Hello!
Sort of new to mead, but been brewing beer for years.
I might have got lucky on my first attempt at mead using ale yeast (WLP California Ale Yeast).
My memory of what did for that one is a little fuzzy, but I believe I made 1 gallon of must and split it into a half gallon plain (just honey), and a half gallon Morat (with fresh mulberries), and then eyeballed some liquid yeast starter (using dme) into it. Both fermented dry (to around 1.000 ish) , and the OGs were under around 1.080-1.090ish... mulberry one was higher.
Anyway, those turned out "okay" for a half gallon each, and using ale yeast, and first attempt...I'd say they're drinking decently for about 1 year of age. So that was my first sort of 'test run'.
btw, I had read various accounts of people using ale yeasts and their experiences, but I had yet to really dig in to the more modern mead making science, SNA etc (more on that later*)
So, this year I felt like I would try it again, although make a larger batch and change some of the details around;
This time I decided to try WLP Edinburgh Scottish Ale yeast, and I made around 2.5 gallons of must with a gravity of 1.100, and about a half dozen chopped dried organic apricots, and this time I pitched close to a 1litre starter (using stirplate for around 24 hrs, nice and frothy) of this Edinburgh yeast and a pinch of DAP.
This was almost one week ago, I checked the gravity every few days, the first time I checked it was 1.070 after 3 days fermentation.
The next day 1.065, three days later it was 1.050.
In the time between first pitch and the first gravity sampling, I did enough googling and reading about SNA to lead me to come here and ask for feedback and any opinions people might have on this fermentation.
I have now read up more on what people commonly do using nutrients, staggering vs not etc... So I did add some raisins, and dissolved some more DAP in boiling water, cooled, and added to sample before added back in with no significant foaming. I have also gently swirled the carboy a few times over a few days to try and degass it. All of those things were done within the first 6 days. My plan is to take another reading on Sunday, and if it continues the trend, it ought to be between 1.030 and 1.035 (depending on time of day) as it seems it's been roughly 5 gravity points a day-ish. If it doesn't drop that much, it will have slowed fermentation even more.
Does that seem exceptionally slow as a fermentation to anyone ? I'm keeping in mind that my wee heavy Scotch ale did take a good 2 weeks to ferment to it's FG.
But I am thinking perhaps I underpitched the yeast/under fed nutrients.
If it continues at 5 pts a day, 2 weeks from brewing would be a FG of 1.010-1.015 (fwiw, White Labs does say this Edinburgh strain is suitable for "sweet meads"), and would have to be another few days to go "dry", if that's even possible with this yeast.
Given that it initially was dropping around 10pts for the first few days, it has clearly slowed a bit already.
Well, anyone have any tips or suggestions for this situation? I guess I'm wondering if anyone would advise preparing to pitch more yeast and/or adding more nutrients, but it seems that it's past the halfway mark already, and I've read that nutrient additions might not be useful after that break.
Thanks in advance for any wisdoms!
Sort of new to mead, but been brewing beer for years.
I might have got lucky on my first attempt at mead using ale yeast (WLP California Ale Yeast).
My memory of what did for that one is a little fuzzy, but I believe I made 1 gallon of must and split it into a half gallon plain (just honey), and a half gallon Morat (with fresh mulberries), and then eyeballed some liquid yeast starter (using dme) into it. Both fermented dry (to around 1.000 ish) , and the OGs were under around 1.080-1.090ish... mulberry one was higher.
Anyway, those turned out "okay" for a half gallon each, and using ale yeast, and first attempt...I'd say they're drinking decently for about 1 year of age. So that was my first sort of 'test run'.
btw, I had read various accounts of people using ale yeasts and their experiences, but I had yet to really dig in to the more modern mead making science, SNA etc (more on that later*)
So, this year I felt like I would try it again, although make a larger batch and change some of the details around;
This time I decided to try WLP Edinburgh Scottish Ale yeast, and I made around 2.5 gallons of must with a gravity of 1.100, and about a half dozen chopped dried organic apricots, and this time I pitched close to a 1litre starter (using stirplate for around 24 hrs, nice and frothy) of this Edinburgh yeast and a pinch of DAP.
This was almost one week ago, I checked the gravity every few days, the first time I checked it was 1.070 after 3 days fermentation.
The next day 1.065, three days later it was 1.050.
In the time between first pitch and the first gravity sampling, I did enough googling and reading about SNA to lead me to come here and ask for feedback and any opinions people might have on this fermentation.
I have now read up more on what people commonly do using nutrients, staggering vs not etc... So I did add some raisins, and dissolved some more DAP in boiling water, cooled, and added to sample before added back in with no significant foaming. I have also gently swirled the carboy a few times over a few days to try and degass it. All of those things were done within the first 6 days. My plan is to take another reading on Sunday, and if it continues the trend, it ought to be between 1.030 and 1.035 (depending on time of day) as it seems it's been roughly 5 gravity points a day-ish. If it doesn't drop that much, it will have slowed fermentation even more.
Does that seem exceptionally slow as a fermentation to anyone ? I'm keeping in mind that my wee heavy Scotch ale did take a good 2 weeks to ferment to it's FG.
But I am thinking perhaps I underpitched the yeast/under fed nutrients.
If it continues at 5 pts a day, 2 weeks from brewing would be a FG of 1.010-1.015 (fwiw, White Labs does say this Edinburgh strain is suitable for "sweet meads"), and would have to be another few days to go "dry", if that's even possible with this yeast.
Given that it initially was dropping around 10pts for the first few days, it has clearly slowed a bit already.
Well, anyone have any tips or suggestions for this situation? I guess I'm wondering if anyone would advise preparing to pitch more yeast and/or adding more nutrients, but it seems that it's past the halfway mark already, and I've read that nutrient additions might not be useful after that break.
Thanks in advance for any wisdoms!