Nutrients in Mead

[FermentingYeti]

I'm curious if any experienced mead-makers have any thoughts on the use of nutrients, as in the kind purchased from a homebrew store. In Katz's books, I don't believe he ever mentions using them, but instead feels that mead gets enough nutrients from the fruits and other ingredients added. The blog below on making a lactomel (milk mead) is an example of the standard view most homebrewers have on the subject:

http://cheesemakinghelp.blogspot.com/20 ... berto.html

[Tim Hall]

Mead definitely benefits from some additional nutrients...at least in terms of fermentation kinetics. Sandor, as you mentioned, advocates adding fruit, herbs, etc., and this seems to work. I generally don't add special nutrients to mead when making a fruit or herbal mead. Honey-only meads ferment better with additions.

'Fermaid K' is probably the most common nutrient additive, which is largely (if not wholly) synthetic. But Lallemand now makes 'Fermaid O' which is organically derived...mostly from yeast parts. Haven't tried it yet, but I have some on hand, and will put it in my next batch.

[FermentingYeti]

Thanks Tim. I agree that additional nutrients benefit mead, but I find it's one of those things, like yeast, that most homebrewers say is imperative to buy pre-packaged and add to must/mead. I nearly always add some sort of fruit or herbs, but have only made one batch in which I added wine yeast and nutrients (Wyeast beer nutrient that I happened to have on hand). I'll be comparing that to batches for which I've only added raisins or other fruit to see if there is a discernible difference. I'm fine with adding it, but my purpose in reading Katz's books is to attempt to emulate how people made mead and beer before the homebrew-supply industry started up. I do want my experiments to turn out drinkable, though. :)

[Tim Hall]

Yeah, you're simply not going to get the vigorous, rapid fermentation in a wild mead the way you will with a 'killer' yeast strain and added nutrients...but the end result is what counts anyway.

[FermentingYeti]

Sorry to keep pushing this, but I'd like a bit of clarification, as this is something that I've been wanting to know about for a while. In my standard homebrewing, I definitely get some really vigorous, active fermentations. Fermentation in wild-brewing isn't nearly as active, but as you've mentioned it's the end result that counts. What I'm curious about is whether the adding of pre-packaged nutrients has a pronounced effect on the end results, or if it's more subtle in terms of flavoring. Will simply adding fruit nutrients and fermenting with wild yeast result in a lower alcohol level, or is it the taste of the end product that is affected? I'm sure I'll find out eventually as my various meads continue to age, but I haven't come across many people who do wild fermentation, so when I do I like to glean as much advice as I can from them. Thanks again.

[Tim Hall]

My experience is doing things the 'conventional' way is more or less predictable, given all the parameters you can control...method, strain selection, temperature, nutrition. Wild fermentation - not so much, and often the results are not as 'refined.' But sometimes they're incredible.

Whether this has anything to do with yeast nutrition, or any of the other possible variables (not to mention using motley yeasts) I can't say. I tend to do 'conventional' ferments with a certain measure of accuracy, but I generally don't take such a methodical approach with wild ferments.

I would conjecture that when using a mix of wild yeasts and bacteria, a slower start for the yeasts is going to equate to flavors/aromas from other bugs in the mix. And like pedigreed yeasts, I imagine wild yeasts can suffer from 'off' flavors due to lack of nutrition.

Bottom line: I can't really say.

[FermentingYeti]

Perfect, Tim. I'm in full agreement. There's no way of saying which is "better," but I'll continue fermenting using both conventional and wild methods, and compare the results as they age. Thanks for listening.