Need help fast!

[Steed]

Should I add more fleischmanns active dry bread yeast to my 5 gallon brew of joes ancient orange mead?

I started with one gallon brew and almost 24 hours later I decided to make another 4 gallons.
I added all the ingredients and ratios for four extra gallons added to a bigger container.

Should I add an extra teaspoon of yeast to this brew?

since I increased to batch from one to five gallons.
With all the ingredients it's sitting just over five gallons

Do I need more yeast?

 

[CaptainCoJo]

It should be fine. I believe the rule is 3 days before you add any more yeast.
Did you cut down on the yeast when you divided 5 gallons to 1 initially?

 

[Steed]

I the recipe I used said one packet of flieshmans bread yeast per batch and it was a 1 gallon batch that I read. I'm thinking I need to up the yeast for the extra gallons

 

[CKuhns]

I have never used the bread yeast - However, if you are in range for it's target temperature, your OG was not too high and your pH is OK. You should be OK, my thought would be that if those little buggers took off in the 1 gallon then they will catch up in the 5 gallon batch. (You might have shocked them but they are pretty resilient.)

Give your Must a good stir and check Gravity then if in a day or two see if they take off or Gravity drops. If nothing after 48 hours then check Temp, pH, Gravity and adjust accordingly. I would then perhaps pitch some additional yeast with DAP and Fermaid K if you are in the yeast range for all of the above.

Good luck - Let us know how it is going.

 

[Steed]

I have never used the bread yeast - However, if you are in range for it's target temperature, your OG was not too high and your pH is OK. You should be OK, my thought would be that if those little buggers took off in the 1 gallon then they will catch up in the 5 gallon batch. (You might have shocked them but they are pretty resilient.)

Give your Must a good stir and check Gravity then if in a day or two see if they take off or Gravity drops. If nothing after 48 hours then check Temp, pH, Gravity and adjust accordingly. I would then perhaps pitch some additional yeast with DAP and Fermaid K if you are in the yeast range for all of the above.

Good luck - Let us know how it is going.

OG is 1.075.
this is my first time taking gravity i am not sure if that is a normal reading.

i do not want to take too many readings. i also made a rookie mistake and forgot to resanitize the instruments and i foolishly put the reading mead back into the batch.

basically if the airlock continues to bubble i am in good shape and dont need more yeast right?
but if the airlock goes level for a long while i need to retake gravity reading and add yeast need be... correct?

on a separate note

hopefully the instruments were sterile enough. i would imagine its no big deal because the honey i used is raw honey unfiltered unpasturized crystalized. i bet if dead bees wont turn the mead fowl nothing will. a pesky instument is nothing compared to the corpses of dead robber bees in the bucket i got the honey out of.

i left a 5 gallon bucket of honey in the garage for a year from last years harvest and never filtered the dead bees, pollen and all that other stuff out. lol i had to scrape all that off the top of the honey.
if it goes fowl i would suspect its from all of the above
but i was left with a bucket of crystalized honey that no one will buy because its not pretty clear and gold. i like this type of honey better anyway, more for me. i decided it was time to make a mead with all the unsellable honey!:rockin:

 

[WVMJ]

Are you a beekeeper? You may also want to check out whole hive meads made with the scrapping when you clean off the combs, trim drone brood and that comb they fill with honey between the boxes, wax, propollis, pollen and drone brood all in one batch. WVMJ

 

[CKuhns]

OG is 1.075.
this is my first time taking gravity i am not sure if that is a normal reading.

i do not want to take too many readings. i also made a rookie mistake and forgot to resanitize the instruments and i foolishly put the reading mead back into the batch.

basically if the airlock continues to bubble i am in good shape and dont need more yeast right?
but if the airlock goes level for a long while i need to retake gravity reading and add yeast need be... correct?

on a separate note

hopefully the instruments were sterile enough. i would imagine its no big deal because the honey i used is raw honey unfiltered unpasturized crystalized. i bet if dead bees wont turn the mead fowl nothing will. a pesky instument is nothing compared to the corpses of dead robber bees in the bucket i got the honey out of.

i left a 5 gallon bucket of honey in the garage for a year from last years harvest and never filtered the dead bees, pollen and all that other stuff out. lol i had to scrape all that off the top of the honey.
if it goes fowl i would suspect its from all of the above
but i was left with a bucket of crystalized honey that no one will buy because its not pretty clear and gold. i like this type of honey better anyway, more for me. i decided it was time to make a mead with all the unsellable honey!:rockin:

A SG of 1.075 is good to know at his point. Check it again after 24 hours and if < 1.075 then you are likely OK. Air lock bubbling and foam is always a good sign but not always noted. (Most often but not always.)

I tend to default to sanitizing anything including my hands if I think it will touch the Must. However, even when I had forgotten have not had a problem. (Just don't like to take the risk.)

Dead stuff in the honey (In My Opinion - Not a big deal)... At first rack, sanitize a piece of cheese cloth and string and tie it to the transfer tube end you place in the Must as a coarse filter. I agree with WVMJ read the whole hive mead thread. I suspect this whole hive mead has lots of "Stuff" in it that does not get skimmed off during the heat process. Search on the forum "Whole hive"

I see varying points of view for using raw unfiltered honey. Most of what I have found in the forum is to heat for a short period of time no more than 140 Deg F and skim off the "floaties"

If the airlock goes level for a long time... Could be any number of things. Stuck fermentation (pH too low, Temp too low), Primary fermentation that is done (Best case), leak around your bung or lid if using a bucket, etc.. It is always better to check gravity over a few days, that in my opinion is your only true indication that nothing (or Something) is happening.

Good luck

 

[Steed]

Are you a beekeeper? You may also want to check out whole hive meads made with the scrapping when you clean off the combs, trim drone brood and that comb they fill with honey between the boxes, wax, propollis, pollen and drone brood all in one batch. WVMJ

yes i am a beekeeper i operate 11 hives and should have about 22 hives by this time next year.
i will look into this whole hive mead in spring. i cannot open the hives anymore this year or the bees will die, they need to stay warm to survive. but next season i will save the burr comb and stuff for making a batch of mead.

btw do you make the mead with the drone brood still in the cells or discard them? fermenting dead brood seems a bit gross lol i mean i will try anything once but i might be the only one drinking that batch. most people wouldnt drink anything with dead brood in it lol

 

[Steed]

A SG of 1.075 is good to know at his point. Check it again after 24 hours and if < 1.075 then you are likely OK. Air lock bubbling and foam is always a good sign but not always noted. (Most often but not always.)

I tend to default to sanitizing anything including my hands if I think it will touch the Must. However, even when I had forgotten have not had a problem. (Just don't like to take the risk.)

Dead stuff in the honey (In My Opinion - Not a big deal)... At first rack, sanitize a piece of cheese cloth and string and tie it to the transfer tube end you place in the Must as a coarse filter. I agree with WVMJ read the whole hive mead thread. I suspect this whole hive mead has lots of "Stuff" in it that does not get skimmed off during the heat process. Search on the forum "Whole hive"

I see varying points of view for using raw unfiltered honey. Most of what I have found in the forum is to heat for a short period of time no more than 140 Deg F and skim off the "floaties"

If the airlock goes level for a long time... Could be any number of things. Stuck fermentation (pH too low, Temp too low), Primary fermentation that is done (Best case), leak around your bung or lid if using a bucket, etc.. It is always better to check gravity over a few days, that in my opinion is your only true indication that nothing (or Something) is happening.

Good luck

i have bubbling airlock and alot of foam in the bucket.
i will look into whole hive mead next time i crack open my hives and work the bees in the spring.
i will check gravity again in two or three days just to check and see. i may even wait longer if the airlock continues to bubble. when the airlock stops bubbling i think your right; might be a good indication to check gravity.

 

[WVMJ]

They get smushed up with everything else, you will never know they were in there except that the yeasts will enjoy the nitrogen from them. Give one a taste, not gross at all. WVMJ

 

[Steed]

They get smushed up with everything else, you will never know they were in there except that the yeasts will enjoy the nitrogen from them. Give one a taste, not gross at all. WVMJ

wow i like the idea of nothing going to waste; i just dont want to tell anyone theres dead drone in the mead they are sipping lol!

i was just thinking though; when do i pour the JAOM from the fermentation bucket to the large carboy for the second part of fermentation?
or do i just let the whole thing brew inside the bucket and bottle into bottles directly from there?