A few months ago, just for fun, I tried a density reading on 1:1 simple syrup (equal amounts sugar and water). Hydrometer said "No!". It floated so high it nearly fell out of the cylinder. It was quite literally 'off the chart'.
I actually had this problem about 2 years ago. I had a brew that was too sweet and it stalled. Asked Brian what I should do and this is what he recommended. I split and diluted the batch and it kicked off like wildfire. Before then, I thought more sugar = higher abv. I have since learned better haha. Great information
Split into 2 batches is what I should have done. My first batch i just accepted the stall at 5 weeks and pasteurized and bottled my really sweet dessert mead.
Thanks again for the info 👍 I thought everybody started with two or three fermenters 😁 How would we start a nother while screwing up the first one 😂🤣😂👍❤️
Miscalculating and adding too much honey is my most common problem. I have been splitting the batch when this happens and magically I end up with twice as much, so perhaps it isn't such a problem after all.
This video was precisely about what was weighing on my mind for my latest batch. I'm trying to make a maple mead to which the recipe required me to boil it. I think this made it very sweet and I got a reading of about 1.180. I've left it for about 2 weeks but I'm not seeing the usual activity I would expect primarily, so I think I'll try splitting the batch as you say. Many thanks!
Awesome vlog, Brian! My 1.138 Lingonberry Mead hasn't stalled (yet), but I have considered splitting the batch and adding more lingonberry concentrate (and water) to punch up the flavor and tone down the alcohol. Once it stops bubbling, I'll rack it and take a taste test, and then decide from there.
@@CitySteadingBrews Cool, I didn't wanna assume, but did pick up the fact that you had moved a few of the vlog vids over... Specifically the Islay tasting and the RUclips ad ones.
Mmm I did wonder if some of the recent vlogs were more Brianized 🤪, when you spoke of not having 1000 subscribers yet, I was thinking "is he on the right channel" 🤔 Keep up the good work love both channels. You have inspired most of my brewing, only started Aug 2021
Good advice. I would add that if you get a stalled brew, and absolutely cannot get it to restart but only have one fermenter, I've had good luck using Red Star's DADY yeast. It's a distillers yeast capable of 22% alcohol. Obviously, I don't ever try to go that high, so I never worry about step feeding or nutrients. I just put some in and leave it be. One drawback, is that as far as I know, it's only available in 1lb packet at brew shops or online. Just be aware that if your looking for a flavor profile from the yeast, this is't the one for you. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty neutral yeast. Of course, I have a peasants palette ( I don't detect most subtle flavors), so your mileage may vary.
Hey Brian. I have issues with a brew that I am stumped on. I have never had 3 brews stall at the same place before. I made 3, 5 gallon basic meads. I had an identical OG of 1.120 in all 3 and used lalvin 74B in all 3. After roughly a month I noticed the bubbling stopped. When I checked all 3 had a gravity of 1.050. I waited a week and the gravity did not change. I then used a degassing wand to mix up the sediment to see if that would fix the stalls. After a week no change. I then added fermaid o to all 3 and a new yeast that I rehydrate first. After a week again no change. Now what? I am like my 3 brews,,,,,,,,,stuck. I normally shoot for a 1.100 to 1.120 starting gravity and have never had an issue. Having all 3 stall exactly the same is confusing.
I used to start with an SG of 1.140 to 1.150 to get really sweet meads. They'd take a long time to brew, they'd occasionally stall, and I'd have to split and blend with a stronger mead. Most of my meads then went to 18% but they'd take about 3 months to finish, and then I'd leave them for another 3 months to settle. I started bringing that SG down to 1.100 or 1.120 and now they finish way quicker (couple of weeks) and I just backsweeten to ferment more and finish sweet
Yep, I prefer standard wine ABV in my mead. My highest ever OG was 1.127 (unintentional but went with it) while making Dandelion orange mead last spring. It finished at 0.990 with the ABV of 18.5%. It's 7 months old now and actually kinda great, but after the primary half a year ago it was disgusting, not gonna lie. Btw got inspired by your Khajiit blood Butterfly pea flower mead, but made a kind of fusion of that and your SWLA wine and made 12 liters of it (just over 3 gallons). Stuff I had laying around was 4kg of cherries and 3.5kg of plums. OG - 1.088, FG 5 days later - 0.995, 12.5% alcohol and on day 6 it's already awesome! And very purple. Just transferred it over into two 5L demijohns and one 2L bottle/DIY demijohn. Now the long wait begins but it'll be worth it!
Back a couple decades ago when i first started wine making, i had an older friend that gave me advice on the matter. I didnt have much to work with as far as equipment, so a compromise was the norm. One of those was i didnt have a hydrometer. He told me to “put enough sugar or honey to float an egg and i should do fine” (I did however, checked the egg with the float test in water to make sure it was a good egg to use). My question is…have you heard of this or ever tried it if you have? The success rate i had was hit and miss due to the lack of proper cleansing. Which is another rabbit trail.
I don't know if you've noticed this yourselves, but there's scratchy interference noise in the left audio channel of at least this video and the black cherry cider one. It's very audible in the handheld intro and outro bits of this. It's not too bad, but maybe something that calls for an equipment checkup. Otherwise a good video, as always!
I routingely brew traditional Polish Trojniaks which are 4lbs of honey per gallon and, especially with some fruit juice added, can get above 1.14 OG but have never had a probem and it usually ends up as a sweeter mead (as intended). I am so glad you did this video because it helps me understand the process even better.
By the way, if it's ending up sweet, it's most likely due to a stall! Though in many cases those og's do surpass the tolerance of the yeast too. 1.140 is only 18.9%, so if it's sweet, it's not even hitting the tolerance of say EC-1118.
Good video (as always). You should do a video on step feeding for people who do want that 20-22% abv brew. In fact even if you want to do something with say 1.130 OG, it might be a good idea to split the sugar in 2 batches and add the second half after fermentation is strongly going. Say 2 or 3 days later. Regarding fermentation difficulty and stalling, I have resolved the issue by doing yeast starters using Go-Ferm. The fermentation is so strong now it is almost scary ;)
I have something similar going right now. I had a 1.140 start SPGR and just didn't want to bother with diluting it. I did the calculation after it already started and found that if it went dry at 1.000 then it would end up at about 18%. I decided to let it go and test it when it slows down and if it doesn't go closer to 1.010 and lands too sweet then i'm just going to invest in a couple packets of champagne yeast and try and get it to go the rest of the way. If you think that this is a bad idea then i'll likely just add a little more water and try and get it to kick up again. Worst case scenario is that it will just be a pretty sweet dessert wine that I add just a touch of water to to bring down both the alcohol by volume to about 10% and the sweetness to a more moderate 1.020.
I've been thinking more about this and I think that I could go through a secondary fermentation without the use of splitting my batch or putting any of the product down the drain. I just need to wait for a specific point and then rack it to another vessel while getting the fruit out which will make room all on its own. Then I add more water to bring the concentration of the alcohol by volume down and then let it continue to finish until it's finally done! Problem solved!
You promoted the "Big Book of Mead Recipes" by Robert Ratliff many videos ago. Thank You, it has been a highly useful resource. Whenever I'm in doubt I stick to a recipe. The math has already been done for me.
I had this happen recently dealing with a melomel; apparently raspberries have more sugar to them than I realized (started at 1.180). I had done the same with blackberries earlier in the year and had it go dry, so I assumed it would be fine. Definitely should have looked into my ingredients a bit more. I think in the future I'll save part of my honey to add last in these kinds of brews too, just so I can fine tune it. I let mine ferment (I only have 1 wide mouth fermenter, and my experience with whole fruit and narrow mouth ones has been messy...), which took it down to 1.050 (~17%), then blended it with a dry mild mead I had, ending up at 1.022. It's a touch high for me on paper, but that bit of raspberry tartness works well to offset it; this came out to be one of my favorites.
I've been doing my homework and watching many of these videos did my first brew with lots of success now this gives me more information and I agree with Brian I had the mjord blod mead and I did not like the 18% it was just too thick for my taste did a traditional 10% mead one of my favorites can't wait to make more next is apple cyser cinnamon, orange peach, and cherry blod mead follow these guys instructions they are very knowledgeable and will make you guys great brewers cheers 🥂
I think I’m having this problem for my very first batch of mead. I added a ton of honey and got an original gravity of 1.152. I’m saving this video for later for myself so I know what to do. I’m gonna take my next reading soon and decide what to do from there. Happy to have stumbled on this vid!
What a timely video. I just tested my first batch of wine, and it is still quite a bit sweeter to my taste. Started at 1.125 and ended at 1.040. Would I be able to add a yeast with a higher tolerance and let it start fermenting again? Great videos! Thanks for all you do!
I have a similar issue with my mead. I started OG 1.162 and it stopped at 1.088. I'm not certain if it stalled out, because I think I mis-measured at the outset.
I have same question. I have a mead OG 1.139 now in fermenter for 5 weeks. It’s showing 1.070/10.89%. (Have a RAPT PILL in fermenter). Was wondering if I rack it into another fermenter and pitch something like EC-1119. And/or maybe split and add something like cranberry juice…
Suppose it needed said, as I have a friend getting into the hobby, and was POURING in the honey (well, more than was needed), and couldnt get it to ferment. I'll direct him here, to 'splain why going for rocket fuel will not work.
I actually had too much sugar in a "wild yeast" mead ferment. I could smell alcohol in the vessel (only a quart) and I could see tiny bubbles still rising along the side of the vessel, but the hydrometer (which I didn't have when I initially created the brew) did what others commented---it nearly popped all of the way out of the sampling vessel. Unfortunately, it got dumped. Then, I saw this video. Makes sense that you could split the batch, perhaps add more yeast and yeast nutrient to get it going again. Oh well. Live and learn.
With homemade wine I have used your recipe (simple for beginners) and it worked fine. I had seen another channel Paw paw or some such-who uses a lot more sugar and a lot less yeast-so tried that one- your recipe was superior and his was very sweet-although the yeast did take 30 days or so to stop fermenting, it didnt seem to have more alcohol (no hydrometer-I gauge by headache the next day lol)(kidding-) I think maybe the sugar did beat up the yeast and maybe small amounts kept fermenting-
I had a raspberry wine in plan. Originally I wanted to juice out 5kg raspberry, but the ,,juice" was too thick, the hydrometer did not work at all (it stopped where I let). So I had to split the batch into, and water it up. Now it has a strange watery, empty taste. I hope some raspberry+hibiscus tea will solve it's problem. Also its over the tolerance already, but still dry as bone. Safale is a true workhorse.
glad to hear this lol i had this problem 3 weeks ago and split the product and they both went dry thankfully and then i used that base mead to make my melomels
OG at 1.130.( 30.10.2023) Racked at 1.020, on 4.10.23. Zero activity. Tried it. Tasted good with residual sugar. The wife liked it Oh It's elderberry wine.Settling right now.I calculated 14.85ABV. Does that sound right? BTW i used a local (Tandaco) dried bakers yeast.
I have made a couple of your recipes and think I am hooked now. Thinking about a few things and thought I would ask you if you ever used sugar in the raw as your sugar? Thinking about doing a mojito kilju with sugar in the raw... thoughts? Recommendations?
Think i'm having this problem now. Pitches yeast for the 3rd time yesterday. Somebody put 17.5 lbs in a 5gal batch. I didn't take a starting gravity reading. 17.5# is from one of your recipes
But if you scaled up… that’s 3.5 lbs in a gallon. I think we did that once. I do not recall the recipe though. Can you tell me the starting gravity and other ingredients used?
@@CitySteadingBrews it was your spiced metheglin. Your 1 year review sold me. Turns out I had a leak at my bubbler. I made a flour dough and sealed it. It is bubbling away happily. Now i'm not sure if 71B, EC1118 or D47 is doing the work.
Wow 1.120 is exactly the OG # ended up at after figuring out had honey stuck on bottom, was shooting for 1.092 in Blue B Mead. That was Friday evening. Fermenter seems to rocking along just fine Sunday afternoon. Should end up at 14% or so having used Fleischman Active Dry & Fermaide O, but keeping a close eye on it. Without these vids would be totally lost - but if it stalls should be able deal w/ it. Thx !!!
I was able to get lucky and force a ferment on a extremely high gravity must and end up with a very sweet high ABV mead after 3 months on the lees. I believe high pre-oxygenation of the must, the perfect temperature and a very good 11grams of yeast gave me a over 20% mead on finish.
OK. Total newbie here I tried to follow your viking blood mead recipe. 3lbs honey and 3lbs cherries doesn't leave much room for water in a one gallon fermenter. I tried to check the ABV and it floated past the numbers. I am guessing about 1.180. That was three days ago. Today I saw this video and thought I would try to dilute my brew. I checked ABV first, and it is now 1.120. Do you think I still need to dilute it? I used Red Star Rouge if that helps. Thanks for all the info!
To city stead brews Hello new to the whole fermentation game here. I would lime to know were did you get the (looks like) 1.5 g wide mouth carboy fermenting jar at it would match my set nicely. Please and thank you.
Thanks for posting this. Is this why you add mango during secondary instead of primary - for your mango habanero? So you can keep your volume in honey to retain its flavour?
It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but the higher the ABV, the longer it needs. A hydromel can be nice to drink when it’s ready to bottle or within weeks of that. Higher ABV brews need 6 months to a year to really come into their own. Depending on the fruit, this can be longer or shorter. It also depends on how ‘clean’ your fermentation is. If you thoroughly aerate your must before pitching the yeast and give it some Fermaid O, and follow up with regular swirling the first week or two of fermentation, chances are your yeast won’t get stressed and the brew will be nice to drink sooner. Personally (I’m difficult) I let my brews sit for at least 6 months before I start drinking them, with a few exceptions that get tasted at 3 months. Some get to ‘sleep’ for a year before I will even consider drinking them. My personal experience: Hydromels: nicest around 3-6 months of age Berry melomels: pretty good after 6 months, preferably a year Banana mead: 1 year or more Pineapple mead: 1 year or more Brian’s spiced metheglin: great at 3 months, heaven in a glass at 1 year (seriously!) Dandelion mead: 6 months = nice, 1 year or more = wonderful Floral meads like elderflower or rose petal: 6 months to a year For anything above 14-15% I allow one month of ageing per percentage of alcohol or more. Those are my personal preferences, your mileage may vary. I know I CAN drink my meads sooner but knowing how good they are with more time on them makes me wait longer.
@@CitySteadingBrews sweet reds u said drink it after like 30 days and skeeter pee only needs 2-3 months.... was just wondering if anything else could Be drunk early
OK ok. New here. First batch i didn't know... ANYTHING. But i found you thank the Gods. Dumped the first batch out. Smelled like death. Second batch hehehehe, I made a homemade airlock with pill bottle straws and hot glue gun. Ordered real ones get them soon. 10 days, there was nothing going on. Couple bubbles. So after watching your Videos and Thinking of physics. I took a reusable straw we had, there thicker plastic. 2 Pellets from bb gun and heat up the end of straw, crimp. put pellets in, all the way down. Take a bottle of water, put in the straw and it floated perfect half. Made a mark at water line........ Used it as gravity readiing on the second batch. Uh was Done, floated above water line i was SHOCKED.... So i Racked it and got it off the lees and then Did your Degassing thing, it stank...... Bad. For a few min.... Then i cold crashed it next to open window. Freezing outside. Last night i tried it. WOW i didn't like it at first. NEver been much of a White light wine or any wine really. After a couple sips it was Amazing. i could taste the apple,.... Wife said it smelled like straight Booze. After the third class i went to bed LOL and it was just a little sherry wine glass. hahahahahha.... Much Love you 2.. James
Dude literally stopped me mid poor of honey into a stalled batch lol gonna try adding more water in hopes the yeast kick back up . I did another starter yeast in this batch which did nothing so hopefully the extra water will help
We have many videos explaining this. Short answer, adding honey will sweeten it but it can also referment... depending. So there are ways to stop that too.
Ok, I get the split and dilute part. How much water should I add, or do I just keep adding small amounts of water and take readings until I get it into the usable range?
Long question with lots of info ahead: Is there a formula to determine how much s.g. would be lowered by the addition of X amount of water to a must? I'm worried I may be facing a stall based on the OG for my must (1.144). For example, 3.01 lbs of honey, s.g. of cherry juice was 1.084 (I used 1 gallon) in a little big mouth bubbler. The SG was 1.152 and went to 1.144 after the addition of 1 cup of water. Since I pitched the yeast yesterday, is there a formula to use to calculate the corrected OG based on the addition of 1 cup, 1 pint, or 1 quart of water depending on how much will fit? (Also, I used a whole packet because I knew the sugar content was high). I know 3lbs of honey is 1 quart and based on my math, I have have about 1.3125 gallons based on the 1 gallon plus 1 quart plus 1 cup in a 1.4 gallon fermenter and don't have another fermenter as an option at present. If I were to add a pint, it would bring me to 1.375 gallons (I know that is at capacity), but would it be correct in the formula of 1.3125*.144 = .189 and then divide that by 1.375 to get the estimated OG? If so, would 1.137 be the appropriate answer or did I do something wrong in my math?
Easiest is how we do fortification: (parts of liquid 1 x gravity of liquid 1)+(parts of liquid 2 x gravity of liquid 2) / total parts. This gives you the new gravity.
We started a low fat plant based diet a few years ago when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Lost about 60 pounds or so, but have gained a few back for being lazy and overeating.
Started my fist batch of wine yesterday afternoon. I’m pretty sure I added to much sugar so I’m going to give it at least 72hrs to start fermenting. If I doesn’t work I’m definitely splitting and diluting.
@@CitySteadingBrews 3 Gallon batch 5+ - 64 oz. (2 Qt) bottles of Lidel 100% Apple Juice 7.5 lbs. Honey (4.5 lb. Kirkland Raw Honey) & (3 lb. Kirkand Raw Unfiltered Honey) Juice of 1 Lemon 3 teaspoons of Fermax Yeast Nutrient (label suggest 1-1.5 teaspoons per gal.) 1 package Lalvin EC-1118 yeast Hydrometer reading = 1.128 (16.5% ABV possible) Vodka in Airlock Day 2. Added additional teaspoon of Fermax. Swirled bottle a little on day 1,2, and 5 to de-gass a little. On day 13 (04/23/23) bubbling in airlock slowed down from 1 bubble every second to 1 bubble every 2 seconds. On 04/24/23 it was producing 1 bubble every 4 seconds. On day 21 (05/01/23) bubbling has decreased to one every 28 seconds. 05/17/23 - measures 1.018 I screw up - was supposed to put 6 lbs Honey. But I found out afterwards that those 1 lb. Honey Bear containers were actually 1-1/2. So put 1-1/2 lb too much honey in.
First attempt at making mead, and I just came across this video a week into fermentation. My Original gravity reading was 1.30, which now I'm seeing is way too high (only 3 lbs of honey was used). After a week of fermentation, is it too late to split the batch? Do I need to add more yeast to each fermenter? Or just dump half into another fermenter and add water to fill? Thanks for the help everyone!
@@CitySteadingBrews Ah crap, I'm honestly not sure at this point, and looking at my hydrometer I don't see why I recorded it as 1.30 as I'm pretty sure it was in the yellow range. I would assume since fermentation has started, it's too late to take an accurate reading? I REALLY appreciate you coming back to a 10 month old video and responding to questions, really shows how much you care about your community! Cheers!
Really enjoy y’all’s videos! Here maybe a video idea. I think it would be really cool to see if y’all could do a very budget brew. Like go to a dollar store and set a budget of like $5 and challenge yourselves to make a brew with only ingredients and equipment that you find at the dollar store.
Just think about when you put sugar directly into fruit, all that juice that is pulled out. Imagine your yeast having their internal juices pulled out.
I used your beginner mead recipe but OG was at 1.118. Likely because I didn't have enough water but let it ride. Still waiting to see how it goes. Only one week in at this point. Hopefully it will not stall and will ferment out.
I need help please in Australia where in the town I live we have a local home brew & they only sell 1gal British glass fermenters and they fit 5 litres of must with ease . I was told by them , to make a mead to ad 3kg of honey and 1kg of dextrose to achieve an 18% abv and it would go super dry so I did all that then I added about a US gal of water to it then I gave it the be-geesus for 3 minutes then I did a hydrometer reading but it went off the scale my hydrometer stops off at 1.150 & it was beyond that. So I split the must in between 2 fermenters at 2.5 litres each now I added 2.5 litres of Reverse Osmosis water to make 5 litres in each fermenter but I made rookie mistake next .... I never took a reading this all took place 6 weeks ago, one fermenter ran it course it went textbook perfect the other stalled again and in the end I sent it down the drain. 😡 lots of fun. The yeast = mangrove jacks M05 1x5gram pack of yeast hulls All the water used in this adventure was Reverse Osmosis Starsan was used. Edit: Help please how much honey should I need for 5litres of must . I really think it was the dextrose that stuffed this up
That’s more honey than yeast can reliably work though let alone with another kg of dextrose? That was horrible advice. I don’t say that lightly but really that’s some of the worst advice I have heard. There’s enough sugars there to make your original gravity 1.300 or thereabouts! That’s insane. That’s a potential alcohol of 41% abv. No yeast can work that. Honestly it’s more than double what we recommend. You could make 15 liters of mead with that! My other question is if it’s mead… why add dextrose? Not needed. Not at all.
Hey mate, Kiwi here. A British 1-gal fermenter is only 4.5L, so it may actually be a 5L fermenter you have. Fill it with water and measure exactly how much it holds. Once you know that, divide the mls by 3785 and that will give you something like 1.4. Then, use one of City Steadings recipes and multiply all the ingredients by that 1.4. So, if their recipe says to use 2 pounds of honey, convert that to metric (908g) then multiply by that number you have, say 1.4 (908x 1.4= 1271g of honey) and that gives you the right measurements so you can follow along at home. The only thing you don’t multiply by the number is your yeast. Just use whatever amount they use.
It's strange. The more brews I make, the drier I like them. I started with your grocery store mead and sweetened to 1.160 and it was great. I just sweetened my current traditional to 1.022 and it's just right.
1.160 is high for a starting specific gravity, it's like adding nearly 5 pounds of honey to a gallon, yeah, that's syrupy and sweet, lol, since it's almost half a gallon of honey. @@raist315
@@CitySteadingBrews I'm sorry, I said that all wrong. I start them all at 1.100, then they go dry, 1.000 - 0.994. Then I pasteurize and backsweeten to 1.160. Now I backsweeten to about 1.022.
Started a Cyser last night where the reading came out somewhere around 1.140. I wanted to split it and add water but have to wait until I get another gallon jug. Is there a time frame after starting a fermentation when it's too late to add water?
Had a mead starting out at 1.13 OG. It had fermented down to 0.99. At that time, it was time for me to add yeast nutrient to the mix and OG jumped up. I am sitting at around 1.15 right now. It is a 5 gallon batch. If I drain some of the mix out and add in water, could I restart fermentation or would that be a big no-no as it may cause it to turn into vinegar? I had two pints of honey and 5 pounds of peaches. Too much honey?
Wait… 1.130 fermented to 0.990. You added nutrients? SG went up? To 1.150?? That doesn’t make sense. If it was done fermenting and went dry at 0.990, why add nutrients to it and… nutrients wouldn’t change the gravity. Sorry, I want to help but could you go over your method and readings again please?
@@CitySteadingBrews I am not certain that it was done fermenting. It had only been fermenting for about 5 days at the time I added the nutrients. That seems like a very quick fermentation. When I first made the batch, my OG was 1.13 on both a tilt and glass hydrometer. I added my yeast. At day 3, took the air lock off, added more oxygen to the mix. At day 5, gave the nutrients and had to leave for the weekend. When I came back, I was getting 1.17-1.15 readings off my tilt hydrometer. I'll take a reading on a glass hydrometer this weekend but, as of last night, I was still sitting at 1.15 after slushing the mixture to keep the bag of peaches wet. It's not making any sense to me either, its the same steps I have done for every other batch that I have done before and I have been successful with those. My yeast is about a year old, temp has been between 70-80 in the house due to no AC. My lees is pretty minimal in the bottom of the carboy and the mead mixture has not cleared at all, compared to when I made a 1 gallon batch of this recipe.
@@eddiefleetwood2945 Your readings are going up.... that doesn't make any sense at all. 0.990 is dry, and should be done. You're showing higher than your OG readings mid-fermentation....
@@CitySteadingBrews I don't disagree. Further, I am not seeing any signs of fermentation goin on. Should I split it? Taste it to see what's going on? Do a glass hydrometer reading and compare it to the tilt readings? Really hate to throw out 5 gallons of mead.
@@eddiefleetwood2945 I really don't understand what is even happening to be honest. I don't know how you are getting readings of 1.150 after your OG was 1.130 after getting 0.990.... I can't tell you to split it or anything since none of the data is lining up. I wouldn't dump it, I would just leave it and check again in a week or two.
I had to dump out a stalled blueberry wine a little while back.. because my wife was making sugar syrup to feed our bees at the same time I was making wine and putting it in empty bottles of the same kind of water bottles I was using.. it stalled.. thought about maybe using it to try to backsweeten.. but decided to just dump it
What I can't figure out when it comes to your staring gravity is how can you use that to determine your likely abv and how much more honey you need to make a brew sweet or semi-sweet
Hoping you guys can help so I don't lose my batch. I found this video kind of late and I'm already 2 weeks into a brew with OG of 1.200. Now it's reading at 1.102 and I'm pretty sure it's stalled. Is there something I can do to save the brew? Additional notes: I used EC-1118 yeast and didn't added 5lbs of honey and crushed juniper berries. I'm following the Skyrim cookbook recipe for mead but at 1 gallon instead of 1/2.
Hi again 😁. Revisited this video because I'm now playing with non fermentable sugars before fermentation, as a precursor for sweetness. I'm dealing with starfruit. It's not that sweet so, I figured if I get my specific gravity up around 1.150 to 1.175 using two lbs of sugar and non fermentables, I should end with around 1.015 or 1.020 at end of fermentation? Anyone try this yet? If so, advice is very appreciated 👍❤️
Is there any danger of drinking a stalled brew? Like my meed started at 1.130 and ended in 1.036 and was 12.5% very sweet befor i put it in another fermentor, im letting it sit after 2 mounths for sediments, is it danderous to drink?
@@CitySteadingBrews if there is dead yeast on the top outer rim, is it dangerouse to drink, should it be treated? If so how? I cant find anything online. Or should i just siphon it and try not to suck it up?
@@CitySteadingBrews New to brewing, if I might inquire, as I seem to be getting conflicting answers, do you want your brew to breath during the firmenting process or to be sealed tight?
It’s fine to be open but… you do want oxygen at the start and do NOT want oxygen added once there is alcohol. Thus we aerate at creation and use airlocks.
I once measured my gravity when the mixture was still too warm (around 50°C). I waited until the mixture had cooled down before pitching the yeast (Lalvin EC-1118). Fermentation never started and I couldn't figure out why. I never though to account for the temperature. I pitched another packet of yeast thinking that the previous one was bad. It didn't solve anything. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong and since I was aiming for a sweet brew with EC-1118 I had targeted a pretty high initial gravity. When I finally took another reading, it was off the charts! I diluted the batch down and it started fermenting VIGOROUSLY! I didn't think to double the amount of nutrients since I had doubled the initial amount of yeast. That batch had terrible off flavours even after a year. I ended up trowing it away after having tried a few adjustments to try to make it enjoyable.
I once did a home brew... I was under-age. I tried to make a gallon of wine. I did not measure anything! I used a plastic container, sugar, water, a balloon, and Welch's grape concentrate... When the balloon expanded, and deflated... I thought I was in for a treat. I poured a glass of wine, and I was excited to finally try alcohol for the first time in my life. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life... My tongue went numb. This wine had to be 80 proof! It can occur like he said, rare, and he forgot to mention disgusting. Don't be like me, this one experience made me never want to touch alcohol again! HA!
Nope. Was more like 10-15% at most, lol. Yeast can only make alcohol if there is sugar to do it and there are limits. It’s highly unlikely to make higher without really knowing what you’re doing.
If you put too much sugar in and the yeast ferments too quick you will end up with a concussion brew! You’ll know what I mean if this has happened to you!
Today I "back bittered". Ended up with a super sweet lychee that was too strong. Added a pot of Earl Grey Tea in the space I lost to lees sediment. Wow that ended up perfect. ❤
@@CitySteadingBrews I have separated it in two two batches. It is still bubbling strong I am happy to report. My question is : Since I took my gravity reading before I split. Is it possible to get an accurate reading at this point in time? Thanks I love you guys !!
My first mead, didn't know too much sugar can make yeast struggle or go dormant and in turn, used 3 kg's of honey in 5 litres instead of 1.6 kg's (max) in 5 litres... To make it worse, I was like "oh cool, cyser is a thing" so I mixed it with apple juice instead of water lmao After cutting it down by half then diluting it with water, we have activity, now we wait Thanks for the videos!
Well damn, I think my wine stalled and if course I don't have anything to measure it. So I started with my 2qt grape juice, poured about 1 and half cups out, put in 2 cups of sugar on May 6 with bakers yeast. It was cooking along great but now it's been a lil over a week, about 8 days and there's just few bubbles. How can I know if I've stopped without measuring it? 🤔
A hydrometer will tell you for sure. You could taste it. Without measurements it’s hard to know done from stalled unless you know for a fact it should be dry and it’s dry. I highly suggest investing in a hydrometer. Conversely, you could leave it a few months and at that point it should be done. 8 days, there is a possibility it’s done.
I have 3 batches that all stalled at the same gravity. Used traditional ingredients, black tea, orange peel, raisins. Did not do any step feeding, and did not add any nutrients until they stalled. Two started with a higher OG of 1.152, the other started with 1.142. Pitched with V1116, and EC1118. Temp for all 3: Roughly 75 degrees All 3 stalled at 62 SG. Tried adding Ferm-o to one, Tried adding rehydrated yeast and Go-Ferm to another, Tried adding Ferm-k to the third. They started bubbling for 1 day, then stopped. No change in gravity. Tried adding yeast 1118 to all 3, no change. They've been stalled for about 2 months at this point. I would like these to finish out closer to 30 SG or lower. Should I just split and water them down? How much should they be diluted? Just add water until I'm at the desired 30SG, then see if the yeast start working again? One thing I did notice - The bottles are on a heating pad, thermometer is halfway up the bottle. The temp reading as mentioned is around 75 degrees. But when I put my hands near the neck, the bottle is cold, and if I keep my hands there, it starts bubbling again? Thanks!
Yeah, I tried to do this. Starting gravity was waaaay off the charts, approx 1.180. 5lbs honey, to 10g D47 yeast. I let it ferment till it hit 1.060. Let it sit another week to make sure it didn't move. Thinking I maybe shouldn't drink it lolol
Best advice ever to beginner mead makers:
Split-it-and-dilute
Don’t try to make rocker fuel
Completely agree. 😊
As a beginner it's always much easier and safer to fortify for a stronger beverage than trying to brew one.
@@Anon-xd3cfas Brian says. If you want more alcohol, have another glass.
A few months ago, just for fun, I tried a density reading on 1:1 simple syrup (equal amounts sugar and water). Hydrometer said "No!". It floated so high it nearly fell out of the cylinder. It was quite literally 'off the chart'.
“Hydrometer said no”. I’m stealing that! 😂
@@eddavanleemputten9232 Is goed. Ga je gang. Heb zelfs de bijbehorende foto mocht je interesse hebben.
@@elricthebald870 - De quote op zich is al voldoende. 😊
Groetjes uit Oost-Vlaanderen!
I actually had this problem about 2 years ago. I had a brew that was too sweet and it stalled. Asked Brian what I should do and this is what he recommended. I split and diluted the batch and it kicked off like wildfire. Before then, I thought more sugar = higher abv. I have since learned better haha. Great information
Thank you I'll give this a try
Split into 2 batches is what I should have done. My first batch i just accepted the stall at 5 weeks and pasteurized and bottled my really sweet dessert mead.
Thanks again for the info 👍
I thought everybody started with two or three fermenters 😁
How would we start a nother while screwing up the first one 😂🤣😂👍❤️
Miscalculating and adding too much honey is my most common problem. I have been splitting the batch when this happens and magically I end up with twice as much, so perhaps it isn't such a problem after all.
Sounds like an ideal problem to have
This video was precisely about what was weighing on my mind for my latest batch. I'm trying to make a maple mead to which the recipe required me to boil it. I think this made it very sweet and I got a reading of about 1.180. I've left it for about 2 weeks but I'm not seeing the usual activity I would expect primarily, so I think I'll try splitting the batch as you say. Many thanks!
Awesome vlog, Brian! My 1.138 Lingonberry Mead hasn't stalled (yet), but I have considered splitting the batch and adding more lingonberry concentrate (and water) to punch up the flavor and tone down the alcohol. Once it stops bubbling, I'll rack it and take a taste test, and then decide from there.
I like the new format... It's almost like you've combined your Brianized vlog with the Brews channel.
That’s exactly what we did :). We will still be doing the studio style brewing too though!
@@CitySteadingBrews Cool, I didn't wanna assume, but did pick up the fact that you had moved a few of the vlog vids over... Specifically the Islay tasting and the RUclips ad ones.
Mmm I did wonder if some of the recent vlogs were more Brianized 🤪, when you spoke of not having 1000 subscribers yet, I was thinking "is he on the right channel" 🤔 Keep up the good work love both channels. You have inspired most of my brewing, only started Aug 2021
Good advice. I would add that if you get a stalled brew, and absolutely cannot get it to restart but only have one fermenter, I've had good luck using Red Star's DADY yeast. It's a distillers yeast capable of 22% alcohol. Obviously, I don't ever try to go that high, so I never worry about step feeding or nutrients. I just put some in and leave it be. One drawback, is that as far as I know, it's only available in 1lb packet at brew shops or online. Just be aware that if your looking for a flavor profile from the yeast, this is't the one for you. As far as I can tell, it's a pretty neutral yeast. Of course, I have a peasants palette ( I don't detect most subtle flavors), so your mileage may vary.
Hey Brian. I have issues with a brew that I am stumped on. I have never had 3 brews stall at the same place before. I made 3, 5 gallon basic meads. I had an identical OG of 1.120 in all 3 and used lalvin 74B in all 3. After roughly a month I noticed the bubbling stopped. When I checked all 3 had a gravity of 1.050. I waited a week and the gravity did not change. I then used a degassing wand to mix up the sediment to see if that would fix the stalls. After a week no change. I then added fermaid o to all 3 and a new yeast that I rehydrate first. After a week again no change. Now what? I am like my 3 brews,,,,,,,,,stuck. I normally shoot for a 1.100 to 1.120 starting gravity and have never had an issue. Having all 3 stall exactly the same is confusing.
I used to start with an SG of 1.140 to 1.150 to get really sweet meads. They'd take a long time to brew, they'd occasionally stall, and I'd have to split and blend with a stronger mead.
Most of my meads then went to 18% but they'd take about 3 months to finish, and then I'd leave them for another 3 months to settle.
I started bringing that SG down to 1.100 or 1.120 and now they finish way quicker (couple of weeks) and I just backsweeten to ferment more and finish sweet
Yep, I prefer standard wine ABV in my mead. My highest ever OG was 1.127 (unintentional but went with it) while making Dandelion orange mead last spring. It finished at 0.990 with the ABV of 18.5%.
It's 7 months old now and actually kinda great, but after the primary half a year ago it was disgusting, not gonna lie.
Btw got inspired by your Khajiit blood Butterfly pea flower mead, but made a kind of fusion of that and your SWLA wine and made 12 liters of it (just over 3 gallons). Stuff I had laying around was 4kg of cherries and 3.5kg of plums. OG - 1.088, FG 5 days later - 0.995, 12.5% alcohol and on day 6 it's already awesome! And very purple.
Just transferred it over into two 5L demijohns and one 2L bottle/DIY demijohn. Now the long wait begins but it'll be worth it!
Back a couple decades ago when i first started wine making, i had an older friend that gave me advice on the matter. I didnt have much to work with as far as equipment, so a compromise was the norm. One of those was i didnt have a hydrometer. He told me to “put enough sugar or honey to float an egg and i should do fine” (I did however, checked the egg with the float test in water to make sure it was a good egg to use). My question is…have you heard of this or ever tried it if you have? The success rate i had was hit and miss due to the lack of proper cleansing. Which is another rabbit trail.
I don't know if you've noticed this yourselves, but there's scratchy interference noise in the left audio channel of at least this video and the black cherry cider one. It's very audible in the handheld intro and outro bits of this. It's not too bad, but maybe something that calls for an equipment checkup.
Otherwise a good video, as always!
We did. It’s software actually. It’s been corrected for future videos :)
I routingely brew traditional Polish Trojniaks which are 4lbs of honey per gallon and, especially with some fruit juice added, can get above 1.14 OG but have never had a probem and it usually ends up as a sweeter mead (as intended). I am so glad you did this video because it helps me understand the process even better.
Well, the Polish meads are an exception. They often take a much longer fermentation and aging time and are intended to be 15% or so and very sweet.
By the way, if it's ending up sweet, it's most likely due to a stall! Though in many cases those og's do surpass the tolerance of the yeast too. 1.140 is only 18.9%, so if it's sweet, it's not even hitting the tolerance of say EC-1118.
I made cyser with Belgian Abby yeast to make it sweeter (1.140 - 1.038) and I like it.
Good video (as always). You should do a video on step feeding for people who do want that 20-22% abv brew. In fact even if you want to do something with say 1.130 OG, it might be a good idea to split the sugar in 2 batches and add the second half after fermentation is strongly going. Say 2 or 3 days later. Regarding fermentation difficulty and stalling, I have resolved the issue by doing yeast starters using Go-Ferm. The fermentation is so strong now it is almost scary ;)
I have something similar going right now. I had a 1.140 start SPGR and just didn't want to bother with diluting it. I did the calculation after it already started and found that if it went dry at 1.000 then it would end up at about 18%. I decided to let it go and test it when it slows down and if it doesn't go closer to 1.010 and lands too sweet then i'm just going to invest in a couple packets of champagne yeast and try and get it to go the rest of the way. If you think that this is a bad idea then i'll likely just add a little more water and try and get it to kick up again. Worst case scenario is that it will just be a pretty sweet dessert wine that I add just a touch of water to to bring down both the alcohol by volume to about 10% and the sweetness to a more moderate 1.020.
I've been thinking more about this and I think that I could go through a secondary fermentation without the use of splitting my batch or putting any of the product down the drain. I just need to wait for a specific point and then rack it to another vessel while getting the fruit out which will make room all on its own. Then I add more water to bring the concentration of the alcohol by volume down and then let it continue to finish until it's finally done! Problem solved!
You promoted the "Big Book of Mead Recipes" by Robert Ratliff many videos ago. Thank You, it has been a highly useful resource. Whenever I'm in doubt I stick to a recipe. The math has already been done for me.
I had this happen recently dealing with a melomel; apparently raspberries have more sugar to them than I realized (started at 1.180). I had done the same with blackberries earlier in the year and had it go dry, so I assumed it would be fine. Definitely should have looked into my ingredients a bit more. I think in the future I'll save part of my honey to add last in these kinds of brews too, just so I can fine tune it.
I let mine ferment (I only have 1 wide mouth fermenter, and my experience with whole fruit and narrow mouth ones has been messy...), which took it down to 1.050 (~17%), then blended it with a dry mild mead I had, ending up at 1.022. It's a touch high for me on paper, but that bit of raspberry tartness works well to offset it; this came out to be one of my favorites.
I've been doing my homework and watching many of these videos did my first brew with lots of success now this gives me more information and I agree with Brian I had the mjord blod mead and I did not like the 18% it was just too thick for my taste did a traditional 10% mead one of my favorites can't wait to make more next is apple cyser cinnamon, orange peach, and cherry blod mead follow these guys instructions they are very knowledgeable and will make you guys great brewers cheers 🥂
I think I’m having this problem for my very first batch of mead. I added a ton of honey and got an original gravity of 1.152. I’m saving this video for later for myself so I know what to do. I’m gonna take my next reading soon and decide what to do from there. Happy to have stumbled on this vid!
I would dilute the batch asap. Maybe even pitch new yeast.
@@CitySteadingBrews I’ll try this. Thank you!
What a timely video. I just tested my first batch of wine, and it is still quite a bit sweeter to my taste. Started at 1.125 and ended at 1.040. Would I be able to add a yeast with a higher tolerance and let it start fermenting again? Great videos! Thanks for all you do!
I have a similar issue with my mead. I started OG 1.162 and it stopped at 1.088. I'm not certain if it stalled out, because I think I mis-measured at the outset.
I have same question. I have a mead OG 1.139 now in fermenter for 5 weeks. It’s showing 1.070/10.89%. (Have a RAPT PILL in fermenter). Was wondering if I rack it into another fermenter and pitch something like EC-1119. And/or maybe split and add something like cranberry juice…
Suppose it needed said, as I have a friend getting into the hobby, and was POURING in the honey (well, more than was needed), and couldnt get it to ferment. I'll direct him here, to 'splain why going for rocket fuel will not work.
I actually had too much sugar in a "wild yeast" mead ferment. I could smell alcohol in the vessel (only a quart) and I could see tiny bubbles still rising along the side of the vessel, but the hydrometer (which I didn't have when I initially created the brew) did what others commented---it nearly popped all of the way out of the sampling vessel. Unfortunately, it got dumped. Then, I saw this video. Makes sense that you could split the batch, perhaps add more yeast and yeast nutrient to get it going again. Oh well. Live and learn.
With homemade wine I have used your recipe (simple for beginners) and it worked fine. I had seen another channel Paw paw or some such-who uses a lot more sugar and a lot less yeast-so tried that one- your recipe was superior and his was very sweet-although the yeast did take 30 days or so to stop fermenting, it didnt seem to have more alcohol (no hydrometer-I gauge by headache the next day lol)(kidding-) I think maybe the sugar did beat up the yeast and maybe small amounts kept fermenting-
Excellent information Thank You for all your hard work
I had a raspberry wine in plan. Originally I wanted to juice out 5kg raspberry, but the ,,juice" was too thick, the hydrometer did not work at all (it stopped where I let). So I had to split the batch into, and water it up. Now it has a strange watery, empty taste. I hope some raspberry+hibiscus tea will solve it's problem. Also its over the tolerance already, but still dry as bone. Safale is a true workhorse.
glad to hear this lol i had this problem 3 weeks ago and split the product and they both went dry thankfully and then i used that base mead to make my melomels
I like to start between 1.080 and 1.100.
OG at 1.130.( 30.10.2023) Racked at 1.020, on 4.10.23. Zero activity. Tried it. Tasted good with residual sugar. The wife liked it Oh It's elderberry wine.Settling right now.I calculated 14.85ABV. Does that sound right? BTW i used a local (Tandaco) dried bakers yeast.
Sounds right :)
You should link that cherry mead where you added too much honey and split the batch so that viewers have a practical example to follow.
Now I am ashamed of myself. I didn't take a reading on the last 3 batches I made since they are just for me. 😭😭 I will do better next time I promise!
I have had two brews go to 28%, it took three years to brew it though.
I have made a couple of your recipes and think I am hooked now. Thinking about a few things and thought I would ask you if you ever used sugar in the raw as your sugar? Thinking about doing a mojito kilju with sugar in the raw... thoughts? Recommendations?
It’s basically the same as regular sugar really. Maybe a slight molasses hint but that’s it.
My experience has been to brew a lower ABV and drink little bit more.. Tastes better
Pretty much same thing we say :)
Think i'm having this problem now. Pitches yeast for the 3rd time yesterday. Somebody put 17.5 lbs in a 5gal batch. I didn't take a starting gravity reading. 17.5# is from one of your recipes
We have never put 17.5 lbs in a recipe afaik.
But if you scaled up… that’s 3.5 lbs in a gallon. I think we did that once. I do not recall the recipe though. Can you tell me the starting gravity and other ingredients used?
@@CitySteadingBrews it was your spiced metheglin. Your 1 year review sold me. Turns out I had a leak at my bubbler. I made a flour dough and sealed it. It is bubbling away happily. Now i'm not sure if 71B, EC1118 or D47 is doing the work.
@@CitySteadingBrews it was scaled up for a 5 gal batch.
Wow 1.120 is exactly the OG # ended up at after figuring out had honey stuck on bottom, was shooting for 1.092 in Blue B Mead. That was Friday evening. Fermenter seems to rocking along just fine Sunday afternoon. Should end up at 14% or so having used Fleischman Active Dry & Fermaide O, but keeping a close eye on it. Without these vids would be totally lost - but if it stalls should be able deal w/ it. Thx !!!
I was able to get lucky and force a ferment on a extremely high gravity must and end up with a very sweet high ABV mead after 3 months on the lees. I believe high pre-oxygenation of the must, the perfect temperature and a very good 11grams of yeast gave me a over 20% mead on finish.
It can be done, but it's not really that easy. What kind of readings did you have?
OK. Total newbie here I tried to follow your viking blood mead recipe. 3lbs honey and 3lbs cherries doesn't leave much room for water in a one gallon fermenter. I tried to check the ABV and it floated past the numbers. I am guessing about 1.180. That was three days ago. Today I saw this video and thought I would try to dilute my brew. I checked ABV first, and it is now 1.120. Do you think I still need to dilute it? I used Red Star Rouge if that helps. Thanks for all the info!
This was a 2 gallon bucket. I would try for closer to 1.100 but 1.120 might still work.
To city stead brews Hello new to the whole fermentation game here. I would lime to know were did you get the (looks like) 1.5 g wide mouth carboy fermenting jar at it would match my set nicely. Please and thank you.
This is the vid I needed
Thanks for posting this. Is this why you add mango during secondary instead of primary - for your mango habanero? So you can keep your volume in honey to retain its flavour?
Adding the fruit later seems to give a nice way to balance the flavors better as you have more control.
u should give us a list of wines that are ready for drinking young and what needs the most time to age plz
All brews improve with time.
It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but the higher the ABV, the longer it needs. A hydromel can be nice to drink when it’s ready to bottle or within weeks of that. Higher ABV brews need 6 months to a year to really come into their own. Depending on the fruit, this can be longer or shorter.
It also depends on how ‘clean’ your fermentation is. If you thoroughly aerate your must before pitching the yeast and give it some Fermaid O, and follow up with regular swirling the first week or two of fermentation, chances are your yeast won’t get stressed and the brew will be nice to drink sooner.
Personally (I’m difficult) I let my brews sit for at least 6 months before I start drinking them, with a few exceptions that get tasted at 3 months. Some get to ‘sleep’ for a year before I will even consider drinking them.
My personal experience:
Hydromels: nicest around 3-6 months of age
Berry melomels: pretty good after 6 months, preferably a year
Banana mead: 1 year or more
Pineapple mead: 1 year or more
Brian’s spiced metheglin: great at 3 months, heaven in a glass at 1 year (seriously!)
Dandelion mead: 6 months = nice, 1 year or more = wonderful
Floral meads like elderflower or rose petal: 6 months to a year
For anything above 14-15% I allow one month of ageing per percentage of alcohol or more.
Those are my personal preferences, your mileage may vary. I know I CAN drink my meads sooner but knowing how good they are with more time on them makes me wait longer.
@@CitySteadingBrews sweet reds u said drink it after like 30 days and skeeter pee only needs 2-3 months.... was just wondering if anything else could Be drunk early
thanks :) note to self take sg reading before blindly adding 3lb of sugar. Thanks for the helpfull advice.
Oh... definitely...
When there is too much sugar, it won’t freeze either. And bacteria won’t be able to eat it also. That’s why juice concentrates are so stable.
OK ok. New here. First batch i didn't know... ANYTHING. But i found you thank the Gods. Dumped the first batch out. Smelled like death. Second batch hehehehe, I made a homemade airlock with pill bottle straws and hot glue gun. Ordered real ones get them soon. 10 days, there was nothing going on. Couple bubbles. So after watching your Videos and Thinking of physics. I took a reusable straw we had, there thicker plastic. 2 Pellets from bb gun and heat up the end of straw, crimp. put pellets in, all the way down. Take a bottle of water, put in the straw and it floated perfect half. Made a mark at water line........ Used it as gravity readiing on the second batch. Uh was Done, floated above water line i was SHOCKED.... So i Racked it and got it off the lees and then Did your Degassing thing, it stank...... Bad. For a few min.... Then i cold crashed it next to open window. Freezing outside. Last night i tried it. WOW i didn't like it at first. NEver been much of a White light wine or any wine really. After a couple sips it was Amazing. i could taste the apple,.... Wife said it smelled like straight Booze. After the third class i went to bed LOL and it was just a little sherry wine glass. hahahahahha.... Much Love you 2.. James
Dude literally stopped me mid poor of honey into a stalled batch lol gonna try adding more water in hopes the yeast kick back up . I did another starter yeast in this batch which did nothing so hopefully the extra water will help
What if I want it to be sweat and not dry? Is adding more honey, like in secondary gonna achieve that?
We have many videos explaining this. Short answer, adding honey will sweeten it but it can also referment... depending. So there are ways to stop that too.
Ok, I get the split and dilute part. How much water should I add, or do I just keep adding small amounts of water and take readings until I get it into the usable range?
Pretty much dilute til it's in a safe range, yes.
Long question with lots of info ahead:
Is there a formula to determine how much s.g. would be lowered by the addition of X amount of water to a must? I'm worried I may be facing a stall based on the OG for my must (1.144).
For example, 3.01 lbs of honey, s.g. of cherry juice was 1.084 (I used 1 gallon) in a little big mouth bubbler. The SG was 1.152 and went to 1.144 after the addition of 1 cup of water. Since I pitched the yeast yesterday, is there a formula to use to calculate the corrected OG based on the addition of 1 cup, 1 pint, or 1 quart of water depending on how much will fit? (Also, I used a whole packet because I knew the sugar content was high). I know 3lbs of honey is 1 quart and based on my math, I have have about 1.3125 gallons based on the 1 gallon plus 1 quart plus 1 cup in a 1.4 gallon fermenter and don't have another fermenter as an option at present. If I were to add a pint, it would bring me to 1.375 gallons (I know that is at capacity), but would it be correct in the formula of 1.3125*.144 = .189 and then divide that by 1.375 to get the estimated OG? If so, would 1.137 be the appropriate answer or did I do something wrong in my math?
Easiest is how we do fortification: (parts of liquid 1 x gravity of liquid 1)+(parts of liquid 2 x gravity of liquid 2) / total parts. This gives you the new gravity.
@@CitySteadingBrews Thank you
I want to know what you are doing to lose weight. Please tell. Also, where did you purchase those cute fermenting jars? Are they gallon size? Thanks.
We started a low fat plant based diet a few years ago when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Lost about 60 pounds or so, but have gained a few back for being lazy and overeating.
The little jars are from Amazon. I think they are half gallon?
Started my fist batch of wine yesterday afternoon. I’m pretty sure I added to much sugar so I’m going to give it at least 72hrs to start fermenting. If I doesn’t work I’m definitely splitting and diluting.
Any readings? How much did you use?
@@CitySteadingBrews
- Raw Honey 4 Pounds
- Blackstrap Molasses 1 Pound
- Brown Sugar 1 Pound
- 100% Natural Sugar Cane Juice 2 Gallons
(For a 2 Gallon Batch)
Original Gravity: 1.160 (Estimate)
Just split and diluted this evening and added some yeast in not buckets. One is bubbling well and the other is very slow, but I think it’s working.
My 1.128 Cyser mash has stalled at 1.018 afyer one month. What should I do??????
Without knowing exactly what your recipe and original gravity was… it may be stalled, or it could be done. Could you give more information please?
@@CitySteadingBrews
3 Gallon batch
5+ - 64 oz. (2 Qt) bottles of Lidel 100% Apple Juice
7.5 lbs. Honey (4.5 lb. Kirkland Raw Honey) & (3 lb. Kirkand Raw Unfiltered Honey)
Juice of 1 Lemon
3 teaspoons of Fermax Yeast Nutrient (label suggest 1-1.5 teaspoons per gal.)
1 package Lalvin EC-1118 yeast
Hydrometer reading = 1.128 (16.5% ABV possible)
Vodka in Airlock
Day 2. Added additional teaspoon of Fermax.
Swirled bottle a little on day 1,2, and 5 to de-gass a little.
On day 13 (04/23/23) bubbling in airlock slowed down from 1 bubble every second to 1 bubble every 2 seconds. On 04/24/23 it was producing 1 bubble every 4 seconds.
On day 21 (05/01/23) bubbling has decreased to one every 28 seconds.
05/17/23 - measures 1.018
I screw up - was supposed to put 6 lbs Honey. But I found out afterwards that those 1 lb. Honey Bear containers were actually 1-1/2. So put 1-1/2 lb too much honey in.
First attempt at making mead, and I just came across this video a week into fermentation. My Original gravity reading was 1.30, which now I'm seeing is way too high (only 3 lbs of honey was used). After a week of fermentation, is it too late to split the batch? Do I need to add more yeast to each fermenter? Or just dump half into another fermenter and add water to fill? Thanks for the help everyone!
You sure it was 1.300 and not 1.130? Most hydrometers only read to 1.160 and three pounds if honey could not give that reading in a gallon :)
@@CitySteadingBrews Ah crap, I'm honestly not sure at this point, and looking at my hydrometer I don't see why I recorded it as 1.30 as I'm pretty sure it was in the yellow range. I would assume since fermentation has started, it's too late to take an accurate reading?
I REALLY appreciate you coming back to a 10 month old video and responding to questions, really shows how much you care about your community! Cheers!
Really enjoy y’all’s videos!
Here maybe a video idea. I think it would be really cool to see if y’all could do a very budget brew. Like go to a dollar store and set a budget of like $5 and challenge yourselves to make a brew with only ingredients and equipment that you find at the dollar store.
We actually wanted to do this but the ingredients were such low quality we just couldn’t bring ourselves to do it!
Well yeast don't want to live in its food 🙂
Just think about when you put sugar directly into fruit, all that juice that is pulled out. Imagine your yeast having their internal juices pulled out.
On the the hydrometer there is 1000 above it is 90 thats were my brew ended
1.090? That’s very very high for an ending gravity. It’s stalled. What did it start at?
@@CitySteadingBrews it started at 1.130 ended at .990
Hmm.. considering that you measure gravity in a 100ml glass.. shouldn't gravity be according to 100ml not to gallon or liters?
It's not based on volume. It's density overall so not tied to a specific volume.
I used your beginner mead recipe but OG was at 1.118. Likely because I didn't have enough water but let it ride. Still waiting to see how it goes. Only one week in at this point. Hopefully it will not stall and will ferment out.
Should be fine.
I had few those I had split the batch
I need help please in Australia where in the town I live we have a local home brew & they only sell 1gal British glass fermenters and they fit 5 litres of must with ease .
I was told by them , to make a mead to ad 3kg of honey and 1kg of dextrose to achieve an 18% abv and it would go super dry so I did all that then I added about a US gal of water to it then I gave it the be-geesus for 3 minutes then I did a hydrometer reading but it went off the scale my hydrometer stops off at 1.150 & it was beyond that. So I split the must in between 2 fermenters at 2.5 litres each now I added 2.5 litres of Reverse Osmosis water to make 5 litres in each fermenter but I made rookie mistake next .... I never took a reading this all took place 6 weeks ago, one fermenter ran it course it went textbook perfect the other stalled again and in the end I sent it down the drain. 😡 lots of fun.
The yeast = mangrove jacks M05
1x5gram pack of yeast hulls
All the water used in this adventure was Reverse Osmosis
Starsan was used.
Edit: Help please how much honey should I need for 5litres of must . I really think it was the dextrose that stuffed this up
Why did you dump it???
That’s more honey than yeast can reliably work though let alone with another kg of dextrose? That was horrible advice. I don’t say that lightly but really that’s some of the worst advice I have heard. There’s enough sugars there to make your original gravity 1.300 or thereabouts! That’s insane. That’s a potential alcohol of 41% abv. No yeast can work that. Honestly it’s more than double what we recommend. You could make 15 liters of mead with that! My other question is if it’s mead… why add dextrose? Not needed. Not at all.
Keep in mind, I don't blame you on this! I blame the shop. As a new brewer, they should have done better by you.
Hey mate, Kiwi here. A British 1-gal fermenter is only 4.5L, so it may actually be a 5L fermenter you have. Fill it with water and measure exactly how much it holds. Once you know that, divide the mls by 3785 and that will give you something like 1.4. Then, use one of City Steadings recipes and multiply all the ingredients by that 1.4.
So, if their recipe says to use 2 pounds of honey, convert that to metric (908g) then multiply by that number you have, say 1.4 (908x 1.4= 1271g of honey) and that gives you the right measurements so you can follow along at home.
The only thing you don’t multiply by the number is your yeast. Just use whatever amount they use.
@@Kat_Andrews excellent advice as always Kat!
It's strange. The more brews I make, the drier I like them. I started with your grocery store mead and sweetened to 1.160 and it was great. I just sweetened my current traditional to 1.022 and it's just right.
Sweetened to 1.160?
@@CitySteadingBrews Well I thought it was delicious...now it's like syrup. That's at the very end of what my hydrometer can read.
1.160 is high for a starting specific gravity, it's like adding nearly 5 pounds of honey to a gallon, yeah, that's syrupy and sweet, lol, since it's almost half a gallon of honey.
@@raist315
@@CitySteadingBrews I'm sorry, I said that all wrong. I start them all at 1.100, then they go dry, 1.000 - 0.994. Then I pasteurize and backsweeten to 1.160. Now I backsweeten to about 1.022.
Can you split the brew if fermentation is already started?
Absolutely.
@ I pretty sure that saved my brew thank you and now I have an extra gallon lol
Started a Cyser last night where the reading came out somewhere around 1.140. I wanted to split it and add water but have to wait until I get another gallon jug. Is there a time frame after starting a fermentation when it's too late to add water?
Before it stalls… closest to beginning is best.
@@CitySteadingBrews thank you!
Had a mead starting out at 1.13 OG. It had fermented down to 0.99. At that time, it was time for me to add yeast nutrient to the mix and OG jumped up. I am sitting at around 1.15 right now. It is a 5 gallon batch. If I drain some of the mix out and add in water, could I restart fermentation or would that be a big no-no as it may cause it to turn into vinegar? I had two pints of honey and 5 pounds of peaches. Too much honey?
Wait… 1.130 fermented to 0.990. You added nutrients? SG went up? To 1.150?? That doesn’t make sense. If it was done fermenting and went dry at 0.990, why add nutrients to it and… nutrients wouldn’t change the gravity. Sorry, I want to help but could you go over your method and readings again please?
@@CitySteadingBrews I am not certain that it was done fermenting. It had only been fermenting for about 5 days at the time I added the nutrients. That seems like a very quick fermentation. When I first made the batch, my OG was 1.13 on both a tilt and glass hydrometer. I added my yeast. At day 3, took the air lock off, added more oxygen to the mix. At day 5, gave the nutrients and had to leave for the weekend. When I came back, I was getting 1.17-1.15 readings off my tilt hydrometer. I'll take a reading on a glass hydrometer this weekend but, as of last night, I was still sitting at 1.15 after slushing the mixture to keep the bag of peaches wet. It's not making any sense to me either, its the same steps I have done for every other batch that I have done before and I have been successful with those. My yeast is about a year old, temp has been between 70-80 in the house due to no AC. My lees is pretty minimal in the bottom of the carboy and the mead mixture has not cleared at all, compared to when I made a 1 gallon batch of this recipe.
@@eddiefleetwood2945 Your readings are going up.... that doesn't make any sense at all. 0.990 is dry, and should be done. You're showing higher than your OG readings mid-fermentation....
@@CitySteadingBrews I don't disagree. Further, I am not seeing any signs of fermentation goin on. Should I split it? Taste it to see what's going on? Do a glass hydrometer reading and compare it to the tilt readings? Really hate to throw out 5 gallons of mead.
@@eddiefleetwood2945 I really don't understand what is even happening to be honest. I don't know how you are getting readings of 1.150 after your OG was 1.130 after getting 0.990.... I can't tell you to split it or anything since none of the data is lining up. I wouldn't dump it, I would just leave it and check again in a week or two.
I had to dump out a stalled blueberry wine a little while back.. because my wife was making sugar syrup to feed our bees at the same time I was making wine and putting it in empty bottles of the same kind of water bottles I was using.. it stalled.. thought about maybe using it to try to backsweeten.. but decided to just dump it
You shouldn't dump a stall... you can always dilute and referment it. It's a waste to throw it out as nothing is spoiled or ruined.
@@CitySteadingBrews good advice but I needed the jug
Hi, i have same problem. I put more honey in my mead. can i refrement it and add more yeast?
Just call it a risling clone.
What I can't figure out when it comes to your staring gravity is how can you use that to determine your likely abv and how much more honey you need to make a brew sweet or semi-sweet
ruclips.net/video/nZdjG2rslVw/видео.html
Hoping you guys can help so I don't lose my batch. I found this video kind of late and I'm already 2 weeks into a brew with OG of 1.200. Now it's reading at 1.102 and I'm pretty sure it's stalled. Is there something I can do to save the brew? Additional notes: I used EC-1118 yeast and didn't added 5lbs of honey and crushed juniper berries. I'm following the Skyrim cookbook recipe for mead but at 1 gallon instead of 1/2.
Split it into two one gallon fermenters and fill each back to a gallon with water.
@CitySteadingBrews thank you for the advice. My airlock are vigorously bubbling now. I'll be more careful with the sugar
Hi again 😁.
Revisited this video because I'm now playing with non fermentable sugars before fermentation, as a precursor for sweetness.
I'm dealing with starfruit. It's not that sweet so, I figured if I get my specific gravity up around 1.150 to 1.175 using two lbs of sugar and non fermentables, I should end with around 1.015 or 1.020 at end of fermentation?
Anyone try this yet? If so, advice is very appreciated 👍❤️
I would add it at the end. It’s better to know what is happening with the fermentables THEN add non fermentable sugars to taste.
And… those are high gravities to start even expecting some residual.
My wine after fermentation shows it's reading 0.990 is it normal or what should I add water or alcohol
It means it went dry. Adding water will only dilute it and I don’t see why to add alcohol….
Thank you so much
Is there any danger of drinking a stalled brew? Like my meed started at 1.130 and ended in 1.036 and was 12.5% very sweet befor i put it in another fermentor, im letting it sit after 2 mounths for sediments, is it danderous to drink?
Nope. It's not dangerous. Especially after clearing out.
@@CitySteadingBrews if there is dead yeast on the top outer rim, is it dangerouse to drink, should it be treated? If so how? I cant find anything online. Or should i just siphon it and try not to suck it up?
Yeast is not dangerous to consume.
@@CitySteadingBrews thank you guys very much, im feeling very apprehensive in this last step
I figure I'll be alright if I just stick to your recipes lol.
Is powdered sugar okay for firmenting ?
Only if it's just sugar. Many have corn starch to prevent caking.
@@CitySteadingBrews so if it's got corn starch it will not work
@@bboynewsboy991 I wouldn't want to put corn starch in a brew is all.
@@CitySteadingBrews New to brewing, if I might inquire, as I seem to be getting conflicting answers, do you want your brew to breath during the firmenting process or to be sealed tight?
It’s fine to be open but… you do want oxygen at the start and do NOT want oxygen added once there is alcohol. Thus we aerate at creation and use airlocks.
It finally happened, I dropped my hydrometer while cleaning.
Rip
I once measured my gravity when the mixture was still too warm (around 50°C). I waited until the mixture had cooled down before pitching the yeast (Lalvin EC-1118). Fermentation never started and I couldn't figure out why. I never though to account for the temperature. I pitched another packet of yeast thinking that the previous one was bad. It didn't solve anything. It took me a while to figure out what was wrong and since I was aiming for a sweet brew with EC-1118 I had targeted a pretty high initial gravity. When I finally took another reading, it was off the charts!
I diluted the batch down and it started fermenting VIGOROUSLY! I didn't think to double the amount of nutrients since I had doubled the initial amount of yeast. That batch had terrible off flavours even after a year. I ended up trowing it away after having tried a few adjustments to try to make it enjoyable.
Lets go!
It's OK not to have enough water around you, as long as you have enough mead!
What if i want residual sugar?
The best is to ferment dry, then sweeten and pasteurize. Trying to overpower the yeast is also possible but comes with stress risk to the yeast.
See I had someone tell me I could sweeten my mead on the front end so I thought there was no issue with putting in too much!
Sorry to hear that. Yes, you can overwhelm the yeast. Better to start a bit lower and either step feed or backsweeten.
@City Steading Brews I haven't even finished my first brew yet so this is perfect that I've seen this! I just reracked it today
I once did a home brew... I was under-age. I tried to make a gallon of wine. I did not measure anything! I used a plastic container, sugar, water, a balloon, and Welch's grape concentrate... When the balloon expanded, and deflated... I thought I was in for a treat. I poured a glass of wine, and I was excited to finally try alcohol for the first time in my life. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life... My tongue went numb. This wine had to be 80 proof! It can occur like he said, rare, and he forgot to mention disgusting. Don't be like me, this one experience made me never want to touch alcohol again! HA!
Nope. Was more like 10-15% at most, lol. Yeast can only make alcohol if there is sugar to do it and there are limits. It’s highly unlikely to make higher without really knowing what you’re doing.
@@CitySteadingBrews Likely, but all i can say is it felt more like a whiskey! Good video btw!
my first ever batch was an accidental 28% :')
Ehh…. That is highly out of the norm. Yeast just don’t go that high.
If you put too much sugar in and the yeast ferments too quick you will end up with a concussion brew! You’ll know what I mean if this has happened to you!
Today I "back bittered".
Ended up with a super sweet lychee that was too strong. Added a pot of Earl Grey Tea in the space I lost to lees sediment.
Wow that ended up perfect. ❤
Ugh my reading was 1140… 😅😅 I’m 11 days in
I would dilute that.
@@CitySteadingBrews I have separated it in two two batches. It is still bubbling strong I am happy to report. My question is : Since I took my gravity reading before I split. Is it possible to get an accurate reading at this point in time? Thanks I love you guys !!
Brews. I thought you said, "bruise." As in bruised fruit vs crushed. Brain fart..
Lol
oh man I'm a dumbass, guess why I'm here...
My first mead, didn't know too much sugar can make yeast struggle or go dormant and in turn, used 3 kg's of honey in 5 litres instead of 1.6 kg's (max) in 5 litres...
To make it worse, I was like "oh cool, cyser is a thing" so I mixed it with apple juice instead of water lmao
After cutting it down by half then diluting it with water, we have activity, now we wait
Thanks for the videos!
First 🥇
@@TigerPat_9180 Meh, it's alright... I get it every now and then. No worries if I don't. 😉🥃
@@TigerPat_9180 Wow, thanks... I'm flattered. Wish I had his money 😉
Well damn, I think my wine stalled and if course I don't have anything to measure it. So I started with my 2qt grape juice, poured about 1 and half cups out, put in 2 cups of sugar on May 6 with bakers yeast. It was cooking along great but now it's been a lil over a week, about 8 days and there's just few bubbles. How can I know if I've stopped without measuring it? 🤔
A hydrometer will tell you for sure. You could taste it. Without measurements it’s hard to know done from stalled unless you know for a fact it should be dry and it’s dry. I highly suggest investing in a hydrometer. Conversely, you could leave it a few months and at that point it should be done. 8 days, there is a possibility it’s done.
@@CitySteadingBrews man this stuff is so interesting. I really appreciate you 🤙
I have 3 batches that all stalled at the same gravity.
Used traditional ingredients, black tea, orange peel, raisins. Did not do any step feeding, and did not add any nutrients until they stalled.
Two started with a higher OG of 1.152, the other started with 1.142.
Pitched with V1116, and EC1118.
Temp for all 3: Roughly 75 degrees
All 3 stalled at 62 SG.
Tried adding Ferm-o to one,
Tried adding rehydrated yeast and Go-Ferm to another,
Tried adding Ferm-k to the third.
They started bubbling for 1 day, then stopped. No change in gravity.
Tried adding yeast 1118 to all 3, no change.
They've been stalled for about 2 months at this point.
I would like these to finish out closer to 30 SG or lower.
Should I just split and water them down? How much should they be diluted? Just add water until I'm at the desired 30SG, then see if the yeast start working again?
One thing I did notice - The bottles are on a heating pad, thermometer is halfway up the bottle. The temp reading as mentioned is around 75 degrees. But when I put my hands near the neck, the bottle is cold, and if I keep my hands there, it starts bubbling again?
Thanks!
You may need fresh yeast too as they may have died off. On the plus, it's already 12ish %.
Yeah, I tried to do this. Starting gravity was waaaay off the charts, approx 1.180. 5lbs honey, to 10g D47 yeast. I let it ferment till it hit 1.060. Let it sit another week to make sure it didn't move. Thinking I maybe shouldn't drink it lolol
It’s safe just very sweet.
@CitySteadingBrews wow thanks for the respone!! I'll give it a try right now.