Session Mead Fermentation Speed?

[SteveTheViking]

Hi All,

I've got a few batches of mead on the go, and waiting patiently for them to finish, but as I wanted something to have a bit sooner I thought I'd have a go at a session mead. I was expecting it to ferment faster and need less aging time.

It's been exactly 1 week since brew day, and I created a 5 gallon batch of session mead, and at the same time a 1 gallon batch of regular mead.

Both use the same honey, both use the same yeast, and both have the same nutirent additions (scaled to volume). The only difference was the level of honey, with the normal mead having a Starting Gravity of 1.102 and the session being 1.044.

Both batches starting bubbling through the airlock within a few hours of adding the yeast, and the normal mead has been bubbling consistantly ( a bubble every 2 seconds) for the week. The session mead slowed down the bubbling after about 4 days, however I think the seal near the airlock isn't 100%.

When I took a gravity reading I was suprised to see that the normal mead had dropped 20 points, and the session mead had only dropped 10, giving me gravbities of 1.082 and 1.034 respectively.

I've never done a session mead before, but I was hoping that after a week of fermenting with an OG of 1.044, that fermentation would be close complete, or would have at least dropped more points that it's higher OG counterpart. Can anyone offer an explanation of why it's going slower?

In case it makes any difference, both used raw wildflower honey from the same supplier, both used WYEAST 4184, from the same smack pack, both had some strong black tea added, and both were given the following nutrient additions of WYEAST Wine Nutrient Blend.

Traditional Mead / Session Mead
day 1 - 0.5 tsp / 0.1 tsp
day 2 - 0.5 tsp / 0.1 tsp
day 4 - 0.5 tsp / 0.1 tsp

Any guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated. I'd love to have a method of getting a relatively quick to finish session mead.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[clone63]

Wyeast Sweet mead is notoriously temperamental. Though it doesn't sound it's stalling or anything, it's just taking it's sweet time. What temps are you at? Makes huge diff. Also, for the disparity in gravity drops, the 5 gal mead is going to have a longer lag time because of the larger volume of liquid to colonize (in my experiences).
I'm assuming you split the smack pack? Although the weaker mead is.. weaker, it is still more honey for the yeast to chew through (6.8 lbs ish) vs 1 gal (2.8 ish).
So respectively, you've fermented 1.5lbs worth in the session mead, and 0.5 lb in the trad. I'd say things are moving about right. Depending on conditions, temps, etc I'd bet the session still finishes first as the yeast numbers grow.

 

[CKuhns]

Cant speak to why there would be a difference.

"I'd love to have a method of getting a relatively quick to finish session mead."

For Session Meads I use Omega Hothead Yeast and for more "traditional" meads I use Cotes Des Blanc. I guess what I'm saying is a session mead although can be crafted like a more traditional mead, but to get a quicker ferment should be crafted and or treated differently than a more traditional mead.

Take a look at these recipes.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/quick-mead-open-source-groennfell-mead-modification.673041/(Blatantly Pirated by me using some techniques from @bernardsmith, @loveofrose rose and Ricky from Groenfell)




https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...ce-groennfell-recipe-tart-cherry-mead.657493/
Groenfell Meadery site. Mead Recipes

 

[SteveTheViking]

Thanks guys.

Regarding splitting the yeast, I put a small portion of the pack into the 1 gallon batch and most of the pack into the 5 gallon batch, so I hoped to have a similar pitching rate. I've also just started a 2 gallon batch of elderflower mead, so I put another half of a pack of WYEAST 4184 into my 5 gallon session mead, just to up the population.

Temperature wise, it's in the basement and fluctuating a bit, but probably between 17-20 C at the moment. Both batches are right next to each other, so should be at the same temperature.

I'm actually quite suprised at how well the 1 gallon session mead is chugging away. it's been over a week and I'm still seeing a bubble every couple of seconds from the airlock. It's looking much more active than the 5 gallon batch.

Does anyone make a yeast starter from the WYEAST smack packs? Presumably I could make 1 make a bigger impact if I bred the yeasties before hand?

@CKuhns how long does your session mead take with the Omega Hothead Yeast?

Presumably the yeast in the 5 gallon batch haven't reproduced enough to have a high enough cell count per ml. What can I do at this stage to help cell reporduction? Should I add more nutrient? Can a little too much nutrient be harmfull in anyway?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[CKuhns]

"how long does your session mead take with the Omega Hothead Yeast?" - Yeast pitch to glass 30 days +-

If you follow the recipe and the nutrient protocols here is a typical timeframe for a 5 gallon batch... (Temperature is important for this yeast to achieve these results)
Ferment at 88°F (31°C). I use a heat blanket and temp controller affixed with blue painters tape and wrapped in a beach towel. Be sure to account for LOTS of Krausen = 1-3” - Gives a clean ferment with No H2S and no discernable fusels or sulfur flavors.

All nutrients are added up-front - No additional nutrients and no need to stir or release CO2. (Just let it go.) NOTE - I will have to change this statement as I found if you release the CO2 by shaking or stirring a couple times a day for the first 3 days it does help keep things moving along. Suspends the yeast and releases the CO2 that can inhibit the yeast a little.

5-8 Days after yeast pitch you should hit your Target SG of 1.010. - Rack off lees to a 5 Gal Carboy and remove the heat blanket and towel.

20-30 days after yeast pitch - Rack from lees (The additional time allows for the mead to clear and "finish" or for the yeast to consume the last bit of residual sugars driving it to near 1.000.

21- 30 days after yeast pitch – Force carbonated using a keg. (Certainly could bottle carbonate but be sure to account for the residual sugar if not at 1.000.)

Add Pectic Enzyme (if needed), Clarify if desired by cold crashing and using KC Super Kleer. (Or your clarifier of choice.) Add 1oz of Med toast Oak and 1oz pure vanilla extract if you choose. Acid to taste 1/2 tsp. Acid addition and carbonating improves the taste dramatically. Age does help, 2 - 4 months.

 

[SteveTheViking]

@CKuhns Thanks for that, I'll give that a go on my next batch.

To give an update, I checked the gravities again today. The session mead hasn't budged at all, and is still at 1.034, but the traditional mead is still bubbling away and has dropped another 20 points in the last couple of days, down to 1.062.

I'm impressed at how well the traditional mead is churning through the sugar, but I guess the session has stalled?

My best theory is that most of the yeast from the smack pack went into the 1 gallon traditional, and I under pitched the 5 gallon session. That might explain the results I'm seeing. I'm sure most of the pack was poured out into the session mead though. Maybe the yeast weren't evenly distributed in the pack?

Any other theories?

What's the next step to recover this?

Should I just dump a fresh full pack of yeast in with some nutrient?

Should I assume that the nutirent I already put in is still there? Is it a problem to add too much yeast nutrient?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[AzOr]

"how long does your session mead take with the Omega Hothead Yeast?" - Yeast pitch to glass 30 days +-

If you follow the recipe and the nutrient protocols here is a typical timeframe for a 5 gallon batch... (Temperature is important for this yeast to achieve these results)
Ferment at 88°F (31°C). I use a heat blanket and temp controller affixed with blue painters tape and wrapped in a beach towel. Be sure to account for LOTS of Krausen = 1-3” - Gives a clean ferment with No H2S and no discernable fusels or sulfur flavors.

All nutrients are added up-front - No additional nutrients and no need to stir or release CO2. (Just let it go.) NOTE - I will have to change this statement as I found if you release the CO2 by shaking or stirring a couple times a day for the first 3 days it does help keep things moving along. Suspends the yeast and releases the CO2 that can inhibit the yeast a little.

5-8 Days after yeast pitch you should hit your Target SG of 1.010. - Rack off lees to a 5 Gal Carboy and remove the heat blanket and towel.

20-30 days after yeast pitch - Rack from lees (The additional time allows for the mead to clear and "finish" or for the yeast to consume the last bit of residual sugars driving it to near 1.000.

21- 30 days after yeast pitch – Force carbonated using a keg. (Certainly could bottle carbonate but be sure to account for the residual sugar if not at 1.000.)

Add Pectic Enzyme (if needed), Clarify if desired by cold crashing and using KC Super Kleer. (Or your clarifier of choice.) Add 1oz of Med toast Oak and 1oz pure vanilla extract if you choose. Acid to taste 1/2 tsp. Acid addition and carbonating improves the taste dramatically. Age does help, 2 - 4 months.

@CKuhns you say it's a clean ferment with Hot Head. Any yeast character from it?

In a few weeks I'm doing a session mead with pineapple. I was planning on using some Imperial Napoleon but am very curious about using a kveik.

It'll be a standard 5 gallon session with basic honey, 5lb of Costco pineapple in primary and backsweetened to about 1.006 with either honey or frozen pineapple concentrate.

I'm also considering playing with tepache spices, but not sure.

 

[SteveTheViking]

Ok, so being pretty confident that nothing is going on in the session mead, I syphoned off 2l of it into a 5l demijohn and chucked a whole pack of 4184 in with some additional nutrients.

I'm assuming that should be enough yeast to grow a healthy population and stick back in the with the remainder of the 5 gallons.

I'm planning on leaving it for 18 hours or so before adding back in.

Is there any reason this is likely to go wrong?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[CKuhns]

@CKuhns "you say it's a clean ferment with Hot Head. Any yeast character from it? "

It is an Ale yeast and as such some folks on the forum have noted some flavor from the yeast. I personally have only noticed a slight flavor if i fail to do a good job clarifying. A clear (Read a newspaper through it clear) and my untrained pallet cannot detect a yeast flavor or profile.