Mead lag time

Ingredients
1

All you mead makers… how long is typical for a mead to take to start showing signs of active fermentation after pitching?  I just started my first mead, and it started bubbling nicely in the airlock in about 45 minutes.  Needless to say, this was a LOT shorter than I was expecting.

OG: 1.115
Yeast: Safale US-05 (Brew store was out of Lalvin 71-B)
Temperature: 60-65F
1st batch of a staggered nutrient addition added.

I was a little sad to find that I couldn’t get 71-B for my first mead… I’ve had some good meads from US-05, so hopefully this will come out all right.  I have a little Thames Valley-II hanging around in the fridge, and I almost pitched that instead.  It has a nice stone-fruit character, but I didn’t think it would attenuate enough.

Thanks.

–Evan

2

I’ve never had anything start in 45 minutes.  How much yeast did you add, and did you rehydrate?

3

Just 2 sachets of the US-05.  I didn’t even rehydrate.  It’s very confusing.

4

That’s quite a bit of yeast - I usually use 3 packs of 71B, which is 15 grams.  Two US-05 is 22 grams.  But then I also rehydrate in warm water with goferm.  Is it possible it is warming up?  That will cause bubbles.  What is your fermentation temp?

5

This is what I’d suspect. Maybe you could get a bubble or two after 45, but bubbling nicely? Must be something else.

6

Probably.  “Nicely” is a vague word though. :slight_smile: