# Rookie Mead Question #5



## danno (Dec 17, 2007)

only your hydrometer can tell you the answer. Dry means your yeast will run out of food before alchohol poisoning kills them so 3 days isn't out of line. I have to ask Being a long time brewer and wine maker, have you ever made a dry mead? I dont make or drink any sweet wines but with mead I believe sweet is the only way to go. If you dont like it when its done you can sorbate it and then back sweeten with honey to taste


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Was your brewspace warmer? That will cause it to finish faster. Running out of sugar to eat will too. But as danno said, your hydrometer will tell you for sure. What were you shooting for in ABV 9 or 10 % ???? What yeast?


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## mrqb (Jul 17, 2011)

low alcohol wines wont keep well u should start with higher spec gravity a good yeast will finish to dryness.no two batches are the same the acid content ,sugars,and yeast all effect how hard the fermentation is,sometimes the ones that don't take off seem to ferment for a lot longer.just my 2 cents.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Airlock activity (bubbling) is a rough indicator at best... as danno said a hydrometer is the only way to be sure. That said actually the opposite is usually true: the higher the OG the MORE stressful the must, but it really depends more on health, pitching rate, pH, temperature, nutrients, etc.


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## Gibbus (Apr 22, 2009)

I got the recipe from The Complete Meadmaker. I wanted to see about a dry (the last was sweet. I liked it, just wanted to see what a dry was like). It's about ten lbs of honey to roughly 4.5 gallons of water with the recommended amount of nutrient and energizer. I used Moncharet yeast (1 packet). 
I didnt know if maybe it needed more initial air and had gone anerobic too soon, or if I needed more yeast (does it hurt having too much if it doesnt sit on it for too long?)
So the gravity should be at around .9 at the reading, being a dry?
I really appreciate the advice here - thanks!


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

Well it'll get well below 1 with that yeast and gravity, so I'd say once it dips under 1 and has been still a while it's done fermenting.


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## Fl_Beak (May 9, 2010)

I don't think you can have too much yeast for a mead...but I am sort of a novice, only having thrown down maybe 15 gallons at this point....

Temp, gravity, all have part in the process. as previously posted


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