Late honey additions & abv

[DawnofthWill]

Hey guys, when is it too late to add honey to bump up the abv? I would prefer a semi-sweet to dry mead but I think it's on it's way to a sweet mead thus far.
1 week ago I used 15 lbs of honey, 1.5 kg o frozen wild berries, 2 packs of Lalvin EC-1118 and threw some yeast energizer and nutrient in. OG was 1.086. That was with 5 Gal of water, plus maybe a half Gal.
Next day I added almost 3 more pounds of honey (brought SG from 1.075 to 1.092).
Now, 1 week later, the SG is at 1.038 and it's a little sweet for my liking, plus I want the abv up to around 13-15%. Can I do this and make it a bit more dry at the same time? I hear adding late honey additions can help.
The abv right now as I see it it about 8.8%.

 

[stella_tigre]

No more honey!! Might need more nutrients? Have you seen the notes of staggered nutrient additions? What is the pH - could stall from too acidic of conditions. Adding more honey will only make it sweeter, as the yeast would gladly take it to dry if it could.

 

[Paps]

Lalvin EC-1118 is a monster yeast.
Add some more nutrient and gently rock/swirl the carboy.
Sometimes a little nudging keeps them from hibernating.

 

[DawnofthWill]

I think that there's a bit of a misunderstanding, I don't have a fermentation issue. All I want to do is bump up the alcohol without making it a sweet mead. I have heard that step feeding honey will do this. Is it too late to add more honey now? I'm only looking at a 11% ish mead right now but would like it to be around 15%.
I have been staggering the nutrient/energizer. Unfortunately I don't have anything to test ph.

 

[stella_tigre]

Ah, apologies for that. I thought you were saying that you were stopped at 1.038.

EC-1118 will certainly be able to take it down to below 1.000, bone dry. However, its alcohol tolerance is around 18%. So yes, you can add more honey to bring up the ABV, however if you want any residual sweetness at 15%, you will probably have to get it down to dry, stabilize, and backsweeten with a touch more honey. If you don't mind it dry, you should be fine. I'd add some nutrients with the additional honey.

 

[DawnofthWill]

Sounds like a plan! I think I'll add close to 3 more lbs of honey today, with some nutrient/energizer and see what gravity that gives me. Thanks for the advice, this is my first 5 gal batch (have done several 1 gal batches) and I'm trying to make something really nice.

 

[Paps]

What Stella said.

EC-1118 can handle it.

Brew on!