Stuck Mead - What Now?

[Ogroat]

I made a batch of mead following this recipe for a chocolate mead. It did start right around an OG of 1.150 as indicated in the recipe. It’s now stopped fermenting at 1.050, as measured by a hydrometer. I’ve moved the bucket to a warmer spot and tried periodically rousing the yeast, which doesn’t seem to be having any effect.

In looking closer, it seems as though the mead is close to the stated tolerance of the 71B yeast.

Where can I go from here? The way I see it, I’ve got some options. I could make a volume of dry mead and mix the batches to get a more reasonable FG. I could pitch some more hardy yeast and see where that stops. I could take one of several less desirable paths. There are likely things that I haven’t even considered. What would you experienced folk do in this situation?

 

[voltron]

Your mead seems to be around 13% abv. so you have come to the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. .the final number isnt as important as the start and finish. at 13%abv it may be better just to let it age here and enjoy. You risk messin it up by tampering with it when you already have a good alcohol level. just leave it alone and let it age and enjoy.

 

[voltron]

one thing to keep in mind is that hydrometer measurements can be influenced by many things, thats why its og and fg that count not just fg. the size of the container, whether you used the same container. the tempature of the room. so it better to go with your og and fg. So in thoery if i had a batch of wine and took my og and fg with my flask at my rooms tempature and then i gave you that batch and you took it with your flask and whatever temp you are at it may gives us dofferent number but the aproximate abv after calculation shoild be similar.

 

[bernardsmith]

Right ... but an FG of about 1.050 means that the mead has about 1.25 pounds of sugar in every gallon. That's about 87 teaspoons of sugar in 8 pints or about 4 teaspoons in a cup. Don't know about you, Voltron but to me that is sweet enough to remove all the enamel from my teeth. What Ogroat might do is make another batch at a far lower ABV (and perhaps twice the volume) and blend the two...

 

[BlkWater_brewer]

How long was the fermentation to get to this point?

 

[Ogroat]

How long was the fermentation to get to this point?

Five or six weeks

Right ... but an FG of about 1.050 [is very sweet.] What Ogroat might do is make another batch at a far lower ABV (and perhaps twice the volume) and blend the two...

Yeah, this is what I’m leaning towards doing - making a batch of 1.100 OG mead that I’ll ferment out completely and blend the two. This current mead is intended to be sweet, so I don’t think it would take a ton of new mead to get between 1.020 and 1.030.

one thing to keep in mind is that hydrometer measurements can be influenced by many things, thats why its og and fg that count not just fg. the size of the container, whether you used the same container. the tempature of the room.

This simply isn’t true. As long as the hydrometer floats freely, it will give you a density measurement (and the same density measurement regardless of container). Density is changed slightly by the temperature of the liquid, but at room temperature the correction factor to the 60F that hydrometers are generally calibrated at is to add 0.001.

 

[Dan_K]

What about a dose of Fermaid O?
I agree that blending with some dry mead wouldn't be a bad place to go, however, you'll be diluting the chocolate flavor unless you flavor that batch as well. Assuming batch B finishes at 1.000; you'll need to blend the two batches in a 3:2 ratio to get down to 1.030 or a 1:1 ratio to get 1.025. I think 1.030 is an appropriate sugar level for a sweet chocolate mead.

 

[Ogroat]

What about a dose of Fermaid O?
I agree that blending with some dry mead wouldn't be a bad place to go, however, you'll be diluting the chocolate flavor unless you flavor that batch as well. Assuming batch B finishes at 1.000; you'll need to blend the two batches in a 3:2 ratio to get down to 1.030 or a 1:1 ratio to get 1.025. I think 1.030 is an appropriate sugar level for a sweet chocolate mead.

I could see if adding some more fermaid does anything, but I wouldn't be particularly hopeful there. The chocolate hasn't been added yet, which I should have mentioned. The batch is still just a (very) sweet mead at this point. The plan is to get the gravity right and then rack onto the cocoa.

 

[Baabaad00]

Pitch a more alcohol tolerant yeast if your going for something drier. Pick something that has a tolerance that'll chew up the amount of sugar you want and result in your desired FG. Or just toss in 1118 and backsweeten if having something that alcoholic suits you. Idk what would work best with that recipe without tasting it.

 

[Maylar]

I think blending with a dry mead would give you the most controllable result. But if you want to try restarting it as a stuck ferment, here's a procedure that works:

https://www.denardbrewing.com/blog/post/Sfno/