Replacement for chemical nutrient and energiser

[jasebrooker]

Hi all.

So I've just made a gallon of JAOM and I like the idea of using orange peel and raisins instead of chemical nutrient and energiser. I was wondering if anybody has any experience or ideas for other natural ingredients that can be used as a replacement? I like the idea of using as few chemicals as possible.

Cheers,

J

 

[saramc]

Banana peels, boiled bread yeast, raisins.

 

[fatbloke]

Banana peels, boiled bread yeast, raisins.

A single, whole, sliced banana for that matter. It can not only help with nutrient but also with clearing a batch and with add8ng "body" to a batch.

The only downside is that if youre exhibiting or competing with a mead, an experience palate will invariably detect it in the taste, however slight.

Hence saramc is spot on but as with any kind of nutrient additions, over use can leave telltale signs (tastes or smells) of their use.

 

[jasebrooker]

Banana could give a nice after taste I'd have thought. What sort of quantities would you suggest?

 

[saramc]

Banana could give a nice after taste I'd have thought. What sort of quantities would you suggest?

Well, I do not have any scientific data for dosage, but I have used one peel minus the top/heel for a three gallon batch. Just used an uber dark peel, covered with one cup water, brought to boil for two minutes, covered, removed from heat and strained after cooled. Added half at start and half when SG dropped by 1/3. I know it worked because this particular batch has been known to kick out H2S when lacking nutrients.

The other thing people use is a ground up multivitamin,(MVI), chewable even, or B12. Not sure on the dose but I bet you can use web search engine and find various threads on multiple forums.

 

[jasebrooker]

Ground up multivits is a good idea, might look into that cheers

 

[damdaman]

I've been using hive products other than honey, and it's been working for me. 2oz bee pollen, propolis and royal jelly per 5gals. Here's a report on two batches I did recently:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/whole-hive-mead-381773/#post4872432

 

[adamtron]

I've used orange peel, minus the pith and used the rest of the orange as nutrient and it works pretty good for me.