Yeast nutrients

[niels]

Does anyone use yeast nutrients (e.g. Wyeast Nutrient Blend)? I did have some problems fermenting my witbier and was thinking about adding some nutrients to the boil in the future.

When reading on the Interwebs you find a lot of positive info, but I also have found reactions of people that claim the use of nutrients gives you off flavours.

Niels

[Dan]

It would be interesting to hear a pro brewer's P.O.V. on this. Or at least someone who has tried the same trusted recipe over and over again, then tried no nutrient vs varying amounts of nutrients.
I have always added 2.5g / 20-22L batch simply because it's what I'm supposed to do according to all the reading/listening I've done. But I've never tried a brew without.

[cpa4ny]

I always use yeast nutrients - either Wyeast Nutrient Blend ("WNB") or Servomyces.

For the former - the dosage is 1/2 teaspoon and for the latter - it is one tiny capsule.

Given these de minimis amounts, I think that whoever on the interwebs is trying to blame the yeast nutrients for the off-flavors, may want to re-examine other aspects of their brewing.

Couple of tips:

1.) For WNB, I give it additional crush in a mortar with a pestle to turn it into a sand-like substance. Then I mix it in half a cup of boiling water and mix that into the wort.

2.) For Servo, I noticed that sometimes a capsule doesn't melt even after a 10-minute boil. So when I use a Servo, I would just open the capsule and dump the nutrient contents into the boiling wort.

[fy0d0r]

I've been using one capsule of Servomyces per 25-30L batch, no off-flavours.
Noted a bit faster fermentation though.

I also use Fermaid-K for the starters along with a drop of virgin olive oil.

Don't think that nutrients make much difference in terms of fermentation for "regular" (up to 15 Plato OG) beers, I'd rather look into yeast pitch rates/methods in case of fermentation problems.

[cpa4ny]

fy0d0r - I understand that Fermaid-K is more of a wine/mead yeast nutrient.

Just curious why you chose that particular yeast nutrient over the ones specifically designed for beer yeasts?

[fy0d0r]

In fact most yeast nutrients consist of the source of Nitrogen - DAP (more important for Wine/Mead as Beer Wort should have enough) + source of minerals (zinc in particular), vitamins (Biotin) and amino-acids - (most often dead yeast, sometimes specially cultivated in mineral-enriched wort)

So applicability of one or another brand for Wine/Beer is more of Marketing dept and maybe proportion of DAP/Dead Yeast in the mix.

I just use Fermaid for starters because it is much cheaper and I can put more not being afraid of some off-flavors as I pitch sediment only, not the whole 2L starter.

BTW, there are two nice articles on DIY Yeast Nutrients:
http://bkyeast.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/homebrewed-yeast-extract/
http://bkyeast.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/yeast-extract-update/

[Batz]

I have used them and found they made no difference at all. I don't use them now.

Batz

[cpa4ny]

Thanks for sharing fy0d0r!

Interesting articles.

[Elderberry]

I never do. Keep in mind that the Wyeast smack packs already contain yeast nutrients. If you add more, you'll probably get off flavors. I've never had a problem with Fermentis yeast without adding nutrients.

[swiggingpig]

I have used them and found they made no difference at all. I don't use them now.

Batz

+1