Are Raisins Nutrients? Scientific Test with Charts & Taste Test
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Are Raisins Nutrients? This is one of those mead questions that’s been asked a million times and I want to give an answer! I ran a big test comparing raisins to store bought nutrient and a no nutrient mead. I ran this test 3 times - You can see my steps for the test below. I also compiled my data into some graphs and easy viewing options (see the link below).
While I could have repeated this test a million more times, I believe that I have conclusive enough results here. The three yeasts I used for this video were: Lalvin D47, Mangrove Jack’s M05 and Lalvin K1-V1116.
Special thanks to Doin’ the Most for helping me with the taste test portion. Go check out his channel below:
Time Stamps:
Explaining the process - [ :30 - 2:10 ]
Reviewing the Data - [ 2:12 - 7:30 ]
Taste Testing - [ 7:30 ]
Doin the Most: / standardissue
Google Drive link to my charts: drive.google.c...
Cheers!
MMM
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Might be interesting to use killed bread yeast and do the same experimental set-up.
According to your charts in the beginning, raisins are 10% better than nothing. I'll take it! I'm not an expert or anything, just aren't into the "white powders" as you call them. I really appreciate your thoroughness. Fantastic dedication!
That’s fair! They do act as a small amount of nutrient, but their a bit unpredictable!
Nice test... pretty much shows what we did way back when. I do wonder if you'd have used dead yeast or hulls instead of DAP what the outcome would be. At the end of the day, flavor is what matters most. Not too concerned about taking a few more weeks for a mead to finish, long as it tastes good.
Understandable! That’s why I made sure to say “Just because it fermented faster doesn’t mean it’s a better mead”.
@@ManMadeMead Totally agree.
Raisins along with a strong black tea brings a tannic aspect with a bit of a bitter. It's good with a real sweet mead.
"I have here 9 gallons of mead."
Facebook: "You have 147 new friend requests..."
I love BOTH of your channels, and your personalities and all your content. Battle of the polite mead dudes. That being said, I would pay a inordinate amount of money to see you both be rude, mean and like break glass and shout. YOU CAN'T BOTH BE THIS NICE, GUYS, C'MON. Seriously thanks for this video and all this hard work. This was great content and great learning.
I’ll try and get more angry 😂😂
@@ManMadeMead must just be an Oklahoma thing. 🤣🤣🤣 seriously you're awesome being your super polite self. Quality, quality content. Love your yeast shootouts and how you take ideas and turn them into experiments. Thanks again
When I first started watching your videos , about a week or 2 ago , I wasn't sure about you young Guys . But the More I watch , the more Respect I have for you . Thanks , Enjoyed your Videos . 🤠
Great, I used food, raisins and a cup of blueberries. With only one pack of champagne yeast. In five gallons, with 15 pounds of honey! Less yeast might not burn all the flavor out, and go slower. It took about 60 hrs before it started bubbling every sec. Its gonna be rocket fuel. . Live a learn!. My first try.. that was an awesome test you did. Thanks
Love that you guys are doing all the cross Chanel content. Love both y’all
this is one of the most useful vid i have ever seen in youtube, the charts and the tables were wonderful and very informative, I can't imagine how difficult and exhausted to make such thing !! , a " Thank you" is not enegh , I will go now to your patereon page to say THANK YOU in a better way
I did a comparison between raisins' and craisins and liked the craisins version a lot better.
I really love this video because you used a scientific process. I was intrigued by your findings because most people think that you need a yeast nutrient to make great mead. You have inspired me to make my first mead with lalvin 71b, orange blossom honey, and no nutrient. I would like you to do another experiment using the same yeast and honey next time.
You absolutely have to use nutrients when brewing mead. Yeast need nutrients to thrive - not giving them nutrients will lead to a bad fermentation! I think you got the wrong thing from this video - I was just trying to prove that raisins are nutrients and that we shouldn't rely on them as nutrients! You always want to add nutrients to your mead.
@@ManMadeMead that is an interesting comment, because what I got from the video was that perhaps using no nutrient was better. The no nutrient batch was judged best 3 times.
I've been watching your videos and this is as good as any to say I love the washing mashine, really brings the DYI, home aspect of the hobby. Loving the videos!
Thank you!
I have been binge watching mead videos and I start my first mead tonight. Thanks for all the help!
I'm happy to help!
You nailed this one by the balls MMM. Good test! Well done. Very interesting...raisins help but not so much...
I guess I think that anyone who claims that they cannot get hold of nutrients is mistaken. You take a teaspoon of bread yeast (or wine yeast) and you add some boiling water. There is the your nutrient. My suggestion is that you boil this yeast after you have rehydrated it and have proofed it. The dead cells will have all the compounds the yeast you selected for fermenting need, though you may want to add DAP (for the nitrogen).
It's not identical to Fermaid O but it is the equivalent.
Unsure if the raisins were chopped up but I've heard that helps because it let's the yeast get to the interiors a little better. I don't really like using chems/powders in my mead so I'd probably go for raisins anyway however I am experimenting with boiled dead yeast currently.
I actually did that test too! It didn't really make a difference!
I made a sorte of raisin-wine with only raisin and mangrove jack yeast for mead. I use old french documentation ("L'Art de faire le vin avec les raisins secs") about raisin wine of the XIX century for the proportion (When phylloxera kills almost all the europeans vines, they make a lot of raisin wine at this time). It works pretty fine and fast, but the modern raisin (sultanide) contain less sugar than expected (less then XIX century's raisins for sure). I got a very light wine with low ABV. But it tasted like wine.
This is an awesome video. As a biochemist, I'm very pleased you presented and kept logs on all the data. Well done!!
I'm honored! Thank you so much!
Lots of people tend to just say "this is how you should do it because it worked once for me before". The replicates, with different yeast strains and control groups (no nutrient) was awesome! I saw that graph and was super happy. Would love to see more like that in the future but I realize that it may be a bit of a pricey experiment 😂
Thinking about making one with cane syrup cloves and allspice sort of a pirate's grog
Loving how you both are collabing a lot together. ❤
thank you for posting this. this particular subject is really hard to find info on. i wish you had posted how much yeast you used in each, and how much dap, and maybe how much the raisins weighed.
@20.33 you say interesting and I had that same thought, probably for a different reason. LoL
I've been using 71B and loving the flavor profile. I've been playing around with recipies and additives, I don't think I have used raisins in a few months but I'm glad I haven't tried the K1-116 with raisins.
Yeah, K1 isn't my favorite yeast to use either.
Man made mead: curiosity did you chop up the raisins so it was easier for the yeast to eat?
This is the point I'd make too. Fruit skins are designed to repel microbes, so it's somewhat surprising they ate any at all.
Wondering the same. There was one shot in the beginning that showed raisins in the brew, and it looked like they were whole, but I couldn't really tell for sure.
I think the difference would be minimal, maybe a touch longer to pull the flavour out. The drying if the raisins are very damaging to the skins of fruit, especially sun dried.
Love that you went all extra scientific and used a control for each!
You said store bought Nutrient. What kind did u use? There are so many different types, from the white chemical one you mentioned in the beginning to dead yeast/yeast hulls. I would interested in a difference between Chemical Nutrient vs. Natural Nutrient especially in taste difference.
I would almost do this myself but I'm trying to avoid chemicals (also my 1st Mead was made with the Nutrient that came with my kit, I used the Nutrient once or twice after that, I'd have to check my notes to be sure but, when I repeated without nutrient I liked it better. (Could be experience too as the difference but I didn't change much when repeating, example of a change made would be chopped vs whole (dried cherries for my hibiscus or raisins for traditional) or Champagne yeast came with my kit and I bought Lalvin 71B also tried Bread Yeast while waiting for my yeast delivery).
Thank you for doing some experiments for things I've been curious about!! Loving the help from you and a couple other channels that are helping me grow in this amazing/delicious hobby!!
This was a fascinating test. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Hey, just another test that just popped into my head, clearing agents in a hazy mead like a cyzer, so none (just time), clearing agent, pectic enzyme, and pectic + clearing
I'd love this as well, both based on effect on flavor and impact on clarity vs effective racking
Thanks for the info. I prefer natural brewing. I'd use yeast hulls before I use chemical enhancements. But hey, there is no wrong way to brew if that's how you like to do things. I just think in our daily lives we have enough extra chemicals in our food. Why add more to your brews.
This is awesome. Such good science.WOOO!
Thank you!
Short answer: yes, they are a nutrient, albeit a very poor one. About all it contributes are some tannins and added sugar. They can, however, add body to a mead and potentially be a source of wild yeast.
If you don't want to bother with using Fermaid or DAP and other commercial products, there are other easy DIY options such as boiled el cheapo baker's yeast (the kind you can get a 3-pack of at the grocery store for 99¢) or even a cup of Grape Nuts cereal steeped in boiling water and strained to make a wort. Either of those will work a thousand times better as a yeast nutrients than raisins.
I seen in other videos they fine chop the raisins if the yeast can't get in there it won't have much effect.. maybe do a more extensive Raisin test. Without vs with vs chopped..🍯🍯🍯💗💗👌👌🍷
Weird how wines can use grapes, but meads can't really use the dehydrated grapes. Wonder what would happen if you put fresh, chopped up grapes in the must.
Being a wine maker I can say for sure that grapes are fairly low in nutritional value for the yeast. Grapes do however have enough nutrients to completely ferment using MOST yeasts. Therefore I am going to conclude that raisins are better than nothing but won't necessarily be great.
Apple Jack. Apple juice and raisin. Extra sugar. Grammas recipe.
Thanks a lot for the time you out in it !!
If you wanna go a little further (I know it’s time consuming ) but it would be interesting to see if your jugement changes after some age and backsweetening !
In one of the two viking bloods I've still got going, I did use a handful of raisins but only for taste. I fully intended to add nutrients according to the staggered schedule but ended up using nothing as it kicked off hardcore, almost immediately. Started with a blow off tube instead of a regular airlock and a few hours later needed it.
In the future will continue to use no additional nutrients with that particular recipe, because with plenty of berries, hibiscus tea and some raisins...it just isn't necessary.
I have only had 3 brews with K1 but all 3 were terrible for the first like 6 months but 2 of those 3 after a year and a half of aging were my favorites. Obviously can't say it's because of the yeast cause i didn't have test batches but that yeast definitely needs some age before the brew will be pleasant from my experience
Have you tried to use a black tea to bring some tannic notes to your meads? You should do a video on tannins.
Yup! It works well!
Love both the channels. I can get over that bc looks like he could be eric from iv8888's brother
Just wondering why you used DAP instead of Fermaid O or K? DAP is proven to be bad for yeast at pitch and the first 24 hours or so, thus the development of TOSNA. Also, the tasting is kind of moot, since a traditional fermented dry is not liked by most mead makers, unless you add some tannins or acids or a really good varietal honey. And a yeast that doesn't finish as dry might be preferred. Anyway, thanks for taking the time doing this experiment!
DAP was most accessible in this experiment (and I think more fair). Yes it’s definitely not great for the beginning of fermentation, and I much prefer to us Fermaid O when possible!
Great video, I am about to try my first ever home brew (cider), and have been watching a ton of videos lately. This one was one of my favorites, even though it wasn’t what I will be brewing first. Have you done videos like this for cider? Subbed
I haven’t done this for cider unfortunately!
I love seeing BC taste things. He is so technical about it
I got a test for you since you seem to like doing those, I used to use raisins in my meads as nutrients as i don't like adding chemicals to my brews but have swapped over to flour as it's far more effective (also cheaper) id be interested to seeing the comparison that flour has to chemical nutrients. I make the flour for the brew by just adding 1 tea spoon of plain flour to a cup of boiling hot water.
That’s interesting!
Did you use white flour or whole wheat?
@@gryph01 Plain white, though i do plan to try whole wheat at some point to see if that's any better.
Love the channel, very informative and production value is awesome. I want to make a gallon of high-alcohol, sweet mead. How many lbs of honey and how much yeast should I use? I have clover honey and EC-1118 yeast. I'm a noob too btw, this is my second batch ever. It's basically my first since the last one I made was in 2004 and I can't remember what I did 16 hours ago let alone 16 years lol.
Well you have some options. You can either add more honey than the yeast can handle, which would be a ton - or you can let your mead get to like 15% ABV, stabilize it and then backsweeten. I would suggest the second option.
You’ll need 1 gallon of water, 4 pounds of honey and 5 grams of Lalvin EC-1118.
Add 3.5 pounds of honey to your water and then mix your yeast in. Let that ferment completely through until you see the brew stop bubbling (or use your hydrometer which you should get to check the gravity!).
From there stabilize with potassium sorbate and campden tablets and add your .5 pounds of leftover honey to back sweeten
I know this is an older video, but I just found your channel via "Still It" over in NZ, and it's probably not worth the time to do a follow up experiment, but I wonder if blending the raisins into a paste or maybe freeze drying them and making then into a powder would change the outcome/make them even more effective. 🤔
Also wonder if other dried fruits would work, like apricots or somethings. 🤔
Wish you had also tested chopped raisins to compare to raisins, but thanks for testing
I find that adding raisins to more acidic meads help to add a more mellow flavor.
Very helpful thank you
I'm happy to help!
I told the Reddit Mead group that I used raisins in a traditional and I got chewed out by the auto-reply bot and then the members. Even though I watched tons of videos that said do it. I now have nutrients and don't use raisins.. But there's that
Awesome video! Good information.
I've boiled wild rice 🍚 in my water before adding honey 🍯 to the mead, I haven't let the rice ferment along with but I get way better results than raisins across the board. This has pushed me into making braggot style meads, the nutrients from grains used in beers 🍻 yield the same results as those dap style nutrients!! Plus you can start a mead out with a beer, ale type yeast ect ect and finish it with a kviek or champagne style yeast. #nextlevelstuff
Great video !!! Very informative
Maybe compare Yeast Hulls to DAP.
I am planning on doing the experiment myself but I was going to do with the raisins one with whole raisins one with cut up raisins
I don't think raisins offer enough nitrogen, nor is there any substitute for nitrogen in terms of yeast nutrition. Thus they are not a viable nutrient.
At least according to whatever little literature I could find on the subject.
Did you cut the raisins in half? I find that it makes a big difference in initial vigor. I usually make a tea with black tea and raisins and citrus and maybe a few herbs and spices.
That could possibly make a difference!
I cut the raisins in half with good results.
Wait wait, I was under the impression that nutrients and energizers were not the same? DAP is an energizer and raisins were a nutrient. I've been using both....
DAP is a nitrogen source. It is a nutrient, but yeast can only utilize it up to a certain ABV, at which point they require an organic source of nitrogen. Organic nitrogen is usually from dead yeast (like Fermaid O), though fruits and grains are also chock full of organic nitrogen (when used in sufficient quantities). DAP can also negatively impact yeast when used in high concentrations.
"Energizer" is a pointless term. They all are meant to primarily add nitrogen to the must. It's just that Raisins add a negligible amount of nitrogen unless you're making a mead that tastes like raisins and not a whole lot else.
I often cut recommended dose in half if I used nutrients.
What if you crush/or dice the raisins? The skin may inhibit the yeast ability to feed
I love this test SO much. It looks like there is no 100% right answer... just try and see. I do have some dap. I am going to be ditching raisin use. I have used them in the past. I found myself underwhelmed by the batches with raisins. I have been messing around with cotes des blancs and 71B.... and and nutrient.... I found that to be a game changer. I like that adding tannin is a option or not after the fact. I like raisins... as a snack on in butter tarts ect. They still have a place in my home... just not in my brew.
What are your thoughts on using baking or brewing yeast that's been boiled to kill the yeast as nutrients for your yeast in your batch?
That’s a great way to add nutrients! It’s super cheap too!
Superb, I would love to see other comparison like, dead yest, vitamin b1 etc. You are really good at this.
Mead with resins have extra sugar, I don't know how much in %, but it could take extra time to yeast to ferment
How about yeast hulls as a nutrient, just use some in a recent mead want to see if the time to completion shortens and flavors change any your thoughts?
It's worth trying at some point!
did you just put in whole raisins? if so maybe chopping them into smaller pieces might help the mead extract nutrients because you'll increase the surface area of the raisins
That could work!
Thanks for the video. We really do need more of these statistics/tests to really have evidence on whats a myth and what isn't just like brulosophy for beers.
I know these 2 have probably been answered in a video but what is your favorite yeast to use in a traditional mead? Also does adding yeast nutrient after 1 day of fermentation make a difference? (I know your not supposed to add nutrients after fermentation has started just curious if it makes a difference and what potential positives it could have) (I also know it can make a kinda violent eruption if u do so so you need to watch it lol)
Lalvin 71B, Lalvin QA23 or Red Star Premiere Blanc. They all work well for trade in my opinion. Adding yeast nutrient after 1 day is actually preferred - you just have to do it carefully.
@@ManMadeMead thank you that's awesome to know 😁 and I've seen what could happen lol
Is that you on drums in the intro?
Yes it is!
Any fruit is going to have that effect. Some more so. Raisins do more for mouth feel than act as nutrient. Enough volume will add a bit of flavor.
If you did this test using different fruits with the skins on, that would’ve been a bit more interesting. People need to be taught the real reason to add raisins.
Have you ever tried raw sea salt as nutrients?
I made one mead with raw sea salt and it turned out nice. Not sure how it compares to your results here
Ehhhh… I’d worry about adding a salty flavor. I don’t think it adds any nutrient!
@@ManMadeMead Raw, solar evaporated sea salt contains a full spectrum of minerals, not just sodium and chloride. In my 7 gallon batch of mead, I used 1/2 teaspoon per gallon and there is no saltiness at all. I achieved a 13.7 ABV and maintained a decent sweetness
Is there a calculator for the hydrometer readings? Im having a hard time with that
This is an easy and good one! www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
I have read that crushing up a multi vitamin will work like yeast nutrient. Can anybody confirm?
Not sure that they work the same way!
Doing the most, I heard you mention Dandelion Mead, I made Dandelion Mead and Dandelion Wine started at the same time I'm iffy about how the Mead came out but loving the Wine (both definitely needed back-sweetening) I'm very curious how your Mead tastes! Would you mind replying with the link?
We started it on a livestream and it’s in bulk aging now. Hope to get a video out eventually. :)
@@DointheMost not sure why but my Dandelion Mead is tart/sour (almost vinegary when I tasted my first bottle, I'm aging the rest before I try again) but my Dandelion Wine (after back sweetening) was drinkable immediately)? I only tried one bottle of each so far about two weeks after bottling. I have 3 more bottles of each and don't want to try again too soon.
Fawn Ricciuti I was planning on letting this age through winter, then backsweetening and bottling before spring. Hope to have more insight then!
@@DointheMost cool! I'm not planning on cracking my Dandelion Mead for a bit (although I did pull a Dandelion Wine since I mentioned it, still delicious btw) looking forward to any advice/help/how-to on the Mead side. I'm thinking I should try one more time b4 I write it off. And since Dandelions are fewer at end of summer I'm thinking I won't be trying again until next year. Also, I gotta remember that Dandelion is prevent late spring and early summer, not sure why I remember fighting sprouts in my garden through August (I'm East coast VA, originally NJ)
Have you tried yeast hules for nutrient?
Not yet!
did you cut the rasins
Nope! I've done that test and it doesn't really make a difference!
Me with a gallom jug of water with 3 pounds of honey and a whole packet of actice dry yeast with a homade airlock under my bathroom sink waiting
Been making mwad for idk 3 or so months my second batch is almost done and I don't like the idea of adding unnatural chemicals into the mead. Even for making it clear. Just playing the waiting game here. Also I don't like the idea of rasins eww
And marvel thought they have the most ambitious crossover.
Hitting acid!!! Ha! Ha!
The raisins need to be chopped to get anything out of them, they do not do anything (flavor or otherwise) if they are not chopped........I use them in mash for distillation....
They're young, let them age for a few months and come back to it and try again.
No...theyre not
Man that was a lot of work on your part, but I feel the test is kind of flawed. Due to nutrient mead finishing quicker, clarifying and whatnot. Maybe a better test would be to start at different times and do a taste after 1 month of each mead finishing.
Man made mead: curiosity did you chop up the raisins so it was easier for the yeast to eat?
Nope I didn’t!
@@ManMadeMead I wasn't sure if I missed something thank you
@@ManMadeMead I did enjoy the video and your research was quite good