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TOSNA first feeding question

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pwizard

pwizard

NewBee
Registered Member
Oct 17, 2015
587
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Birmingham, AL
I'm using TOSNA for the first time on my current batch. Under my old feeding schedule, I would put in nutrients at pitch, first break, midway, and last break. The initial feeding was 50% Fermaid K and 50% pure DAP. THe second one was 75% Fermaid K/25% DAP, middle feeding was pure Fermaid K with no extra DAP at all (not counting what the Fermaid K had in it), and the last one was boiled bread yeast slurry. I had pretty good results with that-- most of my recent meads were drinkable straight out of primary with few flaws.

One thing bothers me about TOSNA so far-- If I understand the instructions correctly, you aren't supposed to put in the first feeding until 24 hours after pitch. Does anybody know why? It seems like the yeast would need those nutrients the most when they're first getting started. I can understand delaying feeding to the first signs of fermentation to prevent any pathogens from eating the nutrients before the yeast can establish themselves, but what is accomplished by waiting a full 24 hours?
 
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Technically I think the first feeding just be at the end of lag/beginning of exponential growth. That isnt necessarily 24 hours after pitch, though I'm not sure exactly how to detect that transition point (I don't know if signs of visual activity-ie, foaming/bubbling-are an accurate indication).

Up until that point, I believe the Go Ferm/Go Ferm Protect should provide the yeast what it needs up until that point. I've had more success NOT doing first feeding at pitch, and waiting till end of lag.
 
I too wait until I see signs that lag is over. Drop in gravity, foam, hissing, or just rising bubbles. I feel if you have enough yeast and are not underpitching, lag should never last more than 6-8 hours at the most. I expect, if I had to guess, Sergio just put it at 24 hours to make it simple for newbee's. I too believe the Go-ferm and naturally found YAN in the must is enough for such a short, and easy lag phase. I believe O2 is way more important at this stage than anything else. I aerate at pitch and at 24 hours with a stone and believe it makes a huge difference. Especially near the end of fermentation.
 
Why is it bad to add nutrients at the very beginning? After all, we generally use wine yeasts which are meant to be pitched directly into a pretty nutrient-rich environment.
 
Next time I'll put the first dose in as soon as fermentation begins instead of waiting an arbitrary number of hours.
 
I would second Squatchy. It is not an hour thing, one is looking for signs of active fermentation. That the yeast are taking off.
 
So the reason that I don't feed my batch any nitrogen prior to the lag phase getting over, is that I don't want to feed the undesirables and give them a boost. I also don't want them to eat up all the food that I'm feeding to my yeasts.
 
I believe DAP is actually harmful to your yeast until they have their "jackets" on as well.

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