Several years ago I made an account here, made a couple batches that didn't go over well, and due to financial and time restraints, couldn't really devote myself to finding a solution. Now I am returning to the homebrewing world. I dove back in with ciders, and now want to try my hand at mead once more. My goal is a sweet mead, closer to a dessert wine level of sweetness. My local brew store has White Labs sweet mead yeast that I picked up. I am a bit confused about adding any yeast nutrients for this sort of yeast, so I am unsure if I need to add to it. I don't usually add any to my ciders and they run just fine, would I be able to get a decent result without adding nutrient to the White Labs yeast?
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A new mead attempt
- Thread starter Freki
- Start date
Fruit naturally has nutrients in it for yeast. Honey practically has nothing. You will definitely need nutrients. I would start by reading the newbee guide which is linked at the top of the page. It's claimed that listening to the Gotmead Podcasts will get you up to snuff with all the latest and best techniques (I say claimed because I haven't listened to them myself since I've read tons of info over the years and I prefer reading over listening)
Check out post #2 from this previous thread.
http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php/27576-Newbie-asking-for-tips
http://www.gotmead.com/forum/showthread.php/27576-Newbie-asking-for-tips
Also, don't believe the label if it says it is a sweet mead yeast. Any yeast can produce a sweet mead, and any yeast can produce a bone dry mead. Basically it comes down to the ABV tolerance level of the yeast and the amount of honey (and any other sugar source) you use. Keep in mind that the ABV tolerance level can vary by quite a bit depending on several variables. IMO, the best way to get a desired sweetness is start by determining the ABV you want to achieve, then add just the amount of honey necessary to reach that level and ferment it until it is bone dry. Once the fermentation is completely done, stabilize it. Once stabilized, you can backsweeten to suit your tastes without the yeast kicking off again.
I'll take a look, I poked around a bit more and decided on just going with raisins to see what happens. More or less in the experimental phase. As for listening, I can never seem to focus on a podcast, I need visual (video or text).
I don't know why you come here and ask for help. And then get everyone telling you the same thing. And then you decide to do whatever you want in spite of the advice you have gotten. I guess this will be a lesson paid for the hard way.
Not much to experiment. Don't feed yeast any nutrient and the same happens as with any other organism if you don't feed properly.
If you prefer to read I'd read up on these forums. Check why we do staggered nutrient additions. Why we use Fermaid K and Fermaid O even more. How much to dose and why. Check why we aerate, how much and when. There are plenty of rabbit holes to go into. The newbee guide would have been a good intro to what the topics are. If you have a curious mind and/or want to improve your craft you can read on those topics. The more recent threads are usually better and the most important threads have comments or have been started by Squatchy
If you prefer to read I'd read up on these forums. Check why we do staggered nutrient additions. Why we use Fermaid K and Fermaid O even more. How much to dose and why. Check why we aerate, how much and when. There are plenty of rabbit holes to go into. The newbee guide would have been a good intro to what the topics are. If you have a curious mind and/or want to improve your craft you can read on those topics. The more recent threads are usually better and the most important threads have comments or have been started by Squatchy
The advice I was seeking has been given. Needing a nutrient or not and what to start looking into to do a sweeter mead. I struggle with having audio only for information as that is not retained, hence me stating that a podcast will not work for me. Video and text are what I need for information to be retained. As for nutrient, I will run with raisins as a starting point, then run from there. There is no point (to me) to buy a bunch of mead specific nutrient that may or may not ever get use beyond a single batch when I can use what I already have a bunch of. I also see that it would be more effective to aim for sweetness after rather than during the primary fermentation. Will I try to do some odd things? probably later on.
Good to know! The temp is part of why I am wanting to do the WLP 720, it's range runs within my normal room temperature (although at the higher end) and I have no basement. The bit about too much honey is very good to know though, I was originally thinking do 4 lbs rather than 3 lbs of honey to get a sweeter mead in the end, but it seems my thinking was very wrong on that! I've decided to run with standard recipes found on this site, use raisins for now (what I have on hand), and just backsweeten if I need to. Thanks for the info!
I figure I want to start more simple, using what I found here and adapting to what I have access to and to the space I have available. Then go from there. It's been helpful to get some more insight into what to look at (original gravity, etc.) I was unsure if honey even had nutrients beyond fermentable sugars. I'm just used to running ciders, which, as stated above, already have nutrients in the fruit juices.
