Inoculation rate?

[asparknz]

Hi Guys

Sorry if this is buried somewhere but Ive had a good search and can't find any specifics. For ales we have 1 million cells per millilitre of wort per degree plato.

What is the desired pitch rate for mead?

 

[fatbloke]

Not actually seen a cells per ml type recommendation.......

just that a 5g pack is fine for batches up to 5 gallons.

whether theres any guidance for how many are in a gramme of yeast ? I dont know......

 

[asparknz]

Yeah thats all Ive seen as well… But it runs contrary to everything Ive learnt over the years while brewing beer. If I were to use an ale recommendation then Id be looking at about 500B cells for the must Im wanting to ferment. Which is about 4 packs of yeast (Im using this yeast http://vintnersharvest.com/collections/wine-yeasts/products/vintners-harvest-wine-yeast-ma33 which has a cell density of 10B cells per gram)

I can only assume that the inoculation rate must be much lower due to the lack of more complex sugars? Hence why all the manufacturers and wine makers suggest one packet per batch?

 

[IJesusChrist]

I think there is less nutrient in mead, so the risk of other baddies contaminating your batch with off flavors is less. At least thats why I thought it was an issue with beer - you want a massive amount of yeast to out compete anything else.

 

[fatbloke]

Yeah thats all Ive seen as well… But it runs contrary to everything Ive learnt over the years while brewing beer. If I were to use an ale recommendation then Id be looking at about 500B cells for the must Im wanting to ferment. Which is about 4 packs of yeast (Im using this yeast http://vintnersharvest.com/collections/wine-yeasts/products/vintners-harvest-wine-yeast-ma33 which has a cell density of 10B cells per gram)

I can only assume that the inoculation rate must be much lower due to the lack of more complex sugars? Hence why all the manufacturers and wine makers suggest one packet per batch?

You can't compare beers with meads. The only real similarity is that they're both fermented products...

Mead making resembles wine more closely but even then the issues are different.

A straight mead/honey must has very low nutrient value but almost 100 % fermentability.....

It's less about yeast count and more about adding nutrients of a type that benefit yeast. And those nutrient values need to be thought about in a way similar to wines - though wine/grape musts have integral nutrient value that the honey doesn't, which is why you see much focus on both nitrogen levels and non-nitrogen elements.......

 

[asparknz]

Just to update this question that I had. A local winemaker suggested that I go with 250-350ppm as they do for juice innocs. I went with the upper end of the scale since honey is so nutrient deficient. This works out to the same as what the manufacturers suggest on the back of a yeast packet (unsurprisingly).

It seemed to work well. Cyser OG of 1.125 down to 1.015 in two weeks. Used pure O2 twice over the first 24 hrs. And staggered nutrient additions. Added more nutrient whenever I smelt the yeast stressing (sulfur) usually as I degassed the must. I did have to adjust the ph as it dropped to 2.6 after two days. Titrated with potassium hydroxide back up to 3.6 and it stayed there till the end. Primary seems complete with no fusels or strange esters. Tastes clean and great already. Should be great in as little as two or three months I imagine.