# More yeast nutrient?



## reddportleft (Dec 4, 2012)

Is there anyone that has added more yeast nutrient after a slow starting fermentation to a mead must? Slow but still working finally after 28 hours..


----------



## Deezil (Dec 4, 2012)

Nutrient additions depend some on what you're working with, whether it be a mead only using honey, or a melomel with a combination of honey and fruit... In either case though, nutrient additions are usually made in the first-half of fermentation, and done in doses high enough that they maintain a healthy fermentation all the way through without addition nutrients being added after the 50% mark.

To know where your ferment is at, we'd need to know your starting Specific Gravity, and where it's at now. Also the temp of the must, any acid additions, water additions and nutrient additions already made to the must.

28 hours is a pretty short time to gauge a fermentation, really.. The "worry" doesnt even start until about 72hrs in, and thats 72hrs @ 70F + .. If the must was cool for any reason, that will delay the fermentation kick off but isnt necessarily a bad thing - depending on the yeast variety - and wont ruin the batch either, it will just simply take longer.

We'd need more information to provide any more help than that, pretty much..


----------



## Pumpkinman (Dec 5, 2012)

At 28 hrs, I wouldn't worry, it could have been on the lag stage for a number of reasons. Normally we wait for the fermentation to start before adding nutrients, the goal is to keep the yeast healthy and reproducing. It isn't the end of the world if you added the recommended amount of yeast nutrient all at once, but it is always better to split it up into 2 or 3 applications.

Although I do not have experience with meads, I watched a very interesting interview about mead, the owner of the Moonlight meadery in NH was explaining how he has been making mead for years, apparently award winning meads.
He was explaining how and when he adds yeast nutrients, the process is a lot like what we use for wine making.

The first three days after fermentation starts is the most crucial time for yeast nutrients, this is when the yeast is reproducing the fastest, he takes his yeast nutrient, let's say 1 tsp, instead of adding it all at one time, he adds it 1/3 tsp at a time over those three days.
Check out the interview here: Click Here

We obviously can see that this is true by checking our batches with a hydrometer, the first few days, the fermentation is the fastest.

Once we supply the yeast with these nutrients, it has a better chance at reproducing exponentially, resulting in meads and wines fermented to dry.
A lack of nutrients can result in Hydrogen Sulfide, caused by a lack of nitrogen and apantothenic acid, and stuck fermentations.


----------

