to make a 5 G batch I just put my water in the primary fermenter with a campden tablet the night before and mix in the honey the next day and pitch the yeast?

 

[pvtpublic]

Yup. Preboiling the water probably wont be necessary as the fermentation, pH, and alcohol will ward off any kind of nasties.