Beer Nutrient for Mead?

Hi mead guys! I'm a beer guy but I'm thinking about branching out in this direction. I've read the FAQs and BOMM thread (though to be honest my eyes glazed over a little) and I'm wondering about the needed yeast nutrient. What I have on hand is Wyeast beer nutrient. Will that be sufficient for the needs of mead, or do I need to get Fermaid-K or something else instead?

It should be fine. If you're gonna follow the usual methods and techniques, then if you don't have yeast hulls and DAP, get some of those because they'll help cover any short comings that might be apparent from the difference between the beer nutrients and something like Fermaidk.....

Fermaidk and DAP are the suggested because they are "known quantities" when it comes to calculation etc (my blog, linked in my Sig line has a link to Ken Schramms article on mead nutritional requirements).......

Thanks! I went ahead and grabbed some DAP.

Now that I get closer to starting a mead, I'm also wondering about minerals -- for beer we obsess about getting sufficient amounts of calcium etc in our brewing water, but mead guides never mention mineral additions. Does honey have enough of that stuff already?

Honey is famously deficient in most stuff. Calcium is generally not needed though. A complete nutrient like Fermaidk has all the necessary requirements. That or similar is often boosted with the extra nitrogen from the DAP.

Plus it's often recommended that soft water is used, not hard water with high(er) calcium hardness.....

There's more leeway with meads, which are mostly more wine-like. So if you're gonna use the beer nutrient to start with, then a little DAP and yeast hulls should cover most everything.....

What style of mead are you going to make? A beermakers style or a higher alcohol winemaking style? If you are using the nutrients that are designed for your beer yeast and making it a lower alcohol style I would think you should be ok and go ahead and use your beer nutrients and minerals. On the other hand if you are aiming for a higher alcohol mead with a higher starting gravity you would be better off getting a bit of winemaking nutrients and wine yeast. Lots of beer brewers make mead in a beer brewing style even carbing it in the bottle. Just dont cook your good honey and blow off all the aromatics before you even started fermenting it. WVMJ