Home made Yeast Nutrient

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Deadrasputin

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One of my Mead recipes is for simple table mead. This is just basic traditional dry mead. This recipe is for everyday consumption rather than sharing with friends or family. As such I try to make it from only the products that can be found in a supermarket.

Poor man’s table Mead
10 to 12 lbs. of Clove Honey or Wildflower Honey (Or any Honey labeled Honey!)
4 gallons of spring water
2 packs of Fleischmann’s dry yeast.

The problem here of course is the fermentation process can be slow. I believe the Fleischmann’s dry yeast makes this Mead about 12% ABV if it can complete its job. What is missing in this recipe is a Yeast Nutrient.

While it is easy and cheap to purchase Yeast Nutrients online or from a Home Brewing shop, is it possible to make one from grocery store items? I understand that Yeast Nutrients are not necessary for making Mead, but it does speed things up. Is there a basic homemade Yeast Nutrient that will not leave an odd taste in the mead?

I have heard that Yeast Nutrients could be made from the Yeast Cake left over from the previous batch, however using these yeast (ghosts) sounds a little difficult.

Could a decent yeast nutrient be made using Orange Peels, or the skins of other fruits? I read someplace that using Raisins works as a Nutrient. Could I just add 25 raisins per gallon of must?

Perhaps another option would be to dry fruit skins out then grind them into a powder.

Has anyone had any success with homemade yeast nutrients?

I know this is a ridiculous post. After all Yeast Nutrient only costs about $ 5 dollars a jar and I can make nearly a dozen 5 gallon batches of Mead with that Jar, however that defeats the purpose of making a Grocery Store product only Mead.
 
I might have found the answer to my own question.

Grape nuts can be used as a yeast nutrient. Apparently you can boil a cup of Grape nuts in a cup of water, strain out the solids and use the remaining liquid as a yeast nutrient.

Anybody try this?
 
Grape nuts? That would be fantastic, I hope someone has tried it with success
 
This would be really interesting to find out. I wonder if it would add a nice, hidden flavor as well. Really can't wait for your experiment to play out. How long do you plan on the fermentation being? Good luck :)
 
I have just been boiling bread yeast and adding a handful of raisins. Seems to work thus far.

I just received some old family recipes and they all call for the addition of a peice of toast. Haven't tried it yet...
 
I bet the toast works just the same as the Grape nuts. They both have very similar ingredients with them.

I wonder then if toasted Raisin bread would not be the holy grail of yeast nutrient........

They probably use toast rather than fresh bread for clarity. The toast if hard enough might sink to the bottom of the fermenter while fresh bread would dissolve into a cloud and be suspended in the must. Just my thoughts.
 
Deadrasputin said:
I bet the toast works just the same as the Grape nuts. They both have very similar ingredients with them.

I wonder then if toasted Raisin bread would not be the holy grail of yeast nutrient........

They probably use toast rather than fresh bread for clarity. The toast if hard enough might sink to the bottom of the fermenter while fresh bread would dissolve into a cloud and be suspended in the must. Just my thoughts.

I've always cringed at the thought of adding bread or toast to a must, but when you think about it, it's kind of the same as adding grains. In a way, at least.
 
In much earlier batches of mead back in the day I used 1 100mg B6 tablet and black or herbal tea as my nutrient base. It seemed to work well; however, DAP and Yeast energizer works so much better I have never went back to relying on the B6.
 
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