Club mead day, 03/22/2025

[lexuschris]

I've not used the Ikea bottles, and wonder if they would handle any pressure from post bottling fermentation. You may want to look for brewing rated bottles like these from MoreBeer.com
https://www.morebeer.com/products/pop-t ... -12-1.html

The clear ones are nice to show off the beauty of the mead. Sometimes you can find smaller clear bottles like 8oz-10oz. Either way, if you plan to drink them early, the cheaper bottles should suffice. If you plan to age them for a year or more, you may want to be sure that the bottles could handle any extra pressure build up.

I hit 17.6 brix tonight. The last batch of ginger slices completely dissolved! I tried to find them with a slotted spoon, but it was all liquid. Once I have a week at FG, I will probably cold crash to knock out anything in suspension, then transfer to another container and leave behind the sediment.
--LexusChris

[romen]

I've been sitting at 20 brix (1.050 when adjusted for alcohol) for several days.The readings have been very consistent to I'm inclined to believe they are accurate. Not sure why it has stalled. I'm still getting a ton of airlock activity. I've been gently agitating the fermenter to keep the yeast in suspension. I'm just going to let it run at this point. Any other advice?

Also I ordered rated swing top bottles online and have those ready to go. I've made two extract tinctures with vodka - a lemonade inspired one and a raspberry one - which I'll use in two of the bottles as an experiment.

[lexuschris]

Romen, I would continue to stir and keep yeast in suspension, even using a little more vigor. Since I use a lees-stir on an electric drill, I could really overdue it and add a lot of O2 by accident. So I use short pulses and watch the mead swirl to make sure it doesn't get frothy or create a whirlpool in the center. But I definitely hit all the bottom, the middle, and the sides with that thing. What temperature is it fermenting at?

I was out of town this weekend, but measuring tonight, I am at 16.6 brix. For my OG of 1.135, that should put me at 15% ABV and a FG of 1.025.

Along the way, I think some of my ginger slices and lemon zest complete dissolved in the mead. I went to take them out, and there were nowhere to be found. Maybe they were stuck to the sides or bottom where my spoon could not reach them. I won't know until I transfer the mead to a 2nd-ary fermenter. There is a bit more rind flavor than I originally wanted, but I think the mead flavor will be good enough after a cold crash, transfer & a little aging.

--LexusChris

[romen]

Thanks. Yeah I was using the drill attachment for the first week but once I hit the 1/3 sugar break I stopped doing that an haven't opened the fermenter since. I just pick it up and gently agitate it daily. I've been smelling the samples I pull to test the gravity daily and the last few days it's started smelling very harsh and vinegar-y, but it tastes fine to me, but I've been wondering if I should open it up and add some yeast nutrient and stir it up a bit with the drill attachment. Currently I'm at about 1.040. Coming down slowly. I'm somewhere in the ballpark of 12% abv.

My plan was to do one bottle at 1.025 to see if I get some natural carbonation as that would equate to around 13.5%.

[lexuschris]

No need for yeast nutrient this late. Sounds like a stronger stir to get tge yeast well suspended would be good.

Some yeast hulls can help scrub out any odd aromas. When you pop the lid, get an ounce of Mead to taste test ... should not be getting sour or vinegar.

For me, D47 always stops at 15% ABV... if you want to try bottle fermentation, plan on it going to 15%. Be careful..

Lexuschris

[romen]

Well after more than a week of twice daily stirring and no movement at all on the gravity, I finally bottled my mead today. It ended way high at 1.038. It's very sweet, like desert wine, but still 12.5% abv. We'll see what you guys think. Not sure why the yeast conked out, but I left two bottles out to see if maybe some additional fermentation will carbonate it. The rest are in the fridge chilling.

[Justin H]

Ro, I'd be cautious with those bottles with that much available sugar. If fermentation picks up again and you don't know how much CO2 to expect those bottles could explode. The real question I'd guess is how "many more gravity points would it need to drop before you hit your expected 15%?"
Once you know that, you can calculate the volumes of CO2 like you would adding priming sugar.

[romen]

I put the bottles in thick plastic bags (the reusable Target ones) in case they turn into bottle bombs. I'll chill them after 5 days. I honestly don't think I'll get any carbonation out of it, the yeast really seem to have conked out, but definitely better safe than sorry.

[Justin H]

I edited my last post before I saw your reply. The 1.038 SG figure gave me all sorts of red flags and I just felt i needed to say something. After thinking about it more, the extra gravity points are likely not the limiting factor as much as the % abv. I don't know how many point shy of your expected gravity you fell, but I would calculate that and then sleep soundly.

[romen]

Hmm, not sure what you mean exactly. I was expecting to finish around 14% ABV and I'm at around 12.5% - is that what you mean? It definitely is a red flag, but I have no idea what it means. I suspect the yeast needed more nutrients and maybe I screwed something up? But was afraid to go back to stirring and and feeding nutrients after the 1/3 sugar break, so all I was doing was continuing agitate the fermenter twice daily to try to keep the yeast in suspension. There was no movement in the gravity in a week or more so I'd be surprised. I could burp the bottles to see if there's any build up in CO2 to be safe. I'd honestly be surprised.

[Justin H]

Maybe someone else (Calvin, Chris, Curtis, Jon...) can chime in on this, but here is my train of thought (and correct me if any of my number are wrong, I had to extrapolate from the data given)...

- If you have a SG of 1.038 and estimate an abv of 12.5%, I assume your initial SG was 1.133.
- If your initial SG was 1.133, then to reach 15% abv (toxicity limit for the D47 yeast) your FG would be 1.018.
- So, the available sugar that could potentially be fermentable before you reach the toxicity limit for the yeast is 1.020 (or 20 points).

* To carbonate to "5 volumes of CO2" (think German Weiss bier or Champagne), it would take 2.2 ounces of cane sugar added before bottling.
* To achieve the equivalent of the "20 points" of residual sugar that is left in your mead, It would take 7 ounces of cane sugar (at 45 points/lb/gal).
(20 points/45points/pound/gallon = 0.44 pounds/gallon). (0.44 pounds = 7 ounces)

- Standard beer bottles are typically rated to 3 volumes CO2, Champagne bottles are up to 4 volumes. I've read Grolsch bottles can hold more.

Either way, by my logic you have more than 3 times what could be considered the safe-limit for bottle conditioning.

My advice would be to do one of the following:
1. Add a fresh yeast starter and see if you can jumpstart the fermentation again.
2. Add some Potassium metabisulfite / Campden tablets to ensure fermentation does not restart.
3. or bottle in PET bottles that can hold an insane amount of pressure.

I would appreciate it if someone here could review this, as I do not want to be an alarmist.

[romen]

All seems about right on your numbers as far as I can tell. Here's what I'm using for measurements.

Screenshot at Apr 28 18-26-24.png (311.65 KiB) Viewed 46 times

I will carefully burp the bottles when i get home. I would honestly be surprised if any co2 comes out of it.

[romen]

Well I carefully popped open the swing top on one of the bottles that's been sitting out at room temp for two days and listened for any hiss or release of gas and there was nothing. Pretty sure I'm safe.

[lexuschris]

Using BeerSmith3's Refractometer tool, the numbers are slightly different.

31.5 Brix = 1.133 OG
18.5 Brix ferementing = 1.040 @ 12.75% ABV
16.1 Brix should be FG reading @ 1.024 and 15% ABV.

But, whether it is 20 points or 16 points to go, that is enough sugar to create too much pressure. Yes, your yeast have stalled, but that does not mean they won't wake up (changes in temp, agitation, storage) and finish off the yeast. It happens, and you don't want a mess or dangerous mess.

If you can burp the bottles (flip tops), then keep burping them along with attempts to get them going again (warmer storage, invert bottles every other day, etc.)

Alternately, if you don't mind them as desert style meads, put them in the fridge and only remove them for serving. Or, knock out the fermentation with the meta bisulfite + potassium sorbate mix.


--LexusChris

[lexuschris]

But don't wait too long!

Waiting too long to burp your bottles of mead!


--LexusChris