Is my mead fermentation stuck?

[Cody CoCoLee]

Absolute first time brewer here getting my feet wet with done mead. Used about 4L of honey for a 12-13L batch. OG was 1.114. Used bread yeast and a large handful of chopped up dried apricots as nutrient. Seemed very active for about 5 days. SG after 9 days is at 1.100 and my airlock is popping every 8 seconds or so.

Lost pretty much all foam on the surface but still getting some minor bubbling activity. I guess I expected a larger SG change, but I really don’t know what to expect. I was wondering if I should be considering adding some additional nutrient. Again, it’s literally my first time trying to brew anything at all.

Thanks!

 

[videojunkie1208]

Bread yeasts tend to have a fairly low alcohol tolerance, and with an OG of 1.114, you have the potential to brew a 15% ABV mead (not with that yeast though). Honestly the apricots may cause more problems than they fix.

I would consider getting a wine yeast in there, (Lalvin D47 is popular for meads) which will help you ferment to completion. I highly recommend that you add some yeast nutrients and follow one of the TONSA protocols for feeding your yeast. TOSNA Calculator and get some Fermaid O Robot Check to keep your yeast happy.

There is a lot of good stuff in the mead forums about keeping yeasts happy and making good meads.

Cheers!

 

[Elric]

even with the right yeast meads can ferment really slow without proper nutrients. I finally just bottled the one I started on March 3rd. After the first couple weeks it was just slowly dropping about 10 points a month.... it's darn tasty though!

 

[Mtrhdltd]

I would re- pitch with another yeast, I use wlp720 myself. Also DAP and fermaid at re- pitch and again at around 1.035. Patience is your best friend making mead. Good luck!

 

[Cody CoCoLee]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

I ended up pitching a packet of D47 and about 3.5 tsp of yeast nutrient last night (day 12).

Today, visually, I’m not seeing too much change of activity on the surface, but my airlock seems to be popping more frequently at ~3 seconds, but I wonder if that’s just because I disturbed the must.

I’m thinking I’ll give it the week then take a SG reading and see where things are at...

 

[Cody CoCoLee]

So took an SG reading today and it came in at 1.064! So I think we’re back in business. Heading out of town for about a week so I’m excited to see what it is when I get back.

Thanks for all of your advice so far