Add mead nutrients?

[DrVertebrae]

Started a melomel on 2/2 and another on 2/7. The 2/2 one is at about one bubble every two minutes or so and the 2/7 one at about a bubble every 30sec or so. The first got no nutrient and has raisins and orange slices in it. The 2/7 one has blue and black berries in it and got nutrient.

As they are both going pretty slow now, do you think I should add a bit of nutrient to help them complete their lovely business or just rack'em and let'em sit? I was thinking of adding some nutrient when I racked'em.

 

[Tyrone]

what yeast did you use? What was OG? Are they already clear? (You really haven't had time IMO to rack yet)

 

[DrVertebrae]

Both are 3lbs honey per gallon final volume. I didn't measure the SG.

One is with Cote des Blancs by Red Star and the other is with Premier CuVee by Redstar.

Both are beginning to clear but not yet clear.

 

[fatbloke]

Started a melomel on 2/2 and another on 2/7. The 2/2 one is at about one bubble every two minutes or so and the 2/7 one at about a bubble every 30sec or so. The first got no nutrient and has raisins and orange slices in it. The 2/7 one has blue and black berries in it and got nutrient.

As they are both going pretty slow now, do you think I should add a bit of nutrient to help them complete their lovely business or just rack'em and let'em sit? I was thinking of adding some nutrient when I racked'em.

Both are 3lbs honey per gallon final volume. I didn't measure the SG.

One is with Cote des Blancs by Red Star and the other is with Premier CuVee by Redstar.

Both are beginning to clear but not yet clear.

Without gravity readings, you're flying blind.

It's normal to consider a batch finished when it's had 3 identical readings taken a couple of days apart, over, say a week.

If you just rack them when they're not finished, you'd lose some of the yeast colony. If you got a hydrometer to test, while you're sorting that out, you could just leave them as they are, which IMO, would be the best option.

If you added nutrient late, whats the point ? Yeast doesn't take up inorganic nitrogen much after the 1/3rd sugar break anyway, so the only nutrient worth adding would be either FermaidO (not K) or some boiled bread yeast and/or yeast hulls. Once the brews are finished there's no point in adding anything like that.....

 

[DrVertebrae]

I figure they aren't finished simply based upon the production of gas bubbles,how ever slow they are going. But if, as you say, they wouldn't benefit from the addition of nutrient then I'll skip it. I guess when it looks like the process is stopped to the point of not producing gas, I'll rack'em off the yeast and let'em sit for a month or three or five or seven... But I think they'll be clear within a month at this rate, esp if I get them off the yeast cake, so I think at that point I'll bottle. I hate to take multiple hydrometer readings due to the risk of contamination and thus far, with most of these brews, when I finally did take the reading, it was essentially what I had expected. I gues the main reason for the question about additional nutrient was to speed things along. I have seen some writing to that effect in other sites on mead. Its an interesting process. Its also interesting how many different opinions there are about such things as getting the brew off the yeast before too long or not. Some say it doesn't matter and others say its a must. The same with addition of nutrient. Where did yo get your info about the uptake of nitrogen in the first 1/3rd sugar break?