Stuck fermentation

[Chuginator]

Hi guys/gals,

I was going to bottle two batches of mead that have aged nearly one year, but their gravities are still 1.033 (10 lbs honey in 4 gals water) and 1.048 (15 lbs honey in 4 gals water). When originally put in the carboys, I added 2 tsp of Wyeast mead nutrient, and oxygenated well with an oxygen bottle and stone. I also re-oxygenated and added another 2 tsp of nutrient two weeks after that. Used two packs of EC-1118 each. StarSan for sanitizer, 5g glass carboys covered with a dark towel. Room is always right around 68-70 degrees. I did not use yeast energizer, only the Wyeast nutrient.

To me it seemed like fermentation never seemed to hit its stride in a big way. It was long and slow, versus rapid and vigorous.

I'm going to try to have another go at the fermentation and could use some pointers. From what I can tell, I did most everything that I should have, so I'm a little confused.

To make the story more interesting, I bottled 1 gallon of "simple" mead that was made with Fleschmann's bread yeast, and no nutrient or energizer. That finished completely at 13.5%! I didn't realize that bread yeast could do that! It was two pounds of honey in one gallon of water, so I'm really baffled!

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[stevo155]

Did you off gas the CO2 anytime before oxygenating after 2 weeks? The CO2 built up in the fermenting mead may have killed off some yeast. I've only done one mead ( currently aging right now ) but everything I've read said you should off gas the CO2 for the first 1/3-1/2 of fermentation. I also did a staggered nutrient addition, adding 1/3 of the nutrients at the beginning and a 1/3 every other day when I used the mix stir to get rid of CO2.

 

[Chuginator]

Negative, I did not offgas.

 

[Golddiggie]

Few things...

Not degassing or aerating it hurt the fermentation/yeast.
If you only did the nutrient and oxygenation at 2 weeks from pitching, you didn't help it much.
Did you add 4 gallons of water to the mix, or fill to 4 gallons total volume? Big difference there.
No need to use two packets of yeast for each batch. A single packet of EC-1118 is more than enough yeast for 4-5 gallon (probably even ~6 gallon) batch sizes. Using more yeast is just tossing away the cost of the yeast (I know, that's a small amount, but it's still not necessary).

I've used EC-1118 with great results before. If you treat it decently, it will go to 18% without issue. It also produces really good meads, provided you also give it the time needed to become so. For me, 1 year before bottling is a good rule of thumb for most meads. That gives the mead plenty of time to become clear. In my initial batches, I formulated the must a bit stronger than I should have. So, the mead finished sweet, at 18% ABV.

 

[Chuginator]

Added 4 gallons of distilled water to the honey, not 4 gallons total. Thanks for the tip on the extra EC-1118; will not use two in the future. It's about three weeks shy of one year in the carboys.

Currently I'm planning on shaking the hell out of it, re-oxygenating, and adding more nutrients. Not sure what else I can do, but if anyone has pointers that are valuable beyond my planned approach, I'm all ears.

 

[Golddiggie]

Added 4 gallons of distilled water to the honey, not 4 gallons total. Thanks for the tip on the extra EC-1118; will not use two in the future. It's about three weeks shy of one year in the carboys.

Currently I'm planning on shaking the hell out of it, re-oxygenating, and adding more nutrients. Not sure what else I can do, but if anyone has pointers that are valuable beyond my planned approach, I'm all ears.

4 gallons water + 15# honey is more than 5 gallons volume. It would have either filled the 5 gallon carboy to capacity, or been overflowing. With the initial fermentation of mead, much like beer, you NEED headspace in the vessel so that you don't foam over and make a mess. Especially when you aerate/degas the must.

I wouldn't re-oxygenate the must at all. Adding nutrients to the batches could also be touchy, since most of the yeast will have flocculated out. IF you've not racked these batches (to get them to clear) then it's possible to do so. But, the yeast could be nasty in there by now.

I typically rack my meads sometime in the first 1-4 month span (waiting until fermentation has completed). Then once every 2-4 months (or longer) until they are very clear.

 

[Chuginator]

OK, thanks. Hmm... maybe it was four gallons total. I guess that would make sense. I just wrote "4g distilled water" and "10 lb. honey" on the ingredients list, but it was long enough ago that I don't recall if I skimped on the water addition in order for it all to fit. These were racked to secondary two months after fermentation started. I suppose I could degas, then add another half pack of EC-1118 each (that's all I have on hand at the moment)?

 

[Insomniac]

I would just bottle the first one. At 1.03 it will be sweet, but I've bottled and enjoyed sweeter. How do they taste?

 

[Chuginator]

SWEET. Way too sweet.

 

[Chuginator]

Plus, at that FG there's a bottle bomb risk, no?

 

[Golddiggie]

Read up on what you need to do in order to restart a stuck mead fermentation, from the Got Mead? forums. It's not as straight forward/simple as you think. For one thing, you'll need to make a starter for the yeast since the must already has alcohol in it.

 

[sonofgrok]

I used almost the exact same process on two meads. 12# honey, 4 gallons spring water, two packets EC1118. Both were reading under 1.0 after 2 weeks so I wonder where yours got caught up. I did add lemons and loose leaf tea to the mix instead of nutrient though which the yeast seemed to enjoy. 1.03 seems awfully high.

 

[Chuginator]

Read up on what you need to do in order to restart a stuck mead fermentation, from the Got Mead? forums. It's not as straight forward/simple as you think. For one thing, you'll need to make a starter for the yeast since the must already has alcohol in it.

Thank you.

 

[Chuginator]

I used almost the exact same process on two meads. 12# honey, 4 gallons spring water, two packets EC1118. Both were reading under 1.0 after 2 weeks so I wonder where yours got caught up. I did add lemons and loose leaf tea to the mix instead of nutrient though which the yeast seemed to enjoy. 1.03 seems awfully high.

Yeah, I'd be interested to know too. Both of them were slow fermenters. Odd.

 

[Golddiggie]

Yeah, I'd be interested to know too. Both of them were slow fermenters. Odd.

How close to the expiration date on the yeast packets were you??

 

[Chuginator]

How close to the expiration date on the yeast packets were you??

Unknown. I usually look at the expiration dates though and if I remembered to then, I obviously didn't see anything of concern or I wouldn't have used them.

They came from a popular homebrew resource (probably Austin Homebrew) that I'd expect to have fast turnaround on stuff like that.

Perhaps the yeast got blasted in a hot delivery truck or something.

I did not rehydrate it, it went straight in.

Again, I appreciate the tip on the gotmead forum. Planning for an acclimated starter as you suggested.

 

[Golddiggie]

Not rehydrating the yeast is another misstep. You need to do that for meads when using dry yeast. A good many mazers also mix in some yeast energizer into the rehydrating yeast to give it a leg up when being pitched. Skipping steps, or cutting corners, early on can cause major issues later. Such as what you're experiencing.

I also tend to get my dry yeasts locally, where they're kept in a fridge, so I don't need to worry about it sitting on a hot truck. IF you're ordering yeast during the summer months, you're better off getting a cold pack included to keep the yeast within it's storage temperature range. Or just source it out locally and not worry about it at all. I also tend to order my yeast with faster shipping, when not getting it local, so that it spends less time on the truck.

I'm now closer to a store that [I hope] has a decent yeast selection in stock. Before I moved, the closest place was about a 30-45 minute drive (each way).

 

[sonofgrok]

Not rehydrating the yeast is another misstep.

I always soak my EC1118 in water for 20 minutes then stir it up and pitch it. I usually get bubbles within the hour. That is probably a big part of it.

 

[Chuginator]

Points taken. Thanks, guys! Will be working up a starter tonight. I'll post the results when all is said and done. Wish me luck!

 

[Chuginator]

Anyway... yes, according to the Lalvin EC-1118 instructions from their web site, it says that initial rehydration in the must is not advisable! Lesson learned!

 

[Chuginator]

Hmm. Well, two nights ago I started with a 1g fermenter; put 2oz of sterilized and cooled water in it with a pack of EC-1118 (expiration date: 2016), let it sit for 20 minutes, then added 2oz of must, let it sit for 30 minutes, added 4oz, let it sit for an hour, added 8oz, let it sit for an hour. At that point it was doing about one airlock blurp every 30 seconds. Ten hours later I added 16oz of must and oxygenated it and let it sit for a day. That's where it sits this morning, giving maybe one blurp every 45 seconds or so (seems to be slowing down).

I'm guessing I'll added one more batch of must and see what happens, but to me it seems like it's stalling out again.

If anyone has some ideas on a direction I should take, I'm all ears - otherwise I'm planning on doing the above soon, then in about 10 hours, swirling it heavily to get as much yeast in suspension as I can, and pitching half in each batch.