Screwed up - poor mixing

[Vlar]

I screwed up when making my batch of mead last night and I need to know if I can fix it or if it will be fine as is.

After putting three gallons of water into my five gallon better bottle, I realized that I had no container to heat water to dissolve the honey into. I put the honey container into a pot of water as hot as it could come out of my tap for about 10 minutes to try to warm it up.

After a couple beers drunk, I decided I could just dissolve it straight into the water. It didn't work that way. After trying to shake the honey in until I couldn't lift the carboy any more, I topped off the water, pitched the yeast, and set it aside to so it's magic.

This afternoon, I checked on the mead to be. The airlock was bubbling away more than I've ever seen before (very short brewing history). There is a line of separation where the honey is settling in the bottom, not dissolving very well.



What do I do? Will it be fine as it is?

 

[biochemedic]

You might consider getting something like this degasser to mix things up:

http://www.google.com/m/search?site...g&aq=&oq=&aqi=&fkt=&fsdt=&q=wine+degasser#i=1

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Should be OK, the yeast will find the honey & they know what to do with it. You could give it a good stirring too, won't hurt. Regards, GF.

 

[fineexampl]

seems to me it'll ferment anyway.

 

[Gfei]

It should mix itself as it ferments and this out a bit. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[MedsenFey]

You can stir it if you like, but be careful or you'll have a Mead Eruption Accident (MEA).

You can also leave it be and the yeast will ferment it as it dissolves into solution. If you follow the fermentation, the layer of honey on the bottom will gradually get thinner and thinner. When some folks make mead, they don't even bother mixing the honey in at all - just pour it in and pitch the yeast. It produces good results. Some of us have nicknamed this Bottom Dwelling Continuous Diffusion Yeast Feeding (BDC DYF for short).

I consider this the next phase in "lazy-man" mead making. We started by doing away with boiling by going with the no heat method, and then found that you don't need the sulfite added at the beginning either. Now you don't even have to mix in the honey. I guess the final step will be to just take a beehive and flood it and wait.

 

[Vlar]

Than you everyone very much for the responses!! I certainly came to the right place to ask.

From the sounds of all the advice, I should be fine. I checked it this morning, not 12 hours after taking the picture, and it's a continuous color from top to bottom. I'm breathing a heavy sigh of relief!

MedsenFey, thanks for the extra info. I've never heard of those acronyms before. It half sounds like you made them up on the spot, however the meaning gets across. I don't think the mixing stick is an option at this point anyways, as SWMBO has not approved it for this month's budget.

Thanks everyone for putting up with my novice questions with patience and good information!

 

[fatbloke]

Than you everyone very much for the responses!! I certainly came to the right place to ask.

From the sounds of all the advice, I should be fine. I checked it this morning, not 12 hours after taking the picture, and it's a continuous color from top to bottom. I'm breathing a heavy sigh of relief!

MedsenFey, thanks for the extra info. I've never heard of those acronyms before. It half sounds like you made them up on the spot, however the meaning gets across. I don't think the mixing stick is an option at this point anyways, as SWMBO has not approved it for this month's budget.

Thanks everyone for putting up with my novice questions with patience and good information!

Actually, there was a lot of debate/discussion about what to call the one where the honey sits in the bottom of the fermenter over at gotmead (which I found quite comical).

Either way, it seems to work OK, I've managed to do that myself and it turned out ok so....

regards

fatbloke

 

[Indian_villager]

As the yeasties kill off the concentration of dissolved sugars, the sugars from your honey bed will dissolve further as a greater concentration gradient will form.