Slow Fermentation

[jdeere5220]

All- First attempt at mead.

Used 14 lbs honey, Starting SG was 1.078. Used 3 tsp of yeast nutrient at start, added another 3 tsp of nutrient on third day. Using WLP720 yeast which was recommended by my local FOP shop.

It's now been 5 days, and my SG is still 1.060. Airlock is bubbling, but not the wild pace of the many grape wines I have made. Temp is 68F.

Is it normal for mead to ferment so slowly? A grape must would have easily fermented to dry by 5 or 6 days. I'm worried that at this pace it will never get below 1.0.

Sorry if this is a common question but I tried to search and could not find anything specifically related to fermentation rate or period. Thanks!

 

[Deezil]

It's pretty common;

Comparing meads to grape wines in fermentation time is a bit of an unfair comparison - meads lack the nutrient levels of grape wines, which directly impacts the intensity of the fermentation.

You can warm it up to ~72-75F
You can aerate it a little bit

 

[jdeere5220]

After 15 days my SG is now 0.998 and still slowly bubbling. Just took a little longer than I am used to, but everything seems fine. Now I have to decide if I'm going to back-sweeten or leave it dry. Maybe half-and-half?

 

[Deezil]

I'd wait a year, before you address the sweetness.
Especially if this is your first mead

Try some commercial meads in the mean time, if you havent.. Check out their SG's and compare that to their acidity, then compare those notes to your palette..
You'll find what you like, if you do the homework. Then you can basically align the batches you make, with your desired parameters.

 

[Radek]

It should help

Maybe change Mead Yeast ? : http://alcofermbrew.com/en/Mead-Yeast-for-25L-p560c61c97.

 

[jdeere5220]

Ready to bottle!!

Well it's been a little over a year since I started this batch of mead, from honey produced right on my land by a local commercial bee keeper. After a year in the carboy, the mead has mellowed out quite nicely. Still a little bit strong. Since I also have some dry apple wine ready to bottle (I also made the apple wine from my own small apple orchard), I'm thinking about bottling in a couple of batches:

#1) Mix 1/2 mead, 1/2 apple wine, to make a cyser. I might add a little conditioner to take the edge off (semi-sweeten it).

#2) Add some concentrated fruit flavoring. I bought peach and apricot concentrates. I think I will condition this to taste as well, just to take the edge off.

I've attached some pictures. The first is my mead, the second my apple wine, plus a picture my whole setup just for bragging , mostly apple wine in various stages of clearing at the moment.