My mead wont 'start' :(

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TRXnMe

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Hi

I thought I'd give mead a go, from what I've read on here starting it in January is good for drinking it at Christmas, so I made up a batch :)

Lots of honey, Sainsbury's cheap stuff, some water, a few cloves, a little ginger and some juniper berries.

I had to dilute it down in order to get the hydrometer to sink in and acctually give me a reading, but still left it quite strong.

Anyway, I've now chucked in two lots of Young's Super Wine yeast and it's not shoing any signs of yeast growth on the surface, no sign of any other nasties growing, just no yeast growth.

I made the stuff Saturday the 12th and gave the fisr lot of yeast 48 hours to get going, then chucked in some more this time last week, it's still not got a kreuzen and the bubbler is bubble free :(

Anyone have any ideas as to what's gone wrong? I know honey is a natural antispetic, is it possible I've got it too strong for the yeast to grow in the honey solution?
 
yep, you need to add some yeast nutrients as there aren't any in honey, whereas if you were brewing a beer/wine the nutrients would come from the malt/grapes.
 
So, do I just add nutrient, or do I need to addd nutrient and more yeast?

I've got nutrient tablets handy, I could crush a couple of those and chuck them in?
 
Chuck the nutrient in (at least double what you'd use in wine), give it 48 hours, if nothing try more yeast.

I've never heard of a commercial honey including yeast-unfriendly preservatives, but it might be worth checking the labels on the jars.

How much honey? Just the sugar concentration may be scaring the yeast
 
firstly read this :thumb: http://www.gotmead.com/index.php?Itemid ... ogcategory

it's everything you need to know about mead making.

Mead needs nutrients and oxygen, the same as in any brewing, before pitching the yeast you need to aerate fully, and put in some nutrients.

What was the OG reading?

(Some mead makers recommend only adding enough honey to bump the OG to 1.080 at the start of fermentation so that the yeast aren't overwhelmed with the high sugar content and then once it's fermented down to 1.020 to add the rest of the honey. Thought i'd throw that in for additional info, bit late for you to do that now, but don't worry)

At this stage i would suggest adding yeast nutrient, if it doesnt start it then repitch some rehydrated youngs wine yeast.

Once the lag phase is completed you'll see a krausen forming, from then on you'll need to aerate (stir) twice a day. At this point, the addition of some more nutrients will be beneficial. Recommended dosage is 2/3 of a teaspoon (3.5 grams) of Tronozymol and 1/3 of a teaspoon (1.5 grams) of youngs yeast nutrient for a 5 gallon (US) batch.
 
TRXnMe said:
Hi

I thought I'd give mead a go, from what I've read on here starting it in January is good for drinking it at Christmas, so I made up a batch :)

Lots of honey, Sainsbury's cheap stuff, some water, a few cloves, a little ginger and some juniper berries.

I had to dilute it down in order to get the hydrometer to sink in and acctually give me a reading, but still left it quite strong.

Anyway, I've now chucked in two lots of Young's Super Wine yeast and it's not shoing any signs of yeast growth on the surface, no sign of any other nasties growing, just no yeast growth.

I made the stuff Saturday the 12th and gave the fisr lot of yeast 48 hours to get going, then chucked in some more this time last week, it's still not got a kreuzen and the bubbler is bubble free :(

Anyone have any ideas as to what's gone wrong? I know honey is a natural antispetic, is it possible I've got it too strong for the yeast to grow in the honey solution?

I used Youngs super wine yeast for my pyment and threw in a couple of teaspoons of nutrient, but I also used a litre grape juice and a bit of sugar to get the yeast going before I added it to the must. At the advice of others on this forum I also added the juice of one lemon, coincidently the ferment picked up a lot a couple of hours after that.

Mine actually fermented really quickly using a brew belt to keep it warm, I suspect the easy fermentable sugars in the Grape juice helped it get going: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=34548
 
I've heard that lemon juice can make a mead quite acidic, which the yeast don't like. you may need to take a ph reading and make sure the ph is above 3.6 . it should get going with a bit of nutrient ( some brewers like to add half the nutrient on brewday, then the other half a few days later, the yeast appreciates it then)

how much honey did you add to the gallon? more than 3 &1/2 lbs per gallon can end up quite sweet once the yeast gives up. and beware of cloves.... I added two to a gallon of cider during primary and I can't d rink it, it's just too much!

any pics? I like mead pics :D
 
Would you be able to post your recipe?

I agree with everyone else, if you have not added nutrient then get some in there and give it a good shake. I would also take a hydrometer reading to make sure that it has not fermented, just incase :thumb:
 
You will need a couple of teaspoons of nutrient, possibly some tanin (tea) and I would suggest some acid in the form of citric acid (lemon juice).

Also useful to know what Lots of honey means, and in how big an amount of water.

Mead can be troublesome, some ferments can complete in days others just slowly amble along for months. If the idea is to have it ready for next christmas you may have been better using less honey as too much may supply enough sugar for a strong mead but they take longer to mature (2 or 3 years). Whereas a mean made with 2 1/2 - 3 lbs makes a lighter mead and these mature to drinkable quicker. I made a fairly strong mead, it is still maturing after 3 years.
 
OK, so, still no krausen :(

I've got a bit over a gallon and a half of mead (2 x 3/4 full DJs) and there are 6 x 454g jars of honey in there. From the comments I've read above I'll be diluting that down a bit tomorrow and adding some rehydrated yeast and a bit more nutrient to the demi johns.

The original OG was 1.120, so really rather strong, certainly well over the suggested 1.080 above.

I'll chuck a half litre of water into each DJ, give it a shake and add the yeast and nutrient, hopefully that will get it going.

Sounds like it will be ready for christmas, but not sure which one yet :D I think I'll make up some more next weekend, with a lot less honey in, so I've got some ready for christmas 2013 and then some more for christmas eve 2014 :D
 
That's 3lb of honey in a little over 3 litres, even allowing for the fact honey is (according to something I read) only 80% fermentable, that's a lot of sugar.
Dilute it - it won't need /that/ much headspace;
Get it well aerated;
More nutrient;
Adjust the acid balance;
Make a starter for the yeast instead of just chucking it in.
Ought to sort it!
 
1.120 isn't too high for a mead, especially if you are topping it up to nearly 5 litres, some of mine have been higher and fermented out to dry...not tasted them yet so they could be rocket fuel for a year or two!
 
I'd be inclined to agree with Gayle, although I'm not sure about the Young's yeast. Get yourself some Lalvin K1V116, it'll munch through that no troubles.
Key points with mead are nutrients and aeration, but also proper rehydration of yeast. Check the newbee guide on GotMead and you'll be fine.
 
After having tried all the tips on here, apart from the special yeast (I'll get that for the next batch) it still looked like nothing was happening :(

So, I took a reading today, it's dropped quite a lot and on closer inspection there is a layer of yeast at the bottom of the DJ, it would appear that mead can ferment without forming a kreuzen, unlike beer, wine and cider.

We may still be on for christmas mead afterall :D
 
Glad to hear it kicked off well. Always trust your hydrometer. As you get into your mead making, the Lalvin yeasts become a must (no pun intended).
There's some really good data available on them as you get into more advanced techniques. And of course, they make their own nutrients to go with the yeast...getting a big batch in soon if anyone is interested in getting some. Will prob put them up on fleabay.
 
I made a DJ of mead 18 months ago. I used Youngs champagne yeast and enough honey to give 15% ABV :thumb: .While fermenting this gave off TINY bubbles. This took at least 4 months to stop fermenting, but now tastes fantastic. PS it blows your ears off!
:cheers:
 
Well, the first glass has beeen drunk.

We were away for Christmas and as mead is a traditional winter solstice drink I thought I'd syphon a drop from the DJ into a glass.

It seems to be quite strong, not quite moorish in a soft drink way, but a little too easy to drink for me to go and fill the glass again.

When the festivities are over I'll bottle the rest off and put it somewhere safe for NYE 2014 and onwards :D
 
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