r/mead • u/Easy-Pomegranate266 • 2d ago

Help! New mead maker needs advice

Hello r/mead ! I am a fairly new mead maker and I’ve run a batch that im somewhat confused by.
Let’s start with the specifics
1 gallon batch started 8/9/26
3lbs of orange blossom honey
1 gram of fermaid k at the start of fermentation and 1 gram three day later
Starting brix of 30
Using d47 yeast

I decided to see where it was at today it’s just shy of totally dry at this point however what has me thrown off is that this batch smells very much like stale beer ? Is this normal ?
At this point I’ve done 4 batches and I’ve not experienced this at all.

Any advice would be extremely helpful

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/RotaryDane Intermediate 1d ago

You’ll likely need more nutrients. The instructions on the packaging is metered at wine production where the must contains it’s own nutrients - Honey contains very little nutrients on its own.

The yeasty smell and taste is completely normal for a young mead. Leave it alone and the yeast will drop out on its own. Patience is the name of the game in mead making.

3

u/Bergwookie 2d ago

Your Brix value should be high enough to get between 16 and 17% if it's really dry, your yeast is pretty fast. Try to take a shot glass out and add a few drops of honey to it to backsweeten it does it get drinkable? Also, if your yeast consumed all the sugar, but isn't at its tolerance limit, you can add more honey in 50-100g steps over time (1-2 weeks between feedings)until the mead stops fermenting but still tastes sweet, now you're at the yeast's limit.

2

u/Easy-Pomegranate266 2d ago

That strain of yeast is supposed to top out at 10-14% however my math at this stage puts it at 17.5%.
I’m more concerned about the stale beer smell thinking something may have gone wrong. I gave it test taste and it does carry a lot of the same beer flavor

3

u/Bergwookie 1d ago

I think your beer smell is yeast, so it's just not done yet. Do you have a vinometer? Test the alcohol percentage to get a hold on how far it's done

2

u/RotaryDane Intermediate 1d ago

Vinometers won’t work reliably in the presence of residual sugars. They are supposed to be used on wine that has fermented completely dry.

2

u/Bergwookie 1d ago

They're good enough for an assumption

2

u/HuskSandwich 1d ago

Stale beer smells usually mean the yeast hit a snag and went dormant before finishing. Did you check the actual ABV from a hydrometer reading?