Does anybody know if there is a difference between wyeast beer nutrient blend and white labs yeast nutrient wln1000? I bought both and typically use the wyeast brand.
Neither one is necessary. So from that standpoint, there is no difference.
I partially and politely disagree, Dave. Neither is necessary, but both are helpful, in that zinc is deficient in most worts, at least in a form yeast can assimilate. (Most of the potentially available zinc remains in the spent grain, a little in the hot break material, very little in wort.) Sufficient zinc makes a real difference, IME, in reducing lag time and fermentation time, improving attenuation and flocculation, and even foam quality. The one proprietary nutrient that differs from the other two mentioned is Servomyces, which is just yeast hulls grown on a zinc rich medium, so it really ONLY supplies zinc. But it costs an arm and a leg. So if only for the zinc content, one of the others (which I'd bet are quite similar, probably yeast hulls plus trace minerals) is cheap insurance for good yeast performance. Especially if you want multiple generations of good performance. So, long story short, since all you really
might need is zinc, and both wln1000 and
WY nut will have it, no significant difference. (I use WY. I see no difference in results between it and Servomyces, probably because everything but the zinc is unnecessary.)