Can I add yeast nutrient while priming?

[dmulligan]

I recently racked my secondary to a half sized carboy and two gallon jugs because I had so much sediment, which I call apple sauce, and I wanted to remove my cider from the lees. The second gallon jug was not quite full so I added 750mL or so of pomegranate juice as an experiment. After two days there was no airlock activity and the juice had no preservatives so I added a tiny amount of yeast nutrient. That was last night and there is lots of activity now. I figure the yeast was either completely dead or so dormant that it wasn't easily waking up.

I plan on bottling the rest of the cider tonight. I really want to crack open my first two bottles when a friend is in from overseas just before Christmas. I was wondering if there is any harm in adding a little yeast nutrient when I prime the cider. I was thinking a quarter to half a teaspoon for the 15L batch.

Thanks,
David

 

[Bopper]

If your cider is still fermenting, don't bottle it until its finished or you're going to have bottle bombs on your hands.

Once fermentation is complete, there is no need for yeast nutrients to be added.

Am I understanding your question correctly?

 

[Teromous]

I may just not be reading this right because it's getting late here, but why do you want to add yeast nutrient when you're about to bottle? Are you just worried that it won't carbonate or something? You should be fine adding just sugar but a little nutrient shouldn't hurt it.

 

[dmulligan]

I may just not be reading this right because it's getting late here, but why do you want to add yeast nutrient when you're about to bottle? Are you just worried that it won't carbonate or something? You should be fine adding just sugar but a little nutrient shouldn't hurt it.

You are correct I was not clear. I will not be bottling the pomegranate+cider until it is done fermenting. I added the pomegranate juice because there was 750mL of air above it and I didn't want to subject my cider to that much air. So experimentation time! The other 15L of cider has finished fermenting though.

The reason I brought up the cider that I added pomegranate juice to is that it didn't start fermenting until I added nutrient to it and I am afraid that I will not be able to carbonate the cider that I am bottling.

Thanks,
David

 

[Teromous]

I thought I'd mention a trick that works well, when you have a cider that is too low inside the carboy. Take some marbles and sanitize them, and add them to the carboy. It will make up for the lost volume without the need for adding extra juice. It is good to experiment though.

As mentioned before, you should be fine with just sugar. It takes a while to carbonate. If it wasn't a slow process then you would have to worry about popping bottles!

 

[dmulligan]

So even though the cider I added juice to did not seem to get going after two days, you would not add any yeast nutrient to it? Someone mentioned that bottle carbing takes about three weeks, I was really hoping to have some ready in that time.

 

[dmulligan]

I thought I'd mention a trick that works well, when you have a cider that is too low inside the carboy. Take some marbles and sanitize them, and add them to the carboy. It will make up for the lost volume without the need for adding extra juice. It is good to experiment though.

As mentioned before, you should be fine with just sugar. It takes a while to carbonate. If it wasn't a slow process then you would have to worry about popping bottles!

Interesting, if not a little crazy, trick. It has the added benefit of giving you an answer to the question "have you lost your marbles?" To which you can say that you know exactly where they are.

 

[gregbathurst]

Yeast nutrient has nitrogen in it so its not really a good idea at such a late stage, it can encourage infections. I think you could pitch a little yeast if you want to speed up the process, first rehydrate and make a starter.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I wouldn't add nutrient at bottling, at the very least it might give you some off flavours. I'd just prime & bottle when it's ready. Regards, GF.

 

[dmulligan]

I ran out of time last night and couldn't prime and rack my cider. I will have to give her a try again later.

What I am getting from all of your responses is that I shouldn't worry too much about the yeast being dormant or worse, that everything will turn out okay.

Thanks!
David

 

[Tusch]

If it is dormant the bottling itself will most likely be enough to wake up the yeast. And as everyone else mentioned nutrient won't help, be necessary and could cause off flavors, but sounds like you got it under control now.