Stepped Nutrient Additions

Cider mead and wines need a bit of help in the nutrient dept to both get started and finish out. Luckily any homebrew store with have just what you need.

The approach is similar in wine, cider and mead. But because of differences in gravity and the varieties of yeast chosen, there are sometimes slight changes in procedure.

Ideally you would use both Fermaid-K and DAP (diammonium phosphate) But that can be hard to find. If you cannot find Fermaid-K, doubling the amount of DAP will greatly help.

These amounts are for 5 gallons

(currently working on a standard plan for using Kviek yeast which is a whole other animal)

Wine and Mead

Day 1- Pitch yeast as normal. After 8 hours stir in ¼ teaspoon each Fermaid-K and DAP

Day 2- Stir 5-10 minutes to release Co2. (be careful if using a carboy. Think mentos here)

Day 3- Stir in ¼ teaspoon each Fermaid-K and DAP

Day 4- Stir to release more Co2

Day 5- Another ¼ teaspoon each Fermaid-K and DAP

Day 6- Stir

Day 7 One more ¼ teaspoon each Fermaid-K and DAP

-Your yeast is now on its own to finish its primary ferment. 2-5 weeks is normal

Cider basically the same just shorter (ale/cider/wine yeast..Not Kviek)

Day 1- Pitch yeast as normal. After 8 hours stir in ¼ teaspoon each Fermaid-K and DAP

Day 2- A good stir and ¼ teaspoon each Fermaid-K and DAP

Day 3- Another stir and ¼ teaspoon each Fermaid-K and DAP

Kviek yeast Cider– (in progress) The thing with Kviek is the speed at which it works and the amount of nutrient it requires.

Kviek can take a 1.080 cider down to .999 in 3 days. But it needs much more nutrients to stay clean. 

In 3 gallon batches I have been using 2 teaspoons of DAP at pitch,  and then another teaspoon 8-10 hours later. Even only 8 hours after pitching you are at full on, violent ferment with Kviek. So just chucking dry DAP into a carboy would not be advisable unless you have a mop ready. A bucket type fermenter or something with a wide mouth or a few gallons headspace is your friend here. 

I have not seen a reason to try and stir this because its so fast. I am thinking any stirring after the first day would probably start to cause oxidation. So I am already questioning that 8th hour addition. But I have had no ill effects yet.

I will be starting a Wine made with Kviek this week as well. This 2 teaspoon at the start and another a few hours later will be my starting point as well.

Stay tuned