Lalvin K1-1116 Fermentation Time

[Easycreeper]

Hello, everyone.

First time making mead here (melomel) and I have a question. How long does K1-V1116 take to ferment?

I pitched in a must with OG 1.118 on Friday. The Tilt I've got in the carboy is now reading 1.085 which seems awful high as compared to a wort of similar starting gravity. I did pitch two sachets of rehydrated yeast a bit early - about 18 hours post potassium metabisulfate. Corrected this by rehydrating and pitching two additional sachets at the 36 hour mark. Also hit the must with 60s O2 at the first pitch.

I've been degassing several times a day and have done a second staggered energizer & DAP addition (after the initial nutrient & DAP addition).

Is K1 just slow? Is this normal?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Maylar]

Mead ain't beer. 3-4 weeks to ferment is not uncommon. The #1 ingredient you need is patience.
What's the temperature?

 

[Easycreeper]

Mead ain't beer. 3-4 weeks to ferment is not uncommon. The #1 ingredient you need is patience.
What's the temperature?

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah, it ain't beer, but I was thinking with everything being simple sugars and such, well, the yeast may get in a hurry. Apparently not the case. Oh well.

Temperature started in the upper 50s, I raised to mid 60s, and raised again to the low 70s. Was hoping to get some yeast character by fermenting low, but the warm up to low 70s yesterday seems to have helped a little. The Tilt is reading 1.064 now.

 

[Maylar]

K1-V is actually listed as a fast fermenter and quick starter. It should chew through 1.118 in no time, and mid 60's would be fine. You should be using yeast nutrient for your staggered additions, not energizer. Fermaid K is good.

 

[Easycreeper]

K1-V is actually listed as a fast fermenter and quick starter. It should chew through 1.118 in no time, and mid 60's would be fine. You should be using yeast nutrient for your staggered additions, not energizer. Fermaid K is good.

Will the nutrients for beer yeast work OK as well? I don't have a local shop that carries anything, so the soonest I could get Fermaid K would be Thursday via Amazon. I've got Wyeast nutrient blend and White Labs servomyces .

 

[Maylar]

It'll probably be OK. Though using nutrients with DAP has fallen out of favor with the mead freaks. It causes temperature spikes and other such stuff that I'm not up on. And DAP is inorganic nitrogen that yeast can't use after about 9% ABV so avoid adding any after that.