Preferred yeast nutrient.

I have made a few batches of just plain mead. I used white wine yeast and fermaid k nutrient. The alcohol content at last test was only 6.5 percent. The mead was very sweet so there was still plenty of sugar to be converted to alcohol. I think the nutrient wasn't sufficient, is there a better variety?

wgpick said:

I have made a few batches of just plain mead. I used white wine yeast and fermaid k nutrient. The alcohol content at last test was only 6.5 percent. The mead was very sweet so there was still plenty of sugar to be converted to alcohol. I think the nutrient wasn't sufficient, is there a better variety?

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Whereas its possible you were just using poor method/technique ?

Did you work out where the gravity was ?

Did you make sure you used enough Fermaidk for the amount of honey used to achieve the appropriate strength of alcohol ?

Did you check the pH of the fermenting must ? As just honey and water can be surprisingly acidic and when its being fermented the pH can often swing lower, low enough to stall the yeast (below 3.0 pH that'd be).

Etc etc.

Have a look at the front page of the Gotmead forums, tbeir "NewBee" guide is linked in the left side yellow box.

It'll give you all the base guidance you need and a lot more besides.....

Fermaidk, is arguably the best nutient (some refer to it as energiser) on the market - even if only because of the consistency of product and the accuracy of the data published about it.......

Welcome to the forums......

I had 5 lbs honey with approx 1.5 ish gallons of water. Heated to about 120 f to mix honey then cooled to 76 f before pitching yeast. Added fermaid k about 12 hours later per recipe i was following. Og was 1.11, final gravity was only 1.06. Have no clue about pH.

What kind of yeast did you use? When did you start it? When did you take the reading of 1.06?

White wine yeast I believe it is lavlin D 47. Initial fermentation was 1 month then racked then sat for another month and that is when I got the 1.06 gravity reading.

Heating honey ? Hang your head in shame.....

How much nutrient did you use because Fermaidk provides 110 ppm per gramme per litre.

OG of 1.110 would need about 200 ppm so say 6 litres total, then whats that ? guesstimate of 1.8 grammes per litre so about 9 grammes total wouldn't be far out......

For pH either a pocket pH meter or wine/kombucha range pH strips (2.6 - 4.8 pH). Test to confirm above 3.0 but 3.5 to 3.8 is better.

You could of course, just get some potassium carbonate and chuck a couple of teaspoons in...... a bit hit and miss but it shouldn't harm it any......

I used 2 grams of fermaid k. With the gallon and a half of water and honey combined the volume is just shy of 2 gallons. One gram of nutrient per gallon was the ratio I was told at my local homebrew store. What are your thoughts on the yeast I used? My next batch has champagne yeast. Hoping that brings up the alcohol content. Thanks for your input.

wgpick said:

I used 2 grams of fermaid k. With the gallon and a half of water and honey combined the volume is just shy of 2 gallons. One gram of nutrient per gallon was the ratio I was told at my local homebrew store. What are your thoughts on the yeast I used? My next batch has champagne yeast. Hoping that brings up the alcohol content. Thanks for your input.

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Well you most likely need more Fermaidk. .......thats using Ken Schramms numbers (see my blog linked in my sig line, the post just mentions a post from Zymurgy.....) at least a teaspoon per gallon (and thats without weighing a tsp of Fermaidk - working the numbers would likely need more).

D47 is fine, as long as you keep it below 70F/21C during the ferment, as its known to produce fusels if fermented warm.....

Champagne yeast is fine if you want a batch that has champoo like qualities i.e. blandish with not much aroma left.....

If you just want stronger or whatever a better option is K1-V1116. Considerably better for meads IMO, especially traditionals......