Apple wine fermentation

Question

I have added yeast nutrients and yeast together at the beginning of my wine process. Is this a bad idea as it was by mistake?

Cesar

Answer 1

It's a great idea. Everybody loves to overcomplicate nutrient additions. I don't. Just add them at the beginning, it works fine.

Answer 2

Well apple as it turns out doesn’t really need additional nutrient, it’s very nutrient rich already. Same with cherries.

However it won’t hurt anything but it’ll make your apple ferment a little more vigorously.

I am a fan of using "just enough" nutrient. Anything that isn't consumed by the yeast is going to be left in the end product.

DAP is argued to be carcinogenic. I don't know if that is true or not, but I don't necessarily want any more than necessary floating around in my drink.

I am a fan of using bee pollen as a nutrient. It provides all the necessary nitrogen and micro-nutrients that a ferment needs. Additionally, for mead's it is more of a purist's nutrient for traditional meads that are nutrient deficient without the addition of nutrients.

Answer 3

Agreeing with dmtailor. As far as I understand it, yeast nutrient absorption begins during the lag phase and either the bulk of the nutrients are used then for the formation of precursors to cell replication, or during high growth at which time they are also used for cell replication. Bottom line: the sooner the yeast nutrient is present, the quicker the yeast can get down to business. So adding nutrients along with the yeast at pitching time is ideal.