Og 1.146

[Pennachi]

I starter a raspberry puree clover honey mead on 1/1/12. Rehydrated two packs of yeast, pitched and it did nothing.

I new to mead, and I don't yet know if high og is my only obstacle but I was told a starter would help with that.

So last night I pulled some must, added some water and pitched new yeast to this starter. This morning the air lock on the starter was bubbling once every ten seconds. I pulled two more cups of must from my batch and added it to the starter. I am thinking I would add 2 cups of must every 12 hours or so until I can get to the lhbs and buy Ph tester strips (Saturday morning at the latest)

My og starter was 2 cups must, 2 cups water. And the yeast took off. Is that 50/50 mix enough to balance the Ph to a point that the yeast is ok with?
My point being, is it possible I have a Ph problem or did I unknowingly rule that out by using my must in the starter?

Will the must be ok in a 6 gallon carboy with head space for a couple more days with no fermentation?
I don't really have any choice at this point except maybe add water to get rid of head space, but then I would have to pull out and throw away must to fit my starter in.


Thanks in advance

 

[Saccharomyces]

I'd toss your starter in another fermenter and slowly add your must to it until it's all fermenting. That OG is ludicrously high, over 1.100 the best practice is to add the remaining honey in increments after the gravity drops below 1.070 on the hydrometer. It should still turn out fine, though.

 

[Insomniac]

I wouldn't say ludicrous, I managed to get one going at almost 1.2 a few months back (not recommended... it was done by accident). But it's certainly on the high end of normal. A hungry yeast like 1118 could still take it dry if well managed, though with a more moderate yeast you should get a string mead that's sweet... sounds about right to me

I would personally just keep adding cups of must every few hours to the starter for the next day or so and then tip it back into the main fermentor and see how it goes. If that fails you might want to find a stronger yeast?

 

[Pennachi]

String mead?

 

[ACbrewer]

I'm currious about your recipe that has an og of 1.146 - plus you said in a 6 gal carboy, so what 5 gallons of this?

 

[GinKings]

The second mead I ever made was Charlie P's prickly pear mead. I naively took the "more is better" approach. If 15 lbs of honey is good....then 20 lbs is even better!!! Well, I ended up with an OG of 1.165. I don't know if SNA had been invented yet, but I hadn't heard about it. I subscribed to the Ron Popeil "set it and forget it" approach. I rehydrated one packet of dry wine yeast (EC-1118 I think with no starter) and added that with some nutrient, energizer, and oxygen. Believe it or not, it took a month, but it fermented without incident. It won a number of awards and is still one of the best meads I've made. Would I try that again? Absolutely not, but sometimes ignorance is bliss.

 

[Pennachi]

Energizer, nutrient, 25 pounds of clover honey, 49 ounce can of raspberry puree, water to 6 gallons is what I used. It was supposed to be 20 pounds, but I was teaching a friend how to make mead and I lost track of the honey

 

[GinKings]

String mead?

I'd guess strong mead.

After a day or so, I'd be tempted to put half the starter back into the main carboy to try and get it started. You could build up the rest a bit more before adding it also. Hopefully the main batch would get started a little quicker.

 

[Pennachi]

My starter container is a glass jug that's a little less than a gallon. So your saying... When I build the starter up to a gallon, put half into the main batch, stir, fill up the starter and repeat a few times?

 

[Pennachi]

Built up two one gallon starters, dumped them both into the main batch just now..

If this doesn't work I'm gonna buy 10 packs of ec 1118 and drill right through this deal..

Not sure I have any other choice at this point

The second starter was almost 90% must so even though I haven't tested Ph, I don't believe it could be the problem, but ill still be buying Ph testers tonight or tomorrow morning.
The uber high og must have been too much for my first 15 minute rehydrated in water pitch....