DirkDiggler
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- Joined
- Mar 28, 2010
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Hello all,
This is my first post. I started making beer recently and thought I would try my hand at making mead from the recipe list from FineVineWines. Thus far, there is no activity.
Here is my readings:
(all SG readings have been corrected for temp)
Start (03/27) 1.122SG 66F
(03/28) 1.122SG (pitch yeast) 73F
(03/29) 1.121SG (tad lower -maybe false reading?) 71F
(03/30) 1.122SG 68F
What I did:
I went to the LHBS with recipe (http://www.finevinewines.com/Honey_wine_sweet_Recipe.htm) in hand and asked for some help! I couldn't find the Sauternes Wine yeast so I went with Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast as recommend by the nice people at the store. Also, a real nice woman went down the list and suggested that I just add 3 tsp of an acid blend for all the acid. I used Deer Park Spring water and clover honey. I followed the instructions noting that I am not to add the yeast until 24 hours later! Things went together fine. I shook up the contents in a 1 gal carboy to mix everything with the 1/2 gal of water. There was plenty of foaming at the top and I did my best to cram the rest of the 7 pints of water in! I had some foam spill over in the sink as I was doing this. I took my SG reading after mixing and it was 1.12 @ 73F (1.122 corrected). I did all this wine activity around 4:00pm on Saturday. Sunday, I started at 11:00am and activated the yeast in 2oz of 104F water and let set for 30 minutes. There was some nice bubbling going on after that time and I stirred the rest of the contents before pitching. (I did breach the 24 hour mark by 7 hours!). Every morning, I check my readings and stir. On Monday, I did add 1/4 tsp extra of the Yeast Energizer. However, I really don't want to do too much and am trying to be patient. I have a 1 gallon carboy with an airlock. I am not understanding why there is no activity since step 5 says to siphon after 5 days when reading is 1.040.
I did try combing the forum looking for tips/hints/issues with this recipe since it is from the finevinewine site but couldn't find anything (lots of posts to go through!). Is what I am observing reasonable? Or should I see the SG lower daily? Perhaps I killed my yeast by waiting 19 hours instead of the 24? The yeast was very active before I pitched.
Thanks all!
This is my first post. I started making beer recently and thought I would try my hand at making mead from the recipe list from FineVineWines. Thus far, there is no activity.
Here is my readings:
(all SG readings have been corrected for temp)
Start (03/27) 1.122SG 66F
(03/28) 1.122SG (pitch yeast) 73F
(03/29) 1.121SG (tad lower -maybe false reading?) 71F
(03/30) 1.122SG 68F
What I did:
I went to the LHBS with recipe (http://www.finevinewines.com/Honey_wine_sweet_Recipe.htm) in hand and asked for some help! I couldn't find the Sauternes Wine yeast so I went with Red Star Pasteur Champagne Yeast as recommend by the nice people at the store. Also, a real nice woman went down the list and suggested that I just add 3 tsp of an acid blend for all the acid. I used Deer Park Spring water and clover honey. I followed the instructions noting that I am not to add the yeast until 24 hours later! Things went together fine. I shook up the contents in a 1 gal carboy to mix everything with the 1/2 gal of water. There was plenty of foaming at the top and I did my best to cram the rest of the 7 pints of water in! I had some foam spill over in the sink as I was doing this. I took my SG reading after mixing and it was 1.12 @ 73F (1.122 corrected). I did all this wine activity around 4:00pm on Saturday. Sunday, I started at 11:00am and activated the yeast in 2oz of 104F water and let set for 30 minutes. There was some nice bubbling going on after that time and I stirred the rest of the contents before pitching. (I did breach the 24 hour mark by 7 hours!). Every morning, I check my readings and stir. On Monday, I did add 1/4 tsp extra of the Yeast Energizer. However, I really don't want to do too much and am trying to be patient. I have a 1 gallon carboy with an airlock. I am not understanding why there is no activity since step 5 says to siphon after 5 days when reading is 1.040.
I did try combing the forum looking for tips/hints/issues with this recipe since it is from the finevinewine site but couldn't find anything (lots of posts to go through!). Is what I am observing reasonable? Or should I see the SG lower daily? Perhaps I killed my yeast by waiting 19 hours instead of the 24? The yeast was very active before I pitched.
Thanks all!