Stalled fermentation?

[JR59]

Hello,

I'm very new to brewing and fermenting things; I began just last month with mead, which I enjoy drinking and have wanted to make for ages. I received a mead making kit for Christmas, for an orange Melomel, (contents; demijon, yeast, steriliser etc.) and finally go around to making it on the 14th of April. I followed the instructions which came with the kit as carefully as I could, but about four days ago it seemed to 'stop' - it no longer bubbled into the bubbler. There seemed to be no activity at all when it had seemed quite happy bubbling along previously. I gave it a bit of time and watched it, but no bubbling occurred. I put this perhaps down to the sudden change of weather we had (from mild to quite a cold snap) - I was keeping the demijon in the pantry which is about kitchen temp but lost a bit of heat lately due to unseasonal weather) I wonder if the fermentation has stalled and, if so, if it is possible to re-start the fermentation process with adding a nother round of yeast, or if I should chuck it away and start the process all over again?
I was getting quite optimistic about mead and looking up what to try next and I'd love to make a small success of my mead making - I've already brought two more demijons.

Thank you kindly for any advice,
JR

 

[FrodeM]

It's difficult to tell. Airlock activity is no certain indication.

If you can, try to get hold of a hydrometer. In a situation like this I'd usually ask about the initial reading and the curent reading. This, in addition to knowing what type of yeast was included with the kit, would have given a whole lot of info about the state of the fermentation.

Fermentation can stop for several reasons. No sugar left, too high ABV, too acidic, insufficient nutrients, contamination, etc.

 

[BeeDeeEff]

Exactly how cold did it get and for how long?

Are we talking it dropped down to 60°F for an hour or down to 40°F for a day?

 

[loveofrose]

Get a hydrometer. Maybe it's done. How does it taste?

 

[JR59]

Exactly how cold did it get and for how long?

Are we talking it dropped down to 60°F for an hour or down to 40°F for a day?

It was a cold about three days, I'm not sure how cold it was in the pantry but I'd suspect around 45-50 F.

If you can, try to get hold of a hydrometer. In a situation like this I'd usually ask about the initial reading and the curent reading. This, in addition to knowing what type of yeast was included with the kit, would have given a whole lot of info about the state of the fermentation.

I may have a hydrometer or be able to get one quickly. But, (foolishly) I took no initial reading. I take it I'm okay to remove the bung and check it?

Apologies for the dumb questions,
JR

P.S. Ill try to find out which yeast came with the kit.

 

[SkeletorMob]

I may have a hydrometer or be able to get one quickly. But, (foolishly) I took no initial reading. I take it I'm okay to remove the bung and check it?

Apologies for the dumb questions,
JR

P.S. Ill try to find out which yeast came with the kit.

You will be fine to check it if you have enough space to grab the hydrometer out. I.e. I can't check gravity inside my one gallon carboy because it drops into the neck and my fat fingers can't get it out lol. Just be sure to sterilize the equipment first I had two recipes recently I didn't get to check until 20 or so days in, and had to thief out a portion for testing. Sterilize every piece of equipment before it hits the must! Little more opportunity for oxidization contamination but I experienced no harmful effects from it. But I too am fermenting my first recipes so I haven't experienced much at all!
May want to degas a bit before testing too I've read

 

[FrodeM]

It should be fine to open the bung, as long as you don't leave it off for too long. If it really is stalled, a tiny bit of oxygen might actually be beneficial!

I'd say: Get it up to 70F, shake i a bit around, take a measurement with the hydrometer and let it sit for a day to see if anything happens.

 

[Lefou]

When doing a variation of the Ancient Orange mead, the "leave it alone, don't touch" recommendations clashed with my wine advice to add nutrients and de-gas.
So, I opened the airlock, added nutrients, and de-gassed.
Mead, after all, is technically a wine - to me, anyway. What happened may not be what others might experience, but my ABV ended above the yeast's stated 9.5% ABV tolerance. I firmly believe a good shake now and then, along with added nutrients, helped the fermentation process more than leaving the must alone and forgetting about it.