Stopping Wyeast 4184

[FlashJT]

I bet a few of you are scratching your heads at the title of this post, considering most problems with Wyeast 4184 are that you either can't start it, or you get stuck fermentations. Well, I have the opposite problem, and I want it to stop fermenting.

I started this mead with SG=1.102, figuring I could get down to about 1.020, maybe 1.010 if I was lucky and took care of the yeasties. Well, I took my reading this morning and I'm down to the 1.010 mark with no real signs of stopping. They're still bubbling away quite happily in there in seems.

I don't want to go too much further, because right now we're pushing 12.5% and I don't really like going much past 13% for things if I have to. Considering these guys are only rated to 11%, I didn't think this would be a problem. Doh!

I put the carboy in the garage this morning (20's-30's for temperature) to try and pseudo cold crash and get them to stop fermenting. Assuming this stops them, will they restart again when brought back to room temp, or since the alcohol is above their happy 11% will they not be able to restart?

I know I could add the combination of k-meta and sorbate to stop these guys, but I'd prefer not to add anything I don't HAVE to. If I HAVE to, then so be it, but I figured I'd ask first and see if this pseudo cold crashing thing might work, or if they're just going to start back up again. Thoughts?

 

[Unferth]

Cold crashing them might (key word) do it. If they've hit their tolerance, chilling them might be too much for the little buggers. A few Camden tablets probably wouldn't hurt either.

If you don't want to add sulfites and have the facilities, bulk ageing in the cold can have some very nice effects on wine, I assume mead too. Plus they'd be less likely to start up again after a while in the cold.

Otherwise your stuck with chemicals... Though you could, theoretically, pasteurize the buggers, but then the honey might lose its subtle flavors.

 

[saramc]

Adding k-meta and sorbate will NOT stop a ferment--that is not how those additives function. To be brutally honest, the only way to successfully stop that ferment in its tracks is to pasteurize.

In the future, keep in mind that the yeast threshold is simply a range, it is not gospel. I have yet to have a wine yeast stop at the threshold listed, the ACV has always exceeded by up to 2% for some varieties.

I stumbled across this article on the analysis of mead. You may find some of the info helpful. http://www.solorb.com/mead/danspaper.html

 

[FlashJT]

Thanks for the responses.

I suppose k-meta and sorbate will not stop an active ferment (never tried it, but see your reasoning). However, if I can get them to go dormant in the cold, then i should be able to get the fermentation to stop for good on the same basis that you add those two before backsweetening. As long as they aren't actively fermenting, they won't be able to start again after adding the chemicals....or so I'd think.

Turns out my garage isn't that cold. After sitting there all day yesterday and overnight, it's only down around 40F. Funny thing is those buggers are still going, although MUCH slower than they were yesterday morning. Lots of them have dropped out too, so I figure maybe tomorrow I'll rack them off the ones that fell out to get their numbers down, and maybe try the kmeta and sorbate option. Or maybe I'll just leave it alone in the garage for a week or so and see what happens. It's supposed to stay cold here at least through wednesday.

 

[Unferth]

The colder the better. Open the door a bit if you can, even slightly below freezing would be fine. It won't kill the yeast but will def put a hitch in their giddy-up. Good luck