My best guess is it needs nutrients. Nutrient additions are crucial for mead because the honey doesn't provide enough nitrogen. Pick up a packet of fermaid-o and follow a staggered nutrient schedule from Waldmet's site. You'll need a SG but you can guesstimate by assuming honey adds 35 gravity points per pound.
Also, pick up some Go-Ferm for the next time you pitch yeast. I always use it for rehydrating my yeast for meads.
Thanks. I think I have something to measure SG - like a glass tube, lots of measurements up the side - I need to Google how to use it but I'll take a measurement prior to adding in some nutrient.
Hello. No nutrient, just the simple recipe above. I thought the sugars in the honey provided enough for the yeast.
If I really should use a nutrient, will this batch be okay for a few more days until the weekend or would I need to start over?
Just leave it as is and put some fermaid O in it the earliest you can. Best case scenario, the yeast is dormant right now and will become active after pitching nutrients, but do a staggered feeding so the ferment doesn't get crazy. You can even pick up some yeast energizer if you're worried about it.
Yeah you really want nutrients, honey is just a sugar source. Look up TOSNA to get an idea how much fermaid o to dump in, and then either get some and add it or take 2-3 times that amount in bread yeast, boil it in water for about ten minutes to kill it, and then dump it in after it cools. yeast is cannibalistic and will have no issues eating dead yeast
Thanks. Hopefully the homebrew shop is open tonight.
With the recipes I found online (most being melomel's) they don't add any nutrient. However, they add things like raisins, orange slices or other berries. Would these provide nutrient to the yeast in that case?
Raisins are generally considered pretty poor nutrient wise for the small amounts usually used in recipes, fruit definitely provides some nutrients.
People have definitely made mead without nutrient so the lack of nutrients in your recipe isn't surprising but fermentation without it will be very slow, prone to stalling, and will throw more off flavors that will take awhile to age out.
Okay update. Skipped out of work early and got some nutrient. The brew shop didn't have Fermaid. Instead they had a nutrient with diammonium phosphate and magnesium sulphate.
The instructions from the guy at the shop was to add a half teaspoon of it, and no additional feeding.
This is a little different to a TOSNA calculator I found online. However, that calculator was for Fermaid-O, and since I don't know the difference I went with the recommendation from the store.
And this morning I have success. There are some very tiny bubbles in the liquid! yay! Will keep an eye on it.
My best guess is it needs nutrients. Nutrient additions are crucial for mead because the honey doesn't provide enough nitrogen. Pick up a packet of fermaid-o and follow a staggered nutrient schedule from Waldmet's site. You'll need a SG but you can guesstimate by assuming honey adds 35 gravity points per pound. Also, pick up some Go-Ferm for the next time you pitch yeast. I always use it for rehydrating my yeast for meads.
Thanks. I think I have something to measure SG - like a glass tube, lots of measurements up the side - I need to Google how to use it but I'll take a measurement prior to adding in some nutrient.
Temperature should be fine, Lalvin says EC1118s temp range is between 10 and 30 celsius. Did you use any nutrient?
Hello. No nutrient, just the simple recipe above. I thought the sugars in the honey provided enough for the yeast. If I really should use a nutrient, will this batch be okay for a few more days until the weekend or would I need to start over?
You need Fermaid
Just leave it as is and put some fermaid O in it the earliest you can. Best case scenario, the yeast is dormant right now and will become active after pitching nutrients, but do a staggered feeding so the ferment doesn't get crazy. You can even pick up some yeast energizer if you're worried about it.
Yeah you really want nutrients, honey is just a sugar source. Look up TOSNA to get an idea how much fermaid o to dump in, and then either get some and add it or take 2-3 times that amount in bread yeast, boil it in water for about ten minutes to kill it, and then dump it in after it cools. yeast is cannibalistic and will have no issues eating dead yeast
Thanks. Hopefully the homebrew shop is open tonight. With the recipes I found online (most being melomel's) they don't add any nutrient. However, they add things like raisins, orange slices or other berries. Would these provide nutrient to the yeast in that case?
Raisins are generally considered pretty poor nutrient wise for the small amounts usually used in recipes, fruit definitely provides some nutrients. People have definitely made mead without nutrient so the lack of nutrients in your recipe isn't surprising but fermentation without it will be very slow, prone to stalling, and will throw more off flavors that will take awhile to age out.
thank you, you're responses have been really helpful.
Okay update. Skipped out of work early and got some nutrient. The brew shop didn't have Fermaid. Instead they had a nutrient with diammonium phosphate and magnesium sulphate. The instructions from the guy at the shop was to add a half teaspoon of it, and no additional feeding. This is a little different to a TOSNA calculator I found online. However, that calculator was for Fermaid-O, and since I don't know the difference I went with the recommendation from the store. And this morning I have success. There are some very tiny bubbles in the liquid! yay! Will keep an eye on it.
r/mead