Why mead goes wrong

Yeast needs nitrogen to build cells, and what it can use is measured as yeast-assimilable nitrogen, in parts per million. Grape juice carries roughly 150 to 300 or more. Honey carries almost none, commonly cited at 0 to 20.

So a wine yeast dropped into diluted honey is starving from its first hour. Under that stress:

• It makes hydrogen sulphide, the smell of rotten eggs.
• It throws fusel alcohols that taste hot and solvent.
• It often gives up before the sugar is gone, which is a stuck ferment.

That is most of the reputation mead has for being difficult. It is not the honey being fussy; it is a missing ingredient, and nutrient supplies it.