Did I just kill my yeast?

Mead
1

Hello folks

I’m new to this forum and I’m looking forward to get to know more about mead making.

SHORT VERSION:
I saw my mead did little progress over the first 16 days and gently stirred the must for 30-40 secs to add oxygen to my yeast.

LONG VERSION:
I recently started to making my first mead. When I started my gravity
(OG) was 1.110 and I wanted to make 14L mead in a 25L fermenter (I
couldn’t find anything smaller). 10.5L water for 5 kg honey with the
right amount of yeast nutrient. I know, all the equipment was cleaned and sanitized! I kept checking in on my mead as it progressed in the primary fermentation. On the 16th day I thought that
the mead had stopped. This is what I found.

I checked after:

10 days (from start) - sp. gr. : 1.074
13 days (from start) - sp. gr. : 1.060
16 days (from start) - sp. gr. : 1.058 (Not much have happen compared from day 10 to day 13)

Since I thought my mead’s fermentation had stopped. I did some research
and found on this forum and others, that adding oxygen by gently
stirring the must would help kickback the fermentation process.

I stirred the must gently with a wooden spoon for 30-40 secs (a lot of
bubbles came up, so I’m assuming the must was saturated with CO2),
without slashing and foaming too much (if at all). But now, I have a
feeling that I mess up big time and I’m heading towards making honey
vinegar.

  1. What is your thought on that, did I blew it?
  2. Should I just go ahead and start a new mead?
  3. How much oxygen do you need reck your mead?
  4. What can I do if I messed it up?

Thanks a lot in advance!

2

I’m not a mead maker, but I’ve done it once or twice. Both times I used yeast nutrient on a schedule throughout primary fermentation. Did you do that?

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3

I make alot of mead and you have to rack it which gives it all the oxygen it needs. I’ll rack mine a minimum of twice adding nutrients each time. 16 days for a mead I wouldn’t expect it to be done. I don’t even do my first rack until 3-4 weeks. Mead is wine and it takes time you can’t be in a hurry.

2 Likes
4

Thanks for your advice! In your opinion: Did I reck my mead by adding a bit of oxygen like I did? And what is the consequence?

5

A little stirring shouldn’t hurt it but I would rack it to something with less head space. A 3 gallon carboy or even 3 one gallon jugs. Put a bag over it and forget about it for a few weeks. You can gently swirl it from time to time to degass it. Did you or are you planning to add fruit? If you are you can rack onto it.

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6

Thanks brew cat, so you think the problem lays in too much headspace?

7

And no, I wanted to add herbal tea and ginger.

8

I don’t think you have a problem it’s just taking it’s time. The head space let’s you keep the exposure to outside air minimal. With a smaller headspace it’s easier to keep it under a cap of CO2. That said you don’t actually need to even add yeast and you can go natural or spontaneous fermentation in an open bucket just covering with a towel to keep the insects out. I’ve not tried this method yet but plan to at some time. Your not going to make vinegar your making mead

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9

Ok, thank you so much on your help

10

I think you may have had an issue with low pH. I’ve not brewed a mead before, but I do have a lot of experience with seltzers which are similar (sugar and water), and what you’ve described is very similar to what has happened to me. Because there’s no other compounds in the must, it has a poor capacity to mitigate pH fluctuations. When you agitated the mead you released some dissolved CO2, which raised the pH. You should see more activity until it becomes too acidic, then you’ll need to agitate it again.

If you wanted to check this out for yourself, pH meters are fairly inexpensive online. Yeast activity will significantly slow or stall below 4. Seeing as you posted this in December and I’m writing this in February, hopefully your mead has finished primary fermentation by now!

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