# feeding yeast in a mead - a question



## BernardSmith (Nov 12, 2014)

Started a batch of cysers on Monday. Starting gravity is around 1.132 and this is the largest SG of any wine I have ever made. The nutrient I have suggests I feed one teaspoon for every gallon of wine, but I wonder if I should be treating far more seriously the amount of sugar I have in the cyser than the actual volume. Is there any real downside if I provide the yeast with significantly more nutrients than recommended in the label? I am using 71B and about 2lbs of honey /gallon of cider. Last thing I want is to stress out the yeast but pretty close to that undesirable outcome is that I also do not want to open the door to chance bacteria and fungi that may thrive on the nutrients. On the third hand - (as it were) will over feeding the yeast result in excessive reproduction and if so, is there a down side to that?


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## seth8530 (Nov 12, 2014)

This thread is kind of long and meandering, but it might have the answer to some of your questions.

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f86/got-off-phone-fermaid-people-38704/


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## BernardSmith (Nov 12, 2014)

Thanks Seth... I am willing to bet that it might but it is gonna take a shovel and a pick to reach the spot. Trouble is the nutrient I have to hand is LD Carlson's "Nutrient" - a mix of DAP and urea and their "Energizer" a mix of diammonium phosphate (DAP?), magnesium sulfate, yeast hulls and vitamin B complex. How does that compare to the Fermaid products?


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## seth8530 (Nov 12, 2014)

I am sure it is a good nutrient, but the trouble is that you do not know how much it is of each component by weight or mass so it is really hard to quantify how much you should be adding. Which is one of the reasons why I like the fermaid product line. To the best of my knowledge these products dose markings are most likely fine for wine, but I doubt they have mead in mind..

The fact that you are making a cyser will give you a better nutrient base than nothing... But, really it is hard for me to say how much of the product you should use... I would likely say use an arbritaty 1.3 times the dose they say... However, I am basing this soley on the idea that your must has the apple juice back bone providing YAN, so treat it like a wine.. But give it a bit more because of the higher abv...

But, like I said it is hard to say how much is the right amount not knowing the YAN content of the apple juice or the expected contribution from your product. Plus, you want to be careful about adding too much because of the thiamine in the nutrient.


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## BernardSmith (Nov 12, 2014)

Thiamine... What is the impact of this on the fermentation?


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## seth8530 (Nov 12, 2014)

It is a.B vitamin, which is good for yeast.. But their are limits on how much you are supposed to consume.


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## wineforfun (Nov 24, 2014)

Bernard,
What did you end up doing? 
I just started an Acergyln about 10 days ago. Starting SG 1.130. I used EC-1118. Ran into the same thing(1tsp. per gal.). However, after adding all the honey, maple syrup and water, I was closer to 1.5 gal.
I added 1 tsp. at the beginning, 1/2 tsp. more at 1.090, 1/4 tsp. more at 1.060. Last night I was down to 1.027, so figured to be done with the nutrient. Racked to carboy and will let it finish. I am hoping it dies off around 1.010.


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## BernardSmith (Nov 24, 2014)

I decided to treat the cyser as if this was significantly larger than the four single gallon batches I was making and fed the mead as if this were closer to 2 gallon batches. Have not measured the gravity in the last few days but I racked the batches from 3 gallon carboys where I started them into single gallon carboys just before the weekend. Last night I tasted the extra cyser I had left over (after blending all four into a bottle and allowing the lees to settle out in the fridge). And it tasted quite dry but very "hot". I used 71B - as much for the cider as the honey. 
Planning to take a sample from one tonight to measure the actual gravity to see how well this is going but as of this morning the airlock is not very active although clearly there is CO2 pushing up and out.


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## Arne (Nov 26, 2014)

I suspect you will have to let it sit for a long time to get it to mellow out some. The high alcohol meads take quite a long time to get drinkable.


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