Mead Brewing

[jkane]

Lot's of great information!

I make a LOT of mead! I have 24 batches frementing right now. Most are 4 gallon batches. Some are 5. There is an 8 gallon and a 16 gallon batch also. I have 5 1 gallon "test" batches also.

Normally you go with 3 parts water to 1 part honey. So a 4 gallon batch that will finish slightly sweet would be 3 gallons of water and 1 gallon of honey. 1 gallon of honey is about 12 lbs.

15 lbs of honey with 3.75 gallons of water will make a 5 gallon batch at about 14% ABV when finished also.

Hmmm ... if you made a 5 gallon batch, then you should be able to get down to at least 1.020 or so. Actually, the mead calculator says 15 lbs of honey with enough water to bring volume up to 5 gallons would be OG of 1.106. That has a potential of 14% ABV if you made it down to 1.000 FG.

Did you make less than 5 gallons with 15 lbs?

1.040 is about 9% ABV if you started with 5 gallons.

Was the yeast a "beer" yeast that can only make about 9% ABV before it dies?

Watch things like PH with mead. Mead tends to be lower PH which is why honey is stable on a shelf without refridgeration. The yeast can be stresssed in too low of a PH environment.

Also, the suggestions for nutrients is good! Unlike barley, honey has plenty of sugar, but lacks vitamins and other nutrients that the yeast wants. Adding about 2 teaspoons of Yeast Nutrient and another 2 tespoons of Diamonium Phospate at the start (or some each of the first 3 days) is recommended for faster and more complete fermentation. Aerating (which home beer makers are afriad to do) for the first 3 days is also a good idea.

Tell us more about the recipe and how much water plus anything else in the mead and we can help figure this out! Then again, sometimes it just happens! I have had my share of stuck fermentations! Out of 13 identical batches this fall (except the base honey) all finished except 3 which are still fermenting. Slowly, but at least still trying. I have not figured why those 3 were slower than the rest. It happens!