My mead stopped bubbling after day 5 and there is no activity inside currently

[Uniique]

HI, Amateur Home brewer here trying my first batch of mead!
so everything was working great till day 5 where i added some yeast nutrient before letting it sit for the next 25 days to finish fermenting but on day 6 i just saw a lot of sediment and a drastic decrease in the amount of bubbles coming and i do not know what to do now.
i live in a hot place and i used D47 yeast but i did use AC frequently to regulate my room temp for the yeast. BUT I DID NOT USE AC IN DAY 5 WHERE I ADDED MY YEAST NUTRIENT.
so i thought mead became too hot and yeast died, so i put the carboy in the fridge for a day to see what happens(on day 7) but that did not help so i took it out and went back to regulating temp with AC. (still bubbling was only decreasing and nothing happened)
by day 9 bubbling almost ceased so i made on last resort by adding more yeast.
i am on day 10 currently, and i see layers in my container in diff shades of brown (yeast sedimenting? i don't know)



i followed the above recipe and used their recipe kit.
please give me some suggestions and help me correct my mistakes

 

[DollarStoreChili]

It's tough to know what exactly is going on inside your fermenter without gravity readings.
I'm a beginner too so my experience is limited, but in my 3 batches of mead I've never had
one stop bubbling at day 5. It's worthwhile noting that bubbling isn't necessarily a sign of
ongoing fermentation, but a sign that fermentation has taken place and the resulting gas
is bubbling out of solution. A fermentation can finish and leave your airlock bubbling for
a week or more depending on how often you off-gas.

According to Lalvin's spec sheet D47 the yeast should be active from 59-86 degrees F, I don't think it's
possible the ambient temperature swung either way far enough to stall. The ambient heat in
your house isn't hot enough to kill yeast. Yeast start to be killed starting at 140F iirc.
Putting it in the fridge will make the stall worse, but it also wont kill them.

My advice (keep in mind I'm a beginner also) is to take a gravity reading as soon as possible.
I won't waste space here explaining how as there's plenty of tutorials out there. Let it sit for
a week and swirl your fermenter vigorously twice a day. At the end of the week take another gravity reading.
If the gravity didn't change in that week you'll be in a better place to decide what to do next.

 

[tracer bullet]

I can't see the video. Maybe share a picture?

I agree you need to check the gravity, see where you are. It's possible that it's simply done fermenting and there is nothing wrong at all.

Can you take a taste of it without introducing any contamination?

 

[Uniique]

I can't see the video. Maybe share a picture?

I agree you need to check the gravity, see where you are. It's possible that it's simply done fermenting and there is nothing wrong at all.

Can you take a taste of it without introducing any contamination?

here are the pictures,
1st pic - day 2, 2nd - day 5, 3rd - day 10
i did take a taste test just now(i have never tasted mead so you have to help me here), it tastes bitter with that alcohol biting your throat and still smells like honey but i am starting to get another smell aswell.....
mead is becoming darker and it is layering in different shades of brown and i am seeing a lot of sediment in the bottom
what is happening here exactly and what would be your advice? Unfortunately i dont have gravity reading equipment too :|

 

[Uniique]

It's tough to know what exactly is going on inside your fermenter without gravity readings.
I'm a beginner too so my experience is limited, but in my 3 batches of mead I've never had
one stop bubbling at day 5. It's worthwhile noting that bubbling isn't necessarily a sign of
ongoing fermentation, but a sign that fermentation has taken place and the resulting gas
is bubbling out of solution. A fermentation can finish and leave your airlock bubbling for
a week or more depending on how often you off-gas.

According to Lalvin's spec sheet D47 the yeast should be active from 59-86 degrees F, I don't think it's
possible the ambient temperature swung either way far enough to stall. The ambient heat in
your house isn't hot enough to kill yeast. Yeast start to be killed starting at 140F iirc.
Putting it in the fridge will make the stall worse, but it also wont kill them.

My advice (keep in mind I'm a beginner also) is to take a gravity reading as soon as possible.
I won't waste space here explaining how as there's plenty of tutorials out there. Let it sit for
a week and swirl your fermenter vigorously twice a day. At the end of the week take another gravity reading.
If the gravity didn't change in that week you'll be in a better place to decide what to do next.

i addded the pictures in the comment below can you check and give me your advice?

 

[tracer bullet]

I can't say for sure but I think it may have been successful and you are tasting the results. The layering and sediment might be the yeast falling out because it is finished. The alcohol bite might mean it converted the sugars to alcohol as expected.

Other folks around here know mead better, as far as the tasting. I never really acquired a liking for it. But, I think that it has probably gone about as expected.

 

[Uniique]

I can't say for sure but I think it may have been successful and you are tasting the results. The layering and sediment might be the yeast falling out because it is finished. The alcohol bite might mean it converted the sugars to alcohol as expected.

Other folks around here know mead better, as far as the tasting. I never really acquired a liking for it. But, I think that it has probably gone about as expected.

so there is a chance that everything went right? then i think i am not gonna discard it for another 2 weeks and wait and see what happens. fingers crossed! thank you for your suggestion

 

[tracer bullet]

Definitely don't throw it away! Especially if it's your first time making it. Only throw away something if you are certain it's "bad". Especially for a mead, it will almost certainly change flavor over time. It is far too early to make a final decision. Especially since you are probably tasting the yeast in your samples as well, it is still spread throughout, and a bunch of yeast usually does not taste good.

 

[DollarStoreChili]

so there is a chance that everything went right? then i think i am not gonna discard it for another 2 weeks and wait and see what happens. fingers crossed! thank you for your suggestion

What kind of yeast did you use?

It my humble opinion it might be done. If you have the option you can rack it off into secondary and let it sit
another week or two before another tasting. From there you have the option of letting it bulk age in secondary
for a bit, or bottle it. Bottling is a tough call because we're not 100% sure it's finished. The only way we can be
sure it wont ferment more in a bottle is if you pasteurize it, but I've not done that yet so I would hesitate to give
advice on that subject. I bottle mine after several unchanged gravity readings so I've never really had to worry about it.

 

[Uniique]

What kind of yeast did you use?

It my humble opinion it might be done. If you have the option you can rack it off into secondary and let it sit
another week or two before another tasting. From there you have the option of letting it bulk age in secondary
for a bit, or bottle it. Bottling is a tough call because we're not 100% sure it's finished. The only way we can be
sure it wont ferment more in a bottle is if you pasteurize it, but I've not done that yet so I would hesitate to give
advice on that subject. I bottle mine after several unchanged gravity readings so I've never really had to worry about it.

I used lalvin D47. I don't have a secondary vessel so i think I'll just wait for a week and see what happens

 

[DollarStoreChili]

I used lalvin D47. I don't have a secondary vessel so i think I'll just wait for a week and see what happens

Sorry I forgot we already talked about your yeast.

Good luck!

 

[MightyMosin]

Get yourself a hydrometer.
You are just guessing without knowing your gravity.

 

[Uniique]

Get yourself a hydrometer.
You are just guessing without knowing your gravity.

i see, so if it stops bubbling after a week doesnt necessarily mean that the fermentation stalled or yeast died?

 

[tracer bullet]

i see, so if it stops bubbling after a week doesnt necessarily mean that the fermentation stalled or yeast died?

It could simply be completed

 

[MightyMosin]

i see, so if it stops bubbling after a week doesnt necessarily mean that the fermentation stalled or yeast died?

Correct.
Pressure differences between the inside and outside can also cause your airlock to bubble or not. You might be done, but it is still a guess even if it might be an informed one.

You can also just leave it alone to be sure and wait for it to start to clear out. You used D47 so you don't need to worry about leaving it on the yeast lees and developing a bad taste. Lalvin claims for D47: When left on lees spicy, tropical, citrus notes develop and the wine is said to have a silky persistence.

At a gravity reading of 1.000 or 0.998, you are usually complete in your fermentation.
In full disclosure, some yeast are really good at scavenging every bit of sugar if they are not at their alcohol tolerance and may take your mead down to 0.990. The lowest I have personally seen is 0.992.

The potential for this to happen in bottles ( and the possibility of bottle bombs) is why many will stabilize with chemicals or will pasteurize their meads.

 

[Uniique]

guys update! i have invested in a hydrometer and i just took the reading, it shows my current gravity is 1.024, the mead looks transluscent and no bubbles or anything. pls give me your suggestions, i am planning to bottle this and let it age for 3-6 months and start with my next batch.

what do you guys think?

 

[D the Catastrophist]

At that S.G. you would have a pretty sweet mead. I have had mead take 28 days to fully ferment with the last two weeks only taking it from 1.020 to 1.00, and there was no visual cues to this, I had to test the sg to see the decrease as it was going so slowly. Meads can be finicky and slow. If you bottle it now I would use champagne bottles and the mushroom corks with the wire twist caps to hold them in place as there is a strong probability that it would continue to ferment which under pressure gives you a sparkling mead, which can easily become bottle bombs.

I would either leave it for a bit longer, or rack it off the lees into a separate container with airlock and let it bulk age for a few months before bottling.

 

[Uniique]

At that S.G. you would have a pretty sweet mead. I have had mead take 28 days to fully ferment with the last two weeks only taking it from 1.020 to 1.00, and there was no visual cues to this, I had to test the sg to see the decrease as it was going so slowly. Meads can be finicky and slow. If you bottle it now I would use champagne bottles and the mushroom corks with the wire twist caps to hold them in place as there is a strong probability that it would continue to ferment which under pressure gives you a sparkling mead, which can easily become bottle bombs.

I would either leave it for a bit longer, or rack it off the lees into a separate container with airlock and let it bulk age for a few months before bottling.

i see, this has been fermenting for a month now, as the title suggested there was little to no activity after week 1, but i tasted the mead now and it was very bitter with a strong alcohol bite and burn down the throat with a strong aftertaste followed by a bad breath for a while, i was planning something similar to your suggestion. I don't have secondary vessels to transfer this into so i am gonna bottle this using fliptop bottles and let it just age for 3-6 months maybe take another reading here and there before consuming! thanks for your advice!

 

[MightyMosin]

I'd give it another week and check the gravity again to ensure that it still isn't fermenting. You don't want to rely on the flip-top gaskets burping extra pressure if it is still fermenting in the bottle. I would certainly stabilize it prior to bottling.

If you are at all unsure about it being completed and you still bottle it, I would suggest it be placed in a container that will contain things should a bottle explode from excess pressure. I have a friend that had some beer bottles conditioning up in his kitchen cabinets... he awoke one night to the sound of bottles exploding and beer running out of the cabinet and down the wall.

The 2nd mead I made smelled to great when fermenting but was very alcohol hot when done and certainly not very appealing on the palette... I left it in a secondary vessel and tried it about six months later and it was still horrid. I forgot about it for about another 12 months. When I came back to it, all that heat was gone and the honey profile was delicious.

Time won't always help and sometimes it takes more of it than you expect.

 

[Uniique]

I'd give it another week and check the gravity again to ensure that it still isn't fermenting. You don't want to rely on the flip-top gaskets burping extra pressure if it is still fermenting in the bottle. I would certainly stabilize it prior to bottling.

If you are at all unsure about it being completed and you still bottle it, I would suggest it be placed in a container that will contain things should a bottle explode from excess pressure. I have a friend that had some beer bottles conditioning up in his kitchen cabinets... he awoke one night to the sound of bottles exploding and beer running out of the cabinet and down the wall.

The 2nd mead I made smelled to great when fermenting but was very alcohol hot when done and certainly not very appealing on the palette... I left it in a secondary vessel and tried it about six months later and it was still horrid. I forgot about it for about another 12 months. When I came back to it, all that heat was gone and the honey profile was delicious.

Time won't always help and sometimes it takes more of it than you expect.

undrestood, i will wait for another week and check gravity before bottling then, thanks!

 

[bushpilot]

How about a photo of your hydrometer reading, and your recipe?

 

[Uniique]

Bottled my mead today as I took another reading after a week and the gravity still remained at 1.024. this is my first batch and it came out pretty translucent with a strong bitter taste and a weird aftertaste(pls explain if this is fine or if all the meads have this). now I have bottled it to age and I want some advice on how to preserve my mead well.
And also please tell me the appropriate way to use Campden tablets so i don't mess up my next batch.

Thank you! With the help of the people commented on my thread i was able to make a good mead on my first try!

 

[Uniique]

How about a photo of your hydrometer reading, and your recipe?

everything has been mentioned above in the entire thread!

 

[Yooper]

everything has been mentioned above in the entire thread!

The asked for a photo of the hydrometer reading, to double check your reading and accuracy of the hydrometer- at 1.024 it should be so sweet that you would think you were eating a candy bar. At 1.0024, it would be dry. At 1.024, bottle bombs are likely, depending on how high the OG was. That’s why people are asking, as it doesn’t seem likely that it’s actually 1.024 if it’s not really sweet and instead ‘hot’ and bitter.

 

[bushpilot]

The asked for a photo of the hydrometer reading, to double check your reading and accuracy of the hydrometer- at 1.024 it should be so sweet that you would think you were eating a candy bar. At 1.0024, it would be dry. At 1.024, bottle bombs are likely, depending on how high the OG was. That’s why people are asking, as it doesn’t seem likely that it’s actually 1.024 if it’s not really sweet and instead ‘hot’ and bitter.

And recipe, so that we can estimate the starting specific gravity. With this information, we can make an educated guess as to what is really happening.

I would have let that clear a bit more before bottling. You will probably find a lot of yeast in the bottom of the bottle after aging. No harm in that.

I suspect the flavors you are detecting are a combination of "young" mead, and the suspended yeast. Depending on how much nutrient you added and when, you may be tasting nutrients as well.

As @Yooper says, if the hydrometer reading is as you say, it should be very sweet.

 

[Uniique]

And recipe, so that we can estimate the starting specific gravity. With this information, we can make an educated guess as to what is really happening.

I would have let that clear a bit more before bottling. You will probably find a lot of yeast in the bottom of the bottle after aging. No harm in that.

I suspect the flavors you are detecting are a combination of "young" mead, and the suspended yeast. Depending on how much nutrient you added and when, you may be tasting nutrients as well.

As @Yooper says, if the hydrometer reading is as you say, it should be very sweet.

here is my recipe and gravity readings (I took it today) @Yooper pls check it out too.
batch quantity - 2 Litres
500 ml - raw wildflower honey
1.5 litre - distilled water
5 gm yeast - lalvin D 47 (initially only pitched 2.5g of yeast then I thought it died so I added another 2.5g after week 1)
yeast nutrient (added on days 2 and 5 )
basically I followed this yt video and I bought their ingredients except the honey -

so what do you think, i do not know OG cuz i didnt have hydrometer by that time.

Gravity readings -

 

[bushpilot]

I don't see any screaming faults in your recipe, other than distilled water is generally not recommended.

It seems your ferment stalled, I don't know why. Or maybe your hydrometer is off. The solution at this point is to let it age, and see what happens.

 

[Uniique]

I don't see any screaming faults in your recipe, other than distilled water is generally not recommended.

It seems your ferment stalled, I don't know why. Or maybe your hydrometer is off. The solution at this point is to let it age, and see what happens.

Yes my ferment stalled earlier which is why I added extra yeast hoping it would restart, I bottled it because I would rather start my next batch learning from these errors rather than keeping this in primary hoping it would fix itself by waiting for a long time.

I wonder if this translucency could be because of the color of the Honey?(the honey i sourced was super dark brown it was almost black unless kept in bright light)I read that some meads won't clear and that's completely fine. I also haven't tried any clarifiers which might also provide a quick solution i think.

also, my hydrometer is accurate, i tested it with water it stood at 1.000 no errors in that

 

[MightyMosin]

Did you rehydrate yeast in distilled water?

If so, you basically through a grenade into the colony.

 

[Uniique]

Did you rehydrate yeast in distilled water?

If so, you basically through a grenade into the colony.

i see, well i don't wanna use tap water and i don't think i can get spring water either, should i use boiled and cooled distilled/mineral water next time? What do you suggest?

also, eventhough i dropped the grenade the fermentation didn't succesfully restart regardless :/

 

[bushpilot]

What did you use as nutrient, DAP? I am leaning into the distilled water and inadequate minerals/nutrition as the cause of the stall.

 

[Uniique]

DAP?

here is the picture of the nutrient, the craft a brew recipe kit in which i recieved it did not mention what nutrient this was so i have no clue

i was thinkin of using DAP in my next batch, what would you suggest? is there any alternatives?

 

[bushpilot]

Tl;Dr - ditch the distilled water, consider a better nutrient and staggered nutritient addition protocol.

DAP is "ok", it was the standard for a long time. But it is not well rounded nutrition, and that combined with distilled water is probably inadequate.

I suggest spring water and Fermaid-O (best) or Fermaid-K, or another similar complete nutrient. Also consider Goferm or similar for rehydration. Research TOSNA nutrition protocol, or another staggered nutrition addition (SNA) protocol.

Tap water is likely better than distilled. If chlorine is the concern, there are ways to deal with that. Research that.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Distilled can be made perfectly suitable with a bit of basic brewing salts. Calcium chloride, gypsum, table salt, etc.

Fermaid-K has DAP and some 'micro-nutrients', minerals.

Fermaid-O uses an organic source for the nitrogen in lieu of -K's DAP and does not have the micro-nutrients. Great stuff, but not complete.

Go-Ferm during the hydration step provides the micro-nutrients and minerals. It also provides some nitrogen (especially when over-pitched!) which most calculators and SNA protocols do not take into account.

I salt my RO/distilled water to 100ppm Ca, 25ppm Na. Following the TANG protocol, I use Go-Ferm and Fermaid-O.

 

[bushpilot]

I'm sorry, my responses have been very North American oriented, assuming that you have access to the very same products I do. You likely have access to acceptable substitute products, but I may not know them.

So, if you don't have access to spring water, could you use a bottled "drinking" water instead? They usually have added minerals for flavor, and likely will be OK. Or, use tap water and boil it, to remove the chlorine and to ensure no undesirable bacteria remain, if that is a concern. Let it cool down before adding yeast.

Regarding nutrients, DAP is ok if the water is ok. DAP provides nitrogen, which the honey lacks. If that is the best you have, use it, it will be fine. But I would consider adding fruit to the mead (making a melomel), or killing some bakers yeast and adding it to the must for added nutrition. The bakers yeast is killed by boiling to ensure it does not do the fermenting. I have never done this, but there are threads on this site about it, which you will find if you search.

Rehydrate your yeast properly, do not just throw it into the must. When you rehydrate your yeast, do not use any DAP there. Follow the directions on the package for rehydration. Look up "tempering" the yeast, which is good to do before throwing it into the must.

I would not add the DAP to the must until I see signs of fermentation, or 24 hours, whichever comes first. The bakers yeast can be added up front in the must.

 

[Uniique]

I'm sorry, my responses have been very North American oriented, assuming that you have access to the very same products I do. You likely have access to acceptable substitute products, but I may not know them.

So, if you don't have access to spring water, could you use a bottled "drinking" water instead? They usually have added minerals for flavor, and likely will be OK. Or, use tap water and boil it, to remove the chlorine and to ensure no undesirable bacteria remain, if that is a concern. Let it cool down before adding yeast.

Regarding nutrients, DAP is ok if the water is ok. DAP provides nitrogen, which the honey lacks. If that is the best you have, use it, it will be fine. But I would consider adding fruit to the mead (making a melomel), or killing some bakers yeast and adding it to the must for added nutrition. The bakers yeast is killed by boiling to ensure it does not do the fermenting. I have never done this, but there are threads on this site about it, which you will find if you search.

Rehydrate your yeast properly, do not just throw it into the must. When you rehydrate your yeast, do not use any DAP there. Follow the directions on the package for rehydration. Look up "tempering" the yeast, which is good to do before throwing it into the must.

I would not add the DAP to the must until I see signs of fermentation, or 24 hours, whichever comes first. The bakers yeast can be added up front in the must.

yes this batch i will use warm drinking water, but unfortunately the country where I live in i couldn't source Fermaid O/K and Go-Ferm, I was only able to find DAP.

and I need to rehydrate the yeast this time because the last time I just threw it in there lol, but still fermentation started within 24 hours though.
I will do some research on proper ways to rehydrate yeast before pitching them and then I will also look into nutrition administering plans. Thanks for your advice!

 

[Raptor99]

yes this batch i will use warm drinking water, but unfortunately the country where I live in i couldn't source Fermaid O/K and Go-Ferm, I was only able to find DAP.

Another way to add some of the organic nutrients found in Fermaid O/K is to put some yeast in a small amount of water, boil it for a few minutes, then let it cool and add it to your mead. You can use any kind of yeast for this, so try some cheap bread yeast. Boiling kills the yeast and breaks down the cell walls, releasing the nutrients in the yeast. Use that plus some DAP to provide better nutrition for your yeast.