Honey Mead-how long until fermentation?

[ambere]

I started my first batch of honey mead about a week ago. The only ingredients I used was honey, water, a few blueberries, and a few sprigs of fresh mint in there as well. It is starting to smell like it's fermenting but has not really started bubbling yet. How long does it usually take for wild yeast honey to start and finish fermentation and how will I know when it's time to put it in the glass jug with the air lock to finish fermenting?

[Tim Hall]

Hmmm…if it hasn’t started obviously bubbling by now, you may need to perform some manipulations to get it going. In my experience wild yeast takes about 3-5 days to really take off, at which point you put it under an airlock. If you don’t get some yeast action going in there, you’ll likely end up with lacto-fermented honey water (which is quite tasty, but it’s not mead). Did you regularly stir it in an open container for the first few days? Is the space you’re fermenting in notably cool (below say 65F)?

[ambere]

We've stirred it everyday a few times, except for one day when we were out of town. It is definitely warmer than 65F, probaby about 75F. It has bubbled a little, but how much bubbling does it take to consider it ready? Any suggestions on getting it going or should I call it done on this batch?

[Tim Hall]

Well it sounds like it's going, but very slowly. Sometimes this is just the case with mead. There could be several things that are impeding vigorous yeast activity, and it could also simply be the nature of the yeasts you have floating around right now. If you can be patient, you could go ahead and put it under an airlock and just wait it out. But if it turns into mead, it probably won't hit it's prime for at least a year. If you would rather try to get it moving maybe see some of my suggestions here:

http://wildfermentation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3#p48

The first thing that comes to mind is you might have used a little too much honey, and diluting it with some fresh, chlorine-free water would speed things up.