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The mead is made with steeped hibiscus leaves and hops which was added to honey and a crushed nutmeg when it cooled down some. When it was the right temperature, I added the yeast and aerated it. I added half a bag red star active dry yeast. Overnight it exploded, so I added spring water to bring it back up a bit, and put back on the airlock. Within 5 minutes, the airlock was full of foam. I took it off and cleaned it 2 more times!

Tldr; Why is my viking blod mead producing so much foam? enter image description here enter image description here

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    Cody, One thing you may want to pay attention to in the future is fermentation temperature. This is especially important in the first two or three days. High temperatures will allow the yeast to be more active. It will also increase ester production, which may be a good thing in a mead, as long as your airlock can handle the activity. Also, temperature has a fairly profound effect on surface tension.
    – mreff555
    Jan 26, 2019 at 1:06

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It looks like you have a very active fermentation (this is good news), and I'll take a guess that something in your ingredients (perhaps the oils in the nutmeg?) has increased the surface tension of the liquid - hence all the little CO2 bubbles stick around longer without popping.

The foam will settle down in the next few days - I'd say wait it out, let it ferment, and see if it tastes good in the end! In the meantime, maybe try rigging a blowoff tube instead of your 3-piece airlock so you don't have to clean it out so often.

And for the next batch, I'd recommend leaving a little more headspace to make room for the foam. When I ferment cider in a 1-gallon jug, I generally don't fill it past where the sidewall starts to curve.

Hope it turns out great - the color is amazing!

Btw, I did run across a paper that measured the surface tension of different food and medicinal oils. Didn't see anything useful at a glance, but at one point it mentioned "poopy seed oil". That's gotta be one of the better typos I've seen.

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  • Wow! I didn't know the nutmeg could possibly change the surface tension! The foam has subsided, and thank you for provided ways to reduce the risk of this foam-splosion in the future! (This liquid will stain things red!) Thank you for finding that typo! That made my day haha
    – Cody Ferguson
    Jan 24, 2019 at 22:40
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    @CodyFerguson Just a guess about the surface tension, it could be other things. I should probably note that I've never made mead! Another thought: if you end up carbonating this batch, it might be interesting to see what kind of head retention it has.
    – tempest_col
    Jan 24, 2019 at 23:55

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