My mead stopped bubbling after day 5 and there is no activity inside currently

[bushpilot]

What did you use as nutrient, DAP? I am leaning into the distilled water and inadequate minerals/nutrition as the cause of the stall.

 

[Uniique]

DAP?

here is the picture of the nutrient, the craft a brew recipe kit in which i recieved it did not mention what nutrient this was so i have no clue

i was thinkin of using DAP in my next batch, what would you suggest? is there any alternatives?

 

[bushpilot]

Tl;Dr - ditch the distilled water, consider a better nutrient and staggered nutritient addition protocol.

DAP is "ok", it was the standard for a long time. But it is not well rounded nutrition, and that combined with distilled water is probably inadequate.

I suggest spring water and Fermaid-O (best) or Fermaid-K, or another similar complete nutrient. Also consider Goferm or similar for rehydration. Research TOSNA nutrition protocol, or another staggered nutrition addition (SNA) protocol.

Tap water is likely better than distilled. If chlorine is the concern, there are ways to deal with that. Research that.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Distilled can be made perfectly suitable with a bit of basic brewing salts. Calcium chloride, gypsum, table salt, etc.

Fermaid-K has DAP and some 'micro-nutrients', minerals.

Fermaid-O uses an organic source for the nitrogen in lieu of -K's DAP and does not have the micro-nutrients. Great stuff, but not complete.

Go-Ferm during the hydration step provides the micro-nutrients and minerals. It also provides some nitrogen (especially when over-pitched!) which most calculators and SNA protocols do not take into account.

I salt my RO/distilled water to 100ppm Ca, 25ppm Na. Following the TANG protocol, I use Go-Ferm and Fermaid-O.

 

[bushpilot]

I'm sorry, my responses have been very North American oriented, assuming that you have access to the very same products I do. You likely have access to acceptable substitute products, but I may not know them.

So, if you don't have access to spring water, could you use a bottled "drinking" water instead? They usually have added minerals for flavor, and likely will be OK. Or, use tap water and boil it, to remove the chlorine and to ensure no undesirable bacteria remain, if that is a concern. Let it cool down before adding yeast.

Regarding nutrients, DAP is ok if the water is ok. DAP provides nitrogen, which the honey lacks. If that is the best you have, use it, it will be fine. But I would consider adding fruit to the mead (making a melomel), or killing some bakers yeast and adding it to the must for added nutrition. The bakers yeast is killed by boiling to ensure it does not do the fermenting. I have never done this, but there are threads on this site about it, which you will find if you search.

Rehydrate your yeast properly, do not just throw it into the must. When you rehydrate your yeast, do not use any DAP there. Follow the directions on the package for rehydration. Look up "tempering" the yeast, which is good to do before throwing it into the must.

I would not add the DAP to the must until I see signs of fermentation, or 24 hours, whichever comes first. The bakers yeast can be added up front in the must.

 

[Uniique]

I'm sorry, my responses have been very North American oriented, assuming that you have access to the very same products I do. You likely have access to acceptable substitute products, but I may not know them.

So, if you don't have access to spring water, could you use a bottled "drinking" water instead? They usually have added minerals for flavor, and likely will be OK. Or, use tap water and boil it, to remove the chlorine and to ensure no undesirable bacteria remain, if that is a concern. Let it cool down before adding yeast.

Regarding nutrients, DAP is ok if the water is ok. DAP provides nitrogen, which the honey lacks. If that is the best you have, use it, it will be fine. But I would consider adding fruit to the mead (making a melomel), or killing some bakers yeast and adding it to the must for added nutrition. The bakers yeast is killed by boiling to ensure it does not do the fermenting. I have never done this, but there are threads on this site about it, which you will find if you search.

Rehydrate your yeast properly, do not just throw it into the must. When you rehydrate your yeast, do not use any DAP there. Follow the directions on the package for rehydration. Look up "tempering" the yeast, which is good to do before throwing it into the must.

I would not add the DAP to the must until I see signs of fermentation, or 24 hours, whichever comes first. The bakers yeast can be added up front in the must.

yes this batch i will use warm drinking water, but unfortunately the country where I live in i couldn't source Fermaid O/K and Go-Ferm, I was only able to find DAP.

and I need to rehydrate the yeast this time because the last time I just threw it in there lol, but still fermentation started within 24 hours though.
I will do some research on proper ways to rehydrate yeast before pitching them and then I will also look into nutrition administering plans. Thanks for your advice!

 

[Raptor99]

yes this batch i will use warm drinking water, but unfortunately the country where I live in i couldn't source Fermaid O/K and Go-Ferm, I was only able to find DAP.

Another way to add some of the organic nutrients found in Fermaid O/K is to put some yeast in a small amount of water, boil it for a few minutes, then let it cool and add it to your mead. You can use any kind of yeast for this, so try some cheap bread yeast. Boiling kills the yeast and breaks down the cell walls, releasing the nutrients in the yeast. Use that plus some DAP to provide better nutrition for your yeast.