Shelley Stuart has been beekeeping since 2009, and became a Cornell Master Beekeeper in 2017. She maintains the apiary at under 20 full-sized colonies, with a handful of resource nucs added to the mix. She’s been involved with the Finger Lakes Beekeepers Club since 2010 in various capacities, including a multi-year run as president.
After several years of farmers’ markets and online brewing kit sales, she is turning toward breeding bees on a small scale, and citizen science. Her current project focuses on how to create an approachable method to raise bigger queens through the natural honey bee swarm process.
Hi Shelley,
If I would have seen your kickstarter pitch I would have kicked in. Is it still up? Maybe I still can kick in. I’m happy about your new business.
Will you advise me about yeast nutrient for mead? What do you use? Is there anything to worry about regarding toxics in the mead? Is there a kitchen cupboard substitute for yeast nutrient?
David
Thanks! The campaign is done, but I appreciate the words of support!
The nutrient I use is Fermax – the same nutrient as Ithaca Coffee uses in their winemaking section, and what I’ve used since I started making mead. It contains Diammonium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate, tastone, and magnesium sulfate. You can substitute raisins and orange peels for the nutrient, but you’ll have to research the ratios and they will both probably add some flavor to your mead (not a bad thing, but something to be mindful of). We did this with our first mead over a decade ago, but I’ve since lost the notes on that batch so I don’t know what we used or how it tasted!