# advice please



## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Good on you for meeting your club! The blow off tube is used often in brewing beer, for brewers who make 5-gallon batches in 5-gallon carboys. The proteinaceous nature of beer krauesen (the foam that forms during primary fermentation) makes the foam rise and clog the airlock with trub. It takes a pretty enthusiastic mead ferment to require blowoff tubes. Not unheard-of, but not typical for a newbie.

If you have a little headspace in the fermenter you don't need the blowoff, but it certainly is unlikely to hurt anything if properly sanitized. Replace it with a standard airlock once the fermentation slows.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I'm sitting here watching it right now
it's pretty kool
it's about 5-1/2 gallons in a 6 gallon carboy so I'm thinking it's not a problem
if I understand you correctly the problem is really not the CO2 flow but the gunk clogging up the airlock (pardon the technical terms)
I think I have enough head above it to be safe
let the games begin
the club was a great bunch of folks and a good time was had by all

Dave


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Yep, usually the bubbles pop in mead quickly (think sparkling wine's head compared to beer). Enjoy a well-earned performance of the "airlock rondo" in your favorite key!


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## nursebee (Sep 29, 2003)

I have never needed to blow off a mead. FYI-time to start a second batch.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I've been reading around trying to learn about this mead making thing and I've come across a term I need defined
what is "stuck fermentation" ?
what causes it and what does one do about it?
I've been bubbling along for a week and everything is looking good
when do you folks suggest racking to a secondary?
made a batch of chocolate stout yesterday to tide me over

Dave


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## knadai (Jun 24, 2007)

A stuck fermentation is one where the fermentation has stopped before it is complete. Whatever you are brewing, the fermentation should stop when either when all the fermentable sugar is used up, or the alcohol (the byproduct of fermentation) rises to a level that kills the yeast.

An extreme temperature change, bad yeast, or a variety of other reasons can cause a stuck fermentation.

Mead is a little different than brewing beer. Beer is made with barley malt usually. There are nutrients in the malt wort (the boiled stuff before fermentation) that gives yeast what they need to ferment a batch quickly. Wort is pronounced "wert". An ale brewed at room or cellar temperature will be mostly fermented in 3-5 days, while a true mead (honey, no malt) might go 3-5 weeks, or sometimes 3-5 months depending upon how much honey you use. It is a much slower process.

Knowing when a fermentation is done depends upon knowing 1) how much sugar is in the wort to begin with and 2) how much alcohol your particular strain of yeast can handle. Alcohol is lighter (lower specific gravity, lower density) than water. As the fermentation proceeds, the brew's specific gravity (SG) falls until it is "done." This is measured with a device called a hydrometer that is pretty cheap. You steal a sample of the brew, put it in a long tube, throw the hydrometer in and read on a scale exactly how low it is floating in the sample.

There are many free calculators on the Internet that will tell you, given how many pounds of honey & water you started with, what your starting gravity (SG) should have been if you did not measure it before pitching (adding yeast to start the fermentation). These same calculators can also predict what your final gravity (FG) should be. Once you are close to FG with your hydrometer, you are good to go.

It's easier to tell with beer because the fermentation is so vigorous and doesn't taper off much. Mead has long, lingering fermentations where it is tough to tell.

The danger is that you might bottle an unfinished brew that might take off later with the same yeast or a foreign yeast or bacteria and burst the bottle or just plain taste yukky.

I used to brew beer quite a bit but only tried mead once. I don't like the taste. But that makes sense since I don't much like the taste of honey anyway. (Yeah, go ahead, flame away)

I highly recommend a brewing book on mead. There are many available as well as some great forums on the Internet.

Fixing a stuck fermentation is pretty easy. Simply re-pitch with yeast, maybe a different kind of yeast that can handle the alcohol level you are reaching. Make sure the brew is the right temperature. Too hot can kill the yeasties and too cold can make them go to sleep.

Eventually the fermentation will slow down enough that the solids dancing from bubble to bubble in your brew will fall to the bottom as sediment called trub (pronounced "troob"). Eventually that sediment, mostly dead yeast, will start to break down (autolyze) which can taste yukky. With an ale like your chocolate stout, racking is not necessary because the fermentation is over quickly enough that you will probably be bottling before much autolyzing will occur. A lager also doesn't have to be racked as it, and the sediment, are almost always refrigerated where autolysis is slowed down.

Just to make things more complicated, getting rid of ALL of the sediment by racking like a madman can actually contribute to a stuck fermentation as the yeast can re-use some of the nutrients in the trub.

Just like beekeeping, most things work just fine without your worrying about it. In fact, Charlie Papazian, the most famous homebrew author's motto is: "Relax, don't worry. Have a homebrew."

So I would say relax, don't worry. Crack open a beer and watch the pretty bubbles in your mead. Do some research on the Internet and find out what your FG should be. Order a hydrometer. Check every week or so. I'm pretty sure it will turn out fine.

You've graduated from harnessing thousands of animals (bees) to MILLIONS of plants (yeast)!


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

There are a lot of opinions on racking, but most folks rack to secondary when the vigor of primary slows but there is still active offgassing. It's not a real critical thing. Read the "intro to meadmaking" for how to calculate what your starting gravity would have been. Once a mead get rolling well, it's unlikely to stick unless the yeast poop out from lack of nutrients, inadequate aeration or a few other possibilities. Don't worry about it unless it stops cold with way too much sweetness. A hydrometer is a great investment for sure!

BTW I'm travelling and have infrequent internet access, but keep us posted!


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

Kevin

thanks for the detailed explanation
there's a lot to learn here
everything seems to be going fine, my first batch was straight mead, but I want to make a second batch and I'm reading and trying to figure out what I want to do
this looks interesting

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31698

you folks have been a great help, I'll keep you updated

Dave


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## knadai (Jun 24, 2007)

A picture is worth a thousand words. So send me a bottle and I will send you a picture of me drinking it...


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I racked my first batch into a secondary the other day and stole a sip
it was good, kinda fruity and sweet, this is a straight mead only 4 weeks old
I don't know why it would be fruity but that is how I would describe it
the fermentation has about stopped, I think it should continue a while longer
I thought about mixing up some yeast nutrient and pitching it in there
good idea/bad idea??

Dave


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## knadai (Jun 24, 2007)

Dude:

What was your original gravity (OG) either measured or predicted?

How's that hydrometer workin' for ya?

What is your specific gravity now? What should it be?

Without knowing those things, I cannot help.

If you like it, drink it. If not, repitch and see what happens.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Definitely concur to NOT add anything without a gravity reading... time alone is not a helpful indicator of fermentation progression, and additives can add unpleasant flavors. Fruitiness is probably esters from yeast activity; it'll mellow with time if not disappear.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I guess I'll put a hydrometer on the wish list
I'll hold off doing anything till I get one

Dave


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## [email protected] (Sep 23, 2006)

drobbins,

Mine was $5, though I heard some places they are as much as $12. It's pretty cheap. I picked up both a theif and a sample vial. The theif is usefull for measuring from carboys and the sample vial durring racking, conveniant but not required.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

SG reading is 1.000 (as though I can read it to three digits )
I think I'm lookin good, time to be patient

Dave


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Yep! A couple more points might trickle off so don't bottle yet, but you're there.


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