Mead Krausen?

[MmmBeer]

Uh so this might belong somewhere else and if so I apologize. But i have one quick question; does mead krausen? I just brewed one from some local honey and it does not appear to be forming a krausen. This is my first batch so I am a little newbish on the issue but I know some of you guys are old pros.

[Cosmic Charlie]

Sorta. I don't know if its still called krausen, but I give my mead plenty of headspace in the fermenter because it can come out of the airlock.

[toneyc]

I've had some that were explosive and some that were very quiet. Are you using a dry mead or sweet mead yeast? That Lavlin-18 is an explosive one.

:)
Toney.

[corkybstewart]

I've made 2 meads. The first had very little krausen, it started slow and never had more than 1/2 inch on top. The second one flowed out of the 6.5 gallon carboy, and I think they both used the same dry mead yeast. It may have been the difference in prickly pear juice quantity. So prepare for a bunch of krausen but don't worry if there's not much.

[MmmBeer]

I used WyEast Sweet Mead smackpack. No noticeable krausen in the first 24 hours. I added yeast nutrients, tannins and acid blend from the premixed austin homebrew pack. Should I get worried if no krausen forms? I aerated the *%$^ out of it after I had cooled it to room temp so I don't think thats the problem....

[Cosmic Charlie]

You should never worry. But to answer your question, I'm going out on a limb by saying no krausen (or very little) forming is the norm.

[MmmBeer]

Ok so the part i didn't tell you before is that I just remembered the mead yeast had been in my fridge for > 1 year. So yesterday I got skeered and tossed the only thing I had in which was some safale american ale yeast. Now it is krausening! I plan on adding some dry wine yeast after the krausen has fallen. Any one aware of any detrimental effects this might have? I think it was better to add the ale yeast and get my own microorganisms an upper hand than wait the days it would have taken to get a wine yeast in the mail.

Anyways; My plans for this one are simple; I got a 1/4 pound of tahitian vanilla beans and I am gonna throw one into the secondary. (not the whole 1/4 lb; 1 vanilla bean)