Mango ginger melolmel

[reeny]

Hi everyone started a 5 gal mango ginger melomel on sunday afternoon last weekend. It was bubbling away until about Thursday evening and now it is very quiet. I used 15+ lbs of honey from my hives. 12 lbs of mangos, 1.5 oz of ginger. I added yeast energizer, nutrient and pectic acid to the mix. I decided this time to follow ken Schramm method and did not add campden tablets. I used lavin D 47 yeast 2 packets. My SG to start was about 1.035.

What should I do?? Add more yeast? More nutrient?? More honey?
Thanks

 

[reeny]

Anyone?

 

[J-Gee]

What is the current hydrometer reading and why did you start at 1.035?

 

[lawrstin]

Hi everyone started a 5 gal mango ginger melomel on sunday afternoon last weekend. It was bubbling away until about Thursday evening and now it is very quiet. I used 15+ lbs of honey from my hives. 12 lbs of mangos, 1.5 oz of ginger. I added yeast energizer, nutrient and pectic acid to the mix. I decided this time to follow ken Schramm method and did not add campden tablets. I used lavin D 47 yeast 2 packets. My SG to start was about 1.035.

What should I do?? Add more yeast? More nutrient?? More honey?
Thanks

I would add sugar and Camden. What is your SG now. At 1.035 I think your ABV is low. Otherwise everything is fine.

 

[Deezil]

15lbs of honey & a starting SG of 1.035

How many gallons is this, cause if its just that 1 bucket... Something aint right.

 

[reeny]

15lbs of honey & a starting SG of 1.035

How many gallons is this, cause if its just that 1 bucket... Something aint right.

It was 5 gals. I added a little more honey today and it is fermenting again. Belfry I added the honey the SG was 1.010. I don't know why my beginning sp gr was so low I don't know if the mango made it inaccurate.

 

[Downwards]

I'll bet that wasn't well mixed. Don't feel bad, I have the same thing happen every single time I start a mead- mix like crazy, check sg- only to later discover that I didn't mix it well enough and I have to add more water/juice. It really takes a lot of stirring to get all that honey dissolved. I'll bet your SG was way above 1.10 if you used 15 lbs in just 5 gallons. If you were looking to have something about that to start, you may even have to split it.

 

[lawrstin]

We can only go by what readings you give us. What was your reading before you added the honey. Your reading before indicated 1.035 which constitutes roughly a 5% ABV if the reading was equal to 1.000 or lower. Mead should be between 8-18% ABV. It is important to keep adding the totals of the ABV. You are still going to need to add more honey to reach 8% ABV. The yeast is like a fish in a fish tank. It will only allow itself to grow as big as the vessel. It will die from starvation when their are no sugars left to feed upon or the alcohol percentage exceeds the capacity of the yeast's capabilities.

 

[Deezil]

15lbs of honey (5 quarts) in 5 gallons, should give an SG of 1.100 +

The trick to dissolving honey is to do so in warm water & then mix well when you add it to the primary fermentor; it wont hurt anything unless you have water 150F+ or so (cant remember the exact temp right now)

 

[lawrstin]

15lbs of honey (5 quarts) in 5 gallons, should give an SG of 1.100 +

The trick to dissolving honey is to do so in warm water & then mix well when you add it to the primary fermentor; it wont hurt anything unless you have water 150F+ or so (cant remember the exact temp right now)

I always brought my mead to a boil. What you lose in floral character is offset by a gain of sweet mead free of wild microorganisms. Also, boiling coagulates protein and aids in the natural clarification.

 

[reeny]

We can only go by what readings you give us. What was your reading before you added the honey. Your reading before indicated 1.035 which constitutes roughly a 5% ABV if the reading was equal to 1.000 or lower. Mead should be between 8-18% ABV. It is important to keep adding the totals of the ABV. You are still going to need to add more honey to reach 8% ABV. The yeast is like a fish in a fish tank. It will only allow itself to grow as big as the vessel. It will die from starvation when their are no sugars left to feed upon or the alcohol percentage exceeds the capacity of the yeast's capabilities.

So I did add more honey today and fermentation was obvious. Do I continue to add more honey??

 

[reeny]

I always brought my mead to a boil. What you lose in floral character is offset by a gain of sweet mead free of wild microorganisms. Also, boiling coagulates protein and aids in the natural clarification.

I know I am not that experience but the last time I made mead which turned out great I did not boil my honey. This is fresh honey from my hives. This was recommended by people from this forum. Ken Schramm in his book also does not agree with boiling or the use of Camden. Maybe my sp gr reading was wrong when I took it but I think it is quite unusual that it would have completed completed the fermentation in 4 days.

I just need to know what to do at this point. I can't go back and boil the honey, I can't at campden that would stop fermentation.
What should I do keep adding more honey??

 

[fatbloke]

See its up to you if you want to add more honey. In theory you can keep adding further honey until the yeast poops out.

I'd be wanting to work out why the start gravity was so low. 15lb made up to 5 gallons or so should have given a gravity in the 1.100 to 1.110 area. If it was just not very well mixed then there may still be a layer of honey at the bottom and just taking out the bag of fruit and giving a damned good stir would remedy that.

Just blindly adding honey until the yeast poops out could leave you with a very sweet mead.

You could have just mis-read the hydrometer or a little fruit pulp might have helped give an incorrect reading etc.

If you just want to get it finished you can just keep step feeding, then once the yeast stop fermenting and you get a consistent gravity, you can just remove the fruit, give it a damn good stir, then retest.

If it did turn out to be too sweet because of unmixed honey, you can just fortify it with a litre or two of bourbon, then clear it and either bottle or bulk age......

As an aside. You seem to be in Miami, so you need to read up on your ingredients a bit rather just relying on recipes. Why? Because D47 isn't a yeast that likes warm temperature. It prefers 70F/21C max or it stresses and can make fusels that take a long time to mellow. A lot of mazers in warmer areas find this a pain so either use temp control of some sort or a more temp tolerant yeast......