Mead primary stopped bubbling after 3 1/2 weeks. What now?

[BobShandy]

The mixture was hardly bubbling the last couple of days.

I made my first batch of mead in a 1 imperial gallon demijohn with 4 340g jars of lidl honey and a half jar of eucalyptus honey. I added some cloves, some whole pepper corns, vanilla extract, and mango. After a few days I added some marmite as nuhtrient. Someone pointed out this was a mistake as marmite is very salty. I boiled some yeast to add as nutrient. Then I added some strong tea, as I had forgotten to do this.

I used 14g hovis bread yeast as my yeast (two packs of 7g).

The specific gravity at the start was 1.092. Just now I found the specific gravity is 0.0990. I found a calculator online which puts the ABV at 13.5%.

This stuff tastes very dry.

What do I do now? I used a sterilized siphon to put it into a new sterile 1 gallon bottle with an airlock. There is quite a bit of empty space at the top of that bottle as I didn't transfer the mango fruit or spices to the new bottle and I left out the bottom few cm due to the gap at the bottom of the auto siphon and also as I was avoiding sediment.

Do I just put the bottle away in a dark place for some months?

 

[Jan.]

Hovis bread yeast may not be the best to use as it may not be tolerant to the higher alcohol levels and lower nutrients (even though you did add some nutrients in the form of yeast hulls it will still lack other things the yeast may need).

I have used bread yeast for fermentations but normally don't exceed 1.035 or so as I find they become very biting and acidic.

The yeast has stopped bubbling as it has done all it can do and to be honest, a final gravity of below 1 (I presume it is 0.99) means the yeast did a good job considering its hardships!

Taste is difficult to rectify now, you could sterilize the must and backsweeten with more honey or fruit but you will only be covering up any off flavours. However, if it tastes good but just dry, the fruit and spices might help.

The other thing that will help a lot is time.

I would transfer it off the lees (the sediment at the bottom) and leave it in a dark cool place for a couple of months before adding the mango and spices.

 

[Jan.]

Mead is difficult to do well, I would suggest starting with a good yeast otherwise you are starting on the back foot. I have had good results with Mangrove M05 mead yeast.

Also look into DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) and staggerred nutrient additions. Those three things will help A LOT!

 

[BobShandy]

Hovis bread yeast .... I find they become very biting and acidic.

The yeast has stopped bubbling as it has done all it can do and to be honest, a final gravity of below 1 (I presume it is 0.99) means the yeast did a good job considering its hardships!

Taste is difficult to rectify now, you could sterilize the must and backsweeten with more honey or fruit but you will only be covering up any off flavours. However, if it tastes good but just dry, the fruit and spices might help.

The other thing that will help a lot is time.

I would transfer it off the lees (the sediment at the bottom) and leave it in a dark cool place for a couple of months before adding the mango and spices.

It does taste a bit acidic. But I'm pleased for a first effort, especially considering how high the ABV got. I will back-sweeten with honey and whatever spices take my fancy once I have let it settle for at least a month.

Should I leave it at room temperature or expose it to the real cold out in the garage? Is there a benefit to crashing the temperature, like killing the remainder of the yeast? There is no yeast (lees), as I left it all out when I siphoned to the new bottle.

Should I leave it in this new one gallon demijohn with an airlock, or put it into sterilized wine bottles?

I have it in front of the fire right now, as I was hoping there will be some residual yeast to create CO2 and take up the space vacuum left at the top of the demijohn. I don't want to spoil the mead with air from when I transferred demijohns with the siphon.

 

[Jan.]

It will definitely get better with a bit of time to itself. Leaving it cold would be better but only if the temperature doesn't fluctuate. If the garage heats up in the day and gets colder at night it may be best indoors with a more stable temperature.

Crashing won't kill the yeast (unless they freeze) it will send them into hibernation and they sink to the bottom of the fermenter/demijohn.

You can leave it with the airlock just in case there is any remaining fermentation but it's probably not necessary. I am actually an airlock-hater and never use them anymore. I think they cause more trouble than they solve.

I wouldn't put it in bottles yet. Leave it in the demijohn for now as particles will keep falling out of suspension over time and the mead will clear up a bit, in a month or two you can rack to a different container with the fruit or spices and you will leave the yeast and bits of bees (sorry, that didn't sound appetizing) behind at the bottom of the demijohn.

Don't worry about a blanket of CO2. If you have a bottle and can easily and sanitisingly (I'm sure that's not a real word) flush the top of the demijohn then do it but if not I have a feeling that it would be more negative heating it up to try and get any remaining fermentation. It's always best to mess with it as little as possible when the main fermentation has finished.

Good luck with it and let us know how it goes.