Mead off to a very slow start

[poptarts]

I think there is an issue, but then again I'm a noob so who knows. So made a mead or cyser or call it what you will 48 hours ago.

Recipe was 5 gallons of apple juice (Mots) and ~11LB Honey. Starting OG was 1120. I added 6 campden tablets and let gave it a big stir for 10 mins or so and let it sit for 24 hrs. Next day pitched 2 packs of 1118 and 6 tsp nut and 3 tsp of energizer.

We are now 24 hours past that point and I'm seeing around 1 bubble every 60 seconds or so. Is this normal? What to do?

 

[Arpolis]

Mead does not always have a high krausen and can look uneventfull. However don't underestimate 1118 yeast. I bet it will eat through those fermentables in no time and you will check the gravity again in under two weeks to see it bone dry.

 

[poptarts]

Yea everyone says that 1118 is a monster, I was just expecting some monster belching action out of the primary, not some dainty fairy bubbles.

 

[aceparadis]

Next time make a starter

 

[poptarts]

Might be this time, bubbles have stopped completely as of this morning.

 

[VCTFernandes]

Did you rehydrate your lil friends before pitching them in? Maybe they're having trouble with the sulfites...
Is it possible that you have a pH problem? Can you measure it? Below 3.2 can make it hard for the yeast, I think...

 

[poptarts]

Didnt rehydrate, i should have done that at the very least or made a starter (have one brewing now). What do you do for low PH, i have a meter but I dont know what I would add to up it

 

[VCTFernandes]

People say that potassium carbonate is the best chemical for raising pH in mead. You can try calcium carbonate too, but it may leave some residual chalk taste, I heard...
But first, measure it (and tell us, we're curious people ) to be sure that it's too low. If it gets too high, it can be bad too...

 

[poptarts]

4.1 PH as of last night. My yeast starter is almost a gallon and is going crazy town. Tonight I will mix the crap out of it and airrate it like there is no tomorrow then dump my entire starter in. Should pick up Im hoping.

 

[JFK]

4.1 it's high but not in any way dangerously high. The yeast well make that drop pretty quickly. To give you a point of comparison yeast in a perfect world would be in a 3.7ph always. So your ph is fine. What was your starting gravity? A lot of yeast doesn't do well in higher og batches without a healthy starter.

 

[poptarts]

so made a stir rod, hooked it up to my drill. Must went to tornado town for a good 10 mins. Pitched my 1 gallon starter I made from the must, the yeast were going to town in there. After a few hrs still no bubbles.
Then I though that the lid might not be sealing properly on my bucket, so did a few wraps of tape around it and within seconds I had bubbles every few seconds coming through the tube.
Soo lets hope I didn't over pitch some yeast since Im assuming they were fine the whole time. With an OG of 1.122 I think the starter cant do any harm. What do you guys think? Thanks everyone for the help trouble shooting with me.

 

[poptarts]

So in the end the batch dropped below 1.000 and is starting to come together really well Im excited to see what this tastes like in a year or so hoping I dont drink it all before then.

 

[fatbloke]

Your intial problem was most likely excess sulphite. You don't usually need to sulphite juice and honey.

If you do, because the juice has come from slightly mouldy fruit (likely freshly pressed), then you'd likely be better off aerating the juice/honey or at least just leave it loosely covered. The sulphites need some air to dissipate.

Its easily done, especially if you're following a recipe......