Does fresh pressed apple juice have enough nitrogen?

[Elodar]

I am trying to figure out what nutrients I need to add to my fresh pressed apple juice. I was talking to a local cidery owner here in Denver and was told that apple juice already has enough nitrogen so I should be using Startup without the DAP. Do you guys know if this is correct? Does anyone have a recommended nutrient I should try? Thanks again.

 

[Ogroat]

My personal experience has been that juice will generally attenuate completely without any nutrient additions. However, I’ve also found that I get a quicker fermentation that’s palateable earlier when using yeast nutrient. Specifically, I’ve found that sulphur smells are often a byproduct of nutrient poor fermentation and that adding nutrient up front and more if the yeast starts to smell sulphury will get me a cider that’s pretty good almost immediately after fermentation.

My nutrient of choice is Fermaid O. It’s got all organic nitrogen in it which encourages more of a slow and steady feeding of the yeast rather than the booms you get with nutrients that contain inorganic nitrogen like DAP. Fermaid K does seem to be more readily available though and also works well.

 

[Maylar]

The amount of nitrogen in apples depends on a lot of variables, including the cultivar, soil conditions, weather, and time of picking. Late season apples tend to have less nitrogen than early apples.

The nitrogen needs of different yeasts vary. Some are nutrient pigs, some aren't. And temperature matters too. You can get away without adding nutrients with certain yeasts if you're willing to ferment at 50°F and allow the process to take a few months to complete.

The risks of not having enough nitrogen are that the yeast can get stressed out and make H2S sulfur smells (and taste) that take time to age out. Or, the ferment can simply stall before it's time - which the French often do on purpose.

All that being said, for the average cider maker with typical yeast and typical ferment conditions it's recommended to add about 300 ppm DAP (or 1 TSP per gallon of generic wine nutrient) to insure happy yeast.