Maximize nutrients for fermentation efficiency?

[hethacker]

Hello,

I have been brewing for about 7 years now and have noticed what I think every brewer realizes: yeast work better and faster when they are given the proper amounts of nutrient additions. After some trial and error, and working more on the mead and cider side (where the main sugar ingredients are nutrient poor for yeasts) I think I have found a good way to increase fermentation activity, reduce off flavors, and decrease aging time for higher ABV wines, but it requires a hyper intensive nutrient step addition compared to brewing low ABV beer.
With this nutrient addition timeline, I have been able to make a 13.5% mead from starting gravity to 0.998 in 3 days. In fact, I have found that it is hard to catch it in time because the fermentation activity goes so fast, I generally have to add additional sugars for wines under 7% ABV because they finish fermenting in less than 36 hours.

Materials:
DAP
Fermaid O (if possible, choose over DAP)
Fermaid K
Yeast energizer
Aerating stone with pump (or better is an O2 tank, but I get by with an aquarium pump and 2 micron aeration stone)
Hydrometer/refractometer

I have found that instructions on the actual nutrient bottles tend to undershoot the amount of actual nutrient needed for the batch, if you use online wine nutrient calculators, they are more in line with the actual amount of nutrients needed.

Directions:
Create a starter for the dry or liquid yeast, ideally 4-8 hours before pitching (when fermentation activity should be at its highest).
The amount of nutrients that is required and was calculated (either by you or from one of the programs), should then be divided into 50% and 2 25% portions. The 50% portion of nutrients will be added directly to the end of the batch and then you will use the aquarium pump to pump a ton of air into the batch for 30-45 minutes (if you are using an O2 tank, BE CAREFUL, you can overoxygenate your batch if you aerate for too long!). Within 2 hours you will see fermentation begin.

8-12 hours: check the batch and gravity, if the gravity has dropped down by 25-33% then add the next nutrient addition batch along with another 20-30 minutes of aeration with aquarium pump.

12-40 hours (depends on ABV of batch): check the batch and gravity, it is at 50% attenuation, add the final 25% of nutrients and as long as it has at least 25% sugars left to ferment, Then you can aerate a final time for 5-10 minutes (if it is closer to its final gravity, BE CAREFUL, the O2 might not get scrubbed out by the CO2 created during fermentation and oxidation will occur)

And that’s it! I would recommend keeping the fermentation temperature on the lower side of the yeast’s optimum fermenting temperature. Higher temperatures (still within the optimum fermenting range) would not likely cause off flavors in that sense, because the yeast has the proper nutrients to mitigate that, but you will definitely notice an increase in B vitamins and ‘mouthfeel’ especially with wine yeasts that finish dry (red wine yeasts) and use those B vitamins to give dry wines ‘body’

I have tried this experiment up to 16.5% mead and it took about 8 days to fully ferment out, and although there is not any off flavors from the heat of alcohol, it still will need some years to fully age out to its perfection.

For wines less than 6.5%, you will only need one nutrient addition and between 1-2 aerations.

Let me know what you guys think and if there is anything that you would change!

 

[NeverDie]

Hello,

I have been brewing for about 7 years now and have noticed what I think every brewer realizes: yeast work better and faster when they are given the proper amounts of nutrient additions. After some trial and error, and working more on the mead and cider side (where the main sugar ingredients are nutrient poor for yeasts) I think I have found a good way to increase fermentation activity, reduce off flavors, and decrease aging time for higher ABV wines, but it requires a hyper intensive nutrient step addition compared to brewing low ABV beer.
With this nutrient addition timeline, I have been able to make a 13.5% mead from starting gravity to 0.998 in 3 days. In fact, I have found that it is hard to catch it in time because the fermentation activity goes so fast, I generally have to add additional sugars for wines under 7% ABV because they finish fermenting in less than 36 hours.

Materials:
DAP
Fermaid O (if possible, choose over DAP)
Fermaid K
Yeast energizer
Aerating stone with pump (or better is an O2 tank, but I get by with an aquarium pump and 2 micron aeration stone)
Hydrometer/refractometer

I have found that instructions on the actual nutrient bottles tend to undershoot the amount of actual nutrient needed for the batch, if you use online wine nutrient calculators, they are more in line with the actual amount of nutrients needed.

Directions:
Create a starter for the dry or liquid yeast, ideally 4-8 hours before pitching (when fermentation activity should be at its highest).
The amount of nutrients that is required and was calculated (either by you or from one of the programs), should then be divided into 50% and 2 25% portions. The 50% portion of nutrients will be added directly to the end of the batch and then you will use the aquarium pump to pump a ton of air into the batch for 30-45 minutes (if you are using an O2 tank, BE CAREFUL, you can overoxygenate your batch if you aerate for too long!). Within 2 hours you will see fermentation begin.

8-12 hours: check the batch and gravity, if the gravity has dropped down by 25-33% then add the next nutrient addition batch along with another 20-30 minutes of aeration with aquarium pump.

12-40 hours (depends on ABV of batch): check the batch and gravity, it is at 50% attenuation, add the final 25% of nutrients and as long as it has at least 25% sugars left to ferment, Then you can aerate a final time for 5-10 minutes (if it is closer to its final gravity, BE CAREFUL, the O2 might not get scrubbed out by the CO2 created during fermentation and oxidation will occur)

And that’s it! I would recommend keeping the fermentation temperature on the lower side of the yeast’s optimum fermenting temperature. Higher temperatures (still within the optimum fermenting range) would not likely cause off flavors in that sense, because the yeast has the proper nutrients to mitigate that, but you will definitely notice an increase in B vitamins and ‘mouthfeel’ especially with wine yeasts that finish dry (red wine yeasts) and use those B vitamins to give dry wines ‘body’

I have tried this experiment up to 16.5% mead and it took about 8 days to fully ferment out, and although there is not any off flavors from the heat of alcohol, it still will need some years to fully age out to its perfection.

For wines less than 6.5%, you will only need one nutrient addition and between 1-2 aerations.

Let me know what you guys think and if there is anything that you would change!

Sounds promising, but I'm a little confused on the details. You said to divide the nutrients into 25%, 25%, and 50%. From what you wrote at the beginning, the 50% gets added at the end, but from what you wrote later, you said to add 25% when it reaches 50% attenuation.

Is this what you mean instead? Add 25% up-front. Then when SG is reduced by 25-33% of OG, add another 25% of nutrients. Then, when the SG gets to 50% of OG, add the remaining 50% of nutrients. Is that what you meant?

Also, which yeast are you using that completes its fermentation in just 3 days? What batch size? Do you keep it under airlock except during the interventions, or do you keep it open and only airlock after the final nutrient addition?

 

[NeverDie]

Also, I think it would be helpful to walk us through a detailed example for either a one gallon or a 5 gallon traditional mead where you get 13.5% ABV in 3 days. How much DAP/Fermaid-O? How much Fermaid K? How much yeast energizer (which brand and product?). Which yeast exactly and what temperature did you ferment at? Which honey? From what you've said, it sounds as though your OG is 1.101. Is that correct?

What about your water chemistry? Are you using RO or spring water or something else? Do you add potassium and calcium, and if so, how much? If not, how much are the ppm's for the water that you're using?

Also, how much air are you pumping, and is it different for a 1 gallon batch than it is for a 5 gallon batch? There's quite a range of aquarium pumps, and some put out a lot more air than others, so it's unclear how to calibrate the aeration times you gave without knowing what kind of pump and/or the air volume that you're pumping during those time windows.

What's the size and composition of the starter that you're using? What's your pitch rate?

Sorry for all the questions, but without these details it will be very hard to accurately reproduce what you've accomplished. These questions should help prompt you to fill in the missing information. Once you do, I'll give it a try (and, luckily, it won't be a long wait before we know if it works for someone besides you or whether something was inadvertently left out).

At least so far it sounds as though the main difference between your approach and other SNAP's is 1. aeration at each nutrient addition, and 2. the use of a yeast nutrient (which one exactly?) on top of Fermaid K.

 

[Maylar]

Aerate at pitch, 12 & 24 hrs. Never add oxygen after the yeast go into the anaerobic stage.
Don't add nutrients after the 1/3 sugar break.
And what makes you think that a fast ferment makes a good mead?