strawberry mead help

[Trog]

I'm making a strawberry mead and after 4 days i'm not seeing much action in the fermenter. not much foam at all. Should I pitch some fresh yeast

 

[Julie]

did you take a hydrometer reading when you first pitched the yeast? You need to take another one now to see if it is fermenting

 

[winemaker_3352]

Julie's right. Don't go off the foaming. Go off the SG readings - that will tell you if you have fermentation.

 

[Trog]

Thanks I'll try that. I do here the hissing when I push down the fruit every day.

 

[Trog]

after 4 days I'm at .995 can this be right.
here is what I used
2 lbs honey
3 lbs strawberrys
1118 yeast

 

[Julie]

Could very well be. Take it again and if it is the same rack to a carboy.

 

[mmadmikes1]

yep, small batches can go fast. Now de-gassing can be a bear with mead compared to wine. Don't bottle to soon.

 

[seth8530]

How mucgh volume does ur batch have?

 

[fatbloke]

The answer is in one of the posts....... 1118 yeast.

EC-1118 is good, don't get me wrong, but it's also a PITA because it can ferment really fast, but it also seems to have a habit of blowing a lot of the aromatics and some of the more subtle flavours straight out the airlock, during the very vigorous first part of the ferment.

I prefer to leave it alone for those making sparkling wines/champagne type stuff.

There's any number of yeasts out there that do a better job with the aromas/flavours.

Besides, presuming it's a "small" batch (gallon or so) then 2lb of honey and the strawbs will still give a relatively low starting gravity, so getting it to .995 in 4 days doesn't really sound surprising......