Braggot (Mead + Beer)

[Trogger]

OK. For all you mead makers out there, I have a question. I brewed up a braggot (half mead, half beer for those who don’t know) and used Wyeast 3632—dry mead. This should ferment all the sugars nearly completely, based on my research. After a month in the primary and about 3 months in the secondary, I’ve seen no activity for about a month or maybe two. I went to bottle it today and took a gravity reading. (OG 1.111) and the gravity is currently at 1.038. It tastes sweet. That shouldn’t be, if I’m thinking right. I was thinking it should be in the 20’s or even high teens for gravity in the end. I’m going to buy another packet of yeast tomorrow and rack to another carboy. Pitch in more yeast and more yeast nutrient.
Anyone have any thoughts? Is my thinking off?

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

[BitterRat]

Originally posted by Trogger
OK. For all you mead makers out there, I have a question. I brewed up a braggot (half mead, half beer for those who don’t know) and used Wyeast 3632—dry mead. This should ferment all the sugars nearly completely, based on my research. After a month in the primary and about 3 months in the secondary, I’ve seen no activity for about a month or maybe two. I went to bottle it today and took a gravity reading. (OG 1.111) and the gravity is currently at 1.038. It tastes sweet. That shouldn’t be, if I’m thinking right. I was thinking it should be in the 20’s or even high teens for gravity in the end. I’m going to buy another packet of yeast tomorrow and rack to another carboy. Pitch in more yeast and more yeast nutrient.
Anyone have any thoughts? Is my thinking off?

Oh, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I would think that strain would ferment lower but it did ferment to 70% attenuation, which is pretty good. How big was your starter? did you aerate,alot? What was the temp during fermentation? Did you try rousing it? did you raise the temp a bit to try to get it going again? Nutrients?

[Trogger]

I didn't make a starter, the package says good to make up to 10 gallons of mead, and I only made 5. There was plenty of aeration in the primary; it fermented well, blowing off in a blow off tube. I roused it a couple of times in the secondary until about month ago thinking it must be close to done with so little activity. Yes, I did use nutrient. Wyeast nutrient. 1 teaspoon in the primary, half a teaspoon in the secondary. Also, since the beer portion of the braggot is enough to make a 5-6% pale ale, there are nutrients from the beer wort as well.
My impression was that the strain I used should have a really high attenuation due to it being for dry mead. The Wyeast for sweet mead states that it leaves 2-3% residual sugars, so shouldn't this leave almost no fermentable sugars?

[toneyc]

That Dry Mead yeast takes a looong time to finish out. For my broggots, I have used Nottingham Ale yeast. But mine weren't quite as big as yours.

:)
Toney.

[BitterRat]

Originally posted by Trogger
I didn't make a starter, the package says good to make up to 10 gallons of mead, and I only made 5. There was plenty of aeration in the primary; it fermented well, blowing off in a blow off tube. I roused it a couple of times in the secondary until about month ago thinking it must be close to done with so little activity. Yes, I did use nutrient. Wyeast nutrient. 1 teaspoon in the primary, half a teaspoon in the secondary. Also, since the beer portion of the braggot is enough to make a 5-6% pale ale, there are nutrients from the beer wort as well.
My impression was that the strain I used should have a really high attenuation due to it being for dry mead. The Wyeast for sweet mead states that it leaves 2-3% residual sugars, so shouldn't this leave almost no fermentable sugars?
Well, you answered the questions I had! :p
Ok, I still can't find info stating how much attenuation to expect from that yeast, but I'd think you could knock off about 10 pts of gravity to amke it drier. I would think that something in the low 20's wuld be dry. There will be some residual sugars left, being that you started so big. If it went down into single digits, IMO, it would be llike jet fuel! I would try warming it and swirling it first. if you don't get satisfactory results then you should look into other alternatives. (I believe in knocking out the simple/ cheap stuff first.) I would try champagne yeast as one of the last resorts, first knock off any other options, which I can't think of to many! Keep in mind, going from 1.111 or whatever, in the 20's will be dry!!

[Trogger]

My home brew store didn't know the attenuation of that yeast either, but they also didn't have any more packs in stock. Appareled Wyeast is all out, so maybe in a couple weeks. It isn't going anywhere, so I'll warm it, swirl it... them most likely rack and re-pitch anyway for good measure. I don’t mind $7 extra on a yeast packet to save this batch.

[jjpm74]

Leave it for a few days then take another gravity reading. Mead ferments painfully slow. I have one right now in tertiary that has been sitting there for almost a year and the gravity's still not settled.

[corkybstewart]

I'm a little late to this thread but here's what I'm thinking about. I brewed a prickly pear mead and I'm about to rack it to secondary. I still have 12 pounds of honey and I wanted to use the yeast cake I already have. Does anybody have any suggestion for a recipe here? BTW I used White Labs Champagne yeast, but I didn't take a OG reading.