Question of Lees

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Hello it's me again, the new guy. I have a question of when the appropriate time to start seeing Lees form. In my 2 1 gallon jugs I have 2 and a half pounds of honey and lalvin D47. This is the startt of day 4 on fermentation and I have degassed twice. I have zero Lees build up that I could see until I woke up this morning. I did degas last night and th out my jugs was a bit to cold so I moved them to a little bit of a warmer spot. When I woke up, about 10 hours after moving them they each had about 1/8 inch layer of Lees built up. Is this normal for the time frame or am I killing my yeast.
I do not know the gravity or ph my apologies. Thanks to any and all that can help.

 

[Drewed]

You are fine. Turn out the lights and forget about it.

 

[bernardsmith]

I agree with Drewed. When you degas you are very likely returning the lees into solution and it takes time for the lees to drop out off solution again - but each time they drop out of solution after you stir the mead, you are likely to find additional lees forming. That is perfectly normal - just like hair growing on the face of a man. It's not the shaving that makes the hair grow. Of course, if after shaving you found hair growing on the palms of your hand...

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Thankyou guys very much, I didn't expect to see Lees drop that fast. Some reason I expected it to take a week or so before that started to happen.
Would you recommend to stop degassing at this point and let them be?

 

[Drewed]

What does your recipe say to do?

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Well I am not really following a recipe per say. Just from things I have read is what I am going by. One thing I have read says degas every day for 2 weeks. Another just the first few days. And others say there is no need to degas at all.
I know you don't have to degas it just speeds things up on getting the yeast to let go of the CO2 and back to eating sugar to ferment and clear faster.
None of the guides ever specified once Lees began to build up if you should continue or not.
I guess it would be just a matter of preference, but this is my first time brewing and would like to get the more experienced point of view on what you would do.
I plan on making more batches and just want to form a nice reliable pattern before I delve into the more advanced side of gravitys, ph, and neutrients

 

[Yooper]

What's the current SG? You only want to degas/stir until your SG drops enough that fermentation will proceed on its own, and when the SG is below about 1.020, degassing is actually a risk of oxidation and is no longer done.

 

[R.M. Mead Productions]

Unfortunately I do not have a hydrometer yet so I can not give you an SG. I have vigorous carbonation bubbles climbing the sides of my containers, so if that is a good representation of good fermentation I will hold off degassing any more.

 

[bernardsmith]

Assuming that there is no danger of oxidation I would continue to degas. Allowing the lees to be re-incorporated into the solution is, in my opinion, always only good for the yeast and good for the fermentation. You really want to keep the yeast in solution.