Does Fermax contain urea? I accidentally added twice the amount of yeast nutrient to my mead that I was supposed to, and I'm worried about increased Ethyl Carbamate exposure. I added 2-tablespoons to a 3-gallon batch of mead. I later read online that I was only supposed to add one.
Fermax Yeast Nutrient Question?
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fuelish
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Here's what I ran across as ingredients....there may be others???...dunn0...
"Fermax - contains diammonium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate, magnesium sulfate, autolyzed yeast. "
So I guess I really messed it up then? The mead really has a fowl odor to it, I assume it's from too much yeast nutrient? The smell wasn't there prior to the last nutrient addition. Is there anything I can do or is my Mead ruined? I read online that the nutrient estimates are for wine, so since honey lacks the nutrients that wine has, maybe I didn't overdo it by too much?
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
No you probably didn't.
Any unused nutrient can be available to any spoilage organisms that might get in or it could also give an off taste.
the only two diagnostic smells to worry about are sulphur/H2S or vinegar.
Ferments can produce some quite funky smells.....
Any unused nutrient can be available to any spoilage organisms that might get in or it could also give an off taste.
the only two diagnostic smells to worry about are sulphur/H2S or vinegar.
Ferments can produce some quite funky smells.....
I've heard that sulfur smells like rotten eggs, and to be honest, that's exactly what this smells like. So I'm kind of worried about it. making cider, beer and wine is so much easier compared to this. There seems to be so much more to worry about when it comes to making mead. This is my first mead, and I don't want it to be my last. But so far this isn't going very well at all. I hope that I didn't waste my money by purchasing the ingredients.
fuelish
Well-Known Member
Siding with fatbloke here....I doubt it's going to ruin anything....if anything, you have well fed yeast 
Give it time, lots o' time, and as fb said, fermentation can produce some funky smells .....care to provide some recipe/fermentation details??? Ingredients, yeast used, ferment temp, etc... mead making is actually quite easy compared to brewing beer....relax, and give it time....mead is the teacher of extreme patience
Give it time, lots o' time, and as fb said, fermentation can produce some funky smells .....care to provide some recipe/fermentation details??? Ingredients, yeast used, ferment temp, etc... mead making is actually quite easy compared to brewing beer....relax, and give it time....mead is the teacher of extreme patience
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
Well if its sulphur/H2S, while thats often said its "lack of nutrient", id have thought 2 tablespoons was enough......
if you have a look at last years entries on my blod, there's a link to a zymurgy magazine article by Ken Schramm about nutrients and it says about sulphur smells often being to do with not enough thiamin/vitamin B1.
Easy source of that ? Boiled bread yeast..........or a vit B1 tablet....
Boil (simmer) or microwave a couple of tablespoons of bread yeast in 100mls of water (boiling slower but a bit less messy than microwave). Let it cool. Then once its at room temp, first stir it in, then splash rack the whole batch. Get as much splashing action going on as you can.
rinse out and sanitise the original fermenter and then splash rack back into it.
the theory being that the thiamin in the boiled bread yeast should sort the lack of problem, and the splashing action should help lift out the H2S from the stinky batch. Some people will even run it through a copper pan scrubber mesh (solid copper not copper covered steel) as the sulphur will more readily attach itself to the copper......
this part of the theory is to get the H2S out before it becomes mercaptans and permanently ruins the batch.......
if you have a look at last years entries on my blod, there's a link to a zymurgy magazine article by Ken Schramm about nutrients and it says about sulphur smells often being to do with not enough thiamin/vitamin B1.
Easy source of that ? Boiled bread yeast..........or a vit B1 tablet....
Boil (simmer) or microwave a couple of tablespoons of bread yeast in 100mls of water (boiling slower but a bit less messy than microwave). Let it cool. Then once its at room temp, first stir it in, then splash rack the whole batch. Get as much splashing action going on as you can.
rinse out and sanitise the original fermenter and then splash rack back into it.
the theory being that the thiamin in the boiled bread yeast should sort the lack of problem, and the splashing action should help lift out the H2S from the stinky batch. Some people will even run it through a copper pan scrubber mesh (solid copper not copper covered steel) as the sulphur will more readily attach itself to the copper......
this part of the theory is to get the H2S out before it becomes mercaptans and permanently ruins the batch.......
I read in another thread elsewhere on this forum that a sulfur smell can also be created by too many nutrient's. I had assumed that was the case here due to the smell and the fact that the must in the carboy has been fizzing constantly like crazy. It's got the entire closet smelling like rotten eggs. I'm used to beer fermentation smells, but beer doesn't smell bad during fermentation. This mead is a much different story. I don't know if this batch is going to be salvageable or not. It certainly doesn't smell like it.
Don't go off smell, i had the rotten egg smell from two batches of apfelwein and both batches turned out FINE 🍻 just give it time and don't mess with it until the bubbles slow down
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RegarRenill
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It should be, the fizzing you mention is probably the SO2 gas or CO2 gas off gassing. Try degassing the mead. Gently stir with a sanitize spoon, or since your worried about sulfur, maybe a length of sanitized copper pipe, to release the trapped gasses.
fuelish
Well-Known Member
My cranberry cyser had a sulphury smell for a couple of days in primary, but it went away relatively quickly, it's awaiting clearing in secondary, and tastes pretty danged good... personally, I'd only be concerned if it smelled "off" when it's been fermented out, but, this is easy for me to say as I've never had any off flavors/smells/tastes in the many finished batches of beer/mead I've made over the years....either dumb luck, or I do not have a very discriminating palate...LOL
fatbloke
Well-Known Member
This link, https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/1256/NDzym05_MasterMead.pdf goes some way toward explaining how much nutrient to use, how to calculate it (not always), etc.
As well as the different elements that go toward good nutrition (maybe if you're wondering, you should check out the provenence of the article/author........
The sulphur/rotten egg/H2S thing ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercaptan
http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/hydrogen_sulfide.htm
http://www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com/home%20winemaking%20rotteneggs.html(this one comes from Daniel Pambianchi's site, he knows his stuff as an accomplished (and very helpful) wine maker....... much of his info is also relevant to meads......
As well as the different elements that go toward good nutrition (maybe if you're wondering, you should check out the provenence of the article/author........
The sulphur/rotten egg/H2S thing ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercaptan
http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/hydrogen_sulfide.htm
http://www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com/home%20winemaking%20rotteneggs.html(this one comes from Daniel Pambianchi's site, he knows his stuff as an accomplished (and very helpful) wine maker....... much of his info is also relevant to meads......
