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Stuck Fermentation - A lesson learned
i had a mead in primary for two months; it had been holding stable at 1.050 for a month before i started to worry about stuck fermentation. the mead consisted of 18 lbs of clover honey in 5 gallons of water, with 1 tblsp gypsum, pinch of acid blend, 3 tsps yeast nutrient, and 3 tsps yeast energizer, and a packet of WYeast dry mead yeast. my OG was 1.128.
i went about attempting to unstick this, unsuccessully, for the following month.
my first attempt was to pitch a champagne yeast. i picked up a packet of Red Star and sprinkled it in, no starter and no added nutrients. after two weeks of waiting, this produced no additional fermentation.
i then rolled up my sleeves, eyed the mead down what like i was clint eastwood and it had tried to hang me, and went out and bought a packet of Lavalin 118 champagne yeast, made a starter with a pound of the self-same honey i used to make the mead, and added yeast energizer and yeast nutrient. once the starter culture reached peak, i pitched it into my primary. two weeks later, still holding at 1.050.
i then racked the mead to a secondary, leaving behind the yeast cake. i proceeded to pull my hair out and lament my failing child. i was debating watering it down, bottling as is, waiting, and crying. i choose to do the last two. after two weeks of sitting in secondary as i considered my options, a yeast cake about 1/2 of an inch thick had settled to the bottom of the primary. i decided that 1.050 was just too sweet, and i could not wait the five years it would take to make this mead palatable (to my palate).
after doing all the research and reading i could possibly do, and picking the brains of each and every employee at my LHBS, i hit upon something i had been breezing past in all the literature: pH.
eureka! picked up some pH strips and went to town. the mead was sitting at 3.2 - 3.4; the damn must was too acidic and inhibiting fermentation!
so for round three, i pulled out all the stops. i added 1/2 tsp of gypsum dissolved in 4 oz of water to the must, aereated the living hell out of it, and then pitched again. this time i used two packets of lavalin 118 in 1/2 gallon of starter (i had lost about 1/2 a galoon to gravity readings), with 2-lbs of honey, 1 tsp of yeast energizer, and 1 tsp of yeast nutrient. this starter took two and a half days to kick in, but once it was peaking i pitched the starter into the must.
now, my darling little child is bubbling away happily. i would love to see this finish at around 1.012, but i will settle for 1.025 or thereabouts. anything is better than the cloyingly sweet 1.050 i had.
the lesson is: do not forget pH. i had never before bothered with pH, in my beers, ciders, or meads. now i know better. if you have a stuck fermentation, try gauging the pH, it may just be the culprit. and it may just save your brew.
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