High Gravity Mead?

[SAS]

I made my first ever batch (5-Gallon) of wine/sweet mead.

I stared it this past November. I followed all the instructions on the receipt, and racked it when suggested. I racked it from the primary, into the secondary fermenter, the SG at that time was 1.030. After ~4 weeks, the receipt said to rack it again, if the SG hasn't changed during the last few days (checking SG 3-days straight near the end of 4-weeks).

When I checked it, the SG was still at 1.030, and is still at 1.030.

One of the mistakes I made, was when I racked it into the secondary. I missed the part when it said to wait until the SG was ~1.018 before racking.

Since the SG has not changed since I racked it into the secondary, what are my options?

The starting gravity was 1.108, using White Lab's WLP720 Sweet mead/Wine Yeast.

 

[ceeaton]

I guess my first question would be what temperature is the batch at right now? That yeast seems to have a pretty small "sweet spot" as far as temperature goes. You are only a little over 10% alcohol at this point, so if your temperature is fine, you might consider pitching another batch of yeast (maybe like EC-1118). Only thing I would do is possibly rehydrate the yeast using Go-Ferm to help protect the yeast from the initial shock of alcohol presently in your batch. Good luck!

 

[SAS]

I guess my first question would be what temperature is the batch at right now? That yeast seems to have a pretty small "sweet spot" as far as temperature goes. You are only a little over 10% alcohol at this point, so if your temperature is fine, you might consider pitching another batch of yeast (maybe like EC-1118). Only thing I would do is possibly rehydrate the yeast using Go-Ferm to help protect the yeast from the initial shock of alcohol presently in your batch. Good luck!

Thank you Craig!

I used a heat belt to try and keep it at ~75F the whole time it was fermenting (primary & secondary). I removed the heat belt when I racked it from secondary into another 5-gal carboy.

I will try what you have suggested.
I'm assuming that in order to do as you have suggested, I will need to rack it back into the 6-gallon glass carboy before re-pitching the yeast, to give it room to work. Am I right?

 

[ceeaton]

Depending on your current head space, probably yes. I came from the beer side of things and always seemed to need more head room than wine or mead. To be safe I'd go back to the 6 gallon carboy, then when your CO2 production drops off move it back to the smaller one. Hope it works out. I was going to ask a mead maker I work with what he'd do, but he wasn't in at work today. If I see him tomorrow and I remember, I'll ask him what he'd do. He's made quite a few batches of mead in the past.

Edit: Talked with my mead making work buddy. He thought if you pitched some Champagne yeast (and hadn't Kmeta or sorbated it yet) it should start back up.

 

[Arne]

Did you stabalize it when you racked it? (add k-meta and sorbate) If so you might have a time trying to get it to ferment any more. One of the unwritten rules of winemaking is "If you stabalize an active ferment and want it to quit fermenting it will merrily continue on to dry. If you stabalize and don't want it to quit fermenting it will stop and you might never get it to start again." Personally I do not stabalize until my wine is clear. I do add k-meta when racking when the ferment is done, tho. Then when it is clear you can hit it with k-meta and sorbate if you are going to sweeten. If not sweetening, you can skip the sorbate. Arne.

 

[SAS]

Did you stabalize it when you racked it? (add k-meta and sorbate) If so you might have a time trying to get it to ferment any more. One of the unwritten rules of winemaking is "If you stabalize an active ferment and want it to quit fermenting it will merrily continue on to dry. If you stabalize and don't want it to quit fermenting it will stop and you might never get it to start again." Personally I do not stabalize until my wine is clear. I do add k-meta when racking when the ferment is done, tho. Then when it is clear you can hit it with k-meta and sorbate if you are going to sweeten. If not sweetening, you can skip the sorbate. Arne.

Thank you Arne.

No, I did not add anything to it when I racked it.

 

[SAS]

Thank you again for the helpful info.

No, I didn't add anything to it when I racked it. Did you happen to ask your buddy if I should rack it back into a 6-gallon carboy?

It's great to hear that you started making beer, before wine. So did I.

I started making beer about 10 years ago. I had to stop for awhile , on account of to many irons in the fire, and didn't have time. But I do I plan on starting a light ale early next month, if all my carboys aren't being used for wine.
Anyway, thank you again for your kindness, and info.

Steve

 

[ceeaton]

Thank you again for the helpful info.

No, I didn't add anything to it when I racked it. Did you happen to ask your buddy if I should rack it back into a 6-gallon carboy?

It's great to hear that you started making beer, before wine. So did I.

I started making beer about 10 years ago. I had to stop for awhile , on account of to many irons in the fire, and didn't have time. But I do I plan on starting a light ale early next month, if all my carboys aren't being used for wine.
Anyway, thank you again for your kindness, and info.

Steve

I'd put it in the 6 gallon one if you expect it to foam up a bit when you pitch the new yeast. I don't think it will be in there too long that you'd get much oxidation from the air in the head space. Hopefully it will start right up and produce a blanket of CO2 to protect it.

About the same with me on the beer. Started in 1990 and quickly moved to all grain (made me feel like a mad scientist with all the control) then got married in 1997 and started into kid production. Had to slow up for a while, now they drive me to drink so that's why I started with wine.

I have a Stout in the keg to sample while shoveling this weekend, man's gotta keep his strength up you know!

 

[SAS]

"started into kid production. Had to slow up for a while, now they drive me to drink so that's why I started with wine.

I have a Stout in the keg to sample while shoveling this weekend, man's gotta keep his strength up you know!"



I know what you mean!!!