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Author Topic: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?  (Read 3000 times)

Offline majorvices

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2020, 07:52:57 am »
I almost always use nutrients - but it wouldn't stop me from brewing if I didn't have it. I do always use it for starters however. Just the tip of a butter knife amount.

Offline Wilbur

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2020, 08:41:58 am »
I've always used a dash in my starters. Is there a difference between yeast nutrients? I think I have yeast energizer and yeast nutrient from LD Carlson, as well as the Wyeast yeast nutrient.

Offline Lazy Ant Brewing

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #17 on: October 16, 2020, 09:21:06 am »
I've never used it and get compliments on my brews. 

However, I use tap water, treated per Ward labs report to Bru'n water specs, only brew beers in the darker part of the color spectrum, use dry yeast, and keep the estimated ABV < 6.

Do any of those factors preclude the need for yeast nutrient?
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Offline denny

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #18 on: October 16, 2020, 10:07:41 am »
I've never used it and get compliments on my brews. 

However, I use tap water, treated per Ward labs report to Bru'n water specs, only brew beers in the darker part of the color spectrum, use dry yeast, and keep the estimated ABV < 6.

Do any of those factors preclude the need for yeast nutrient?

Not necessarily.
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Offline denny

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #19 on: October 16, 2020, 10:08:15 am »
I've always used a dash in my starters. Is there a difference between yeast nutrients? I think I have yeast energizer and yeast nutrient from LD Carlson, as well as the Wyeast yeast nutrient.

There is a difference, but I can't tell you exactly what.
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Offline BrewBama

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #20 on: October 16, 2020, 10:38:47 am »
Probably the tap water. Ck your report — it probably has zinc in it.

Offline Ellismr

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #21 on: October 17, 2020, 05:06:14 am »
I have noticed better fermentation‘s in terms of start time when I add yeast nutrient but I will say that not all nutrients are created equally the nutrient from Wyeast seems to work best for me. 


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Offline roger

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2020, 04:18:04 pm »
Denny, do you mean no difference in taste when you have early versus late fermentation start?

No difference in taste, FG, or any other meaningful measure.
My experience agrees with Denny's comments. Although I don't understand the  obsession with quick starting or quick finishing fermentation, everyone's brewery is unique. Maybe if I ever had an infection, I would feel different.

However, I always add nutrient, because, as said above, why not?

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Offline stout_fan

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #23 on: October 27, 2020, 05:55:58 pm »
Some yeast nutrient is nothing more than yeast hulls or ghosts. I came up with a simpler approach. I went to Costco and bought half a kilo of Fleischmann's bread Yeast. I keep it in a jar in the fridge. Besides using it for bread (when I'm not brewing) I pitch a heaping tablespoon (AKA 2 tablespoons) into my 14 gal sized batch. I pitch it into the BK AFTER boil starts that way the yeast is terminated with extreme prejudice and adds no fermentation products to my beer, just protein and lipids.. DEAD ones!

I believe it has helped in faster starts, no stuck fermentations and a more complete fermentation without diacetyl. But this could all be speculative and wishful thinking, what the heck do I know. I'm retired.
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Offline mabrungard

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #24 on: October 27, 2020, 07:28:52 pm »
Yes, yeast hulls have been used as a nutrient for centuries.  They work. But they can also impart autolysis flavor to beer if used in excess.  A little could be good, but more could be bad.
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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #25 on: October 27, 2020, 08:02:57 pm »
Some yeast nutrient is nothing more than yeast hulls or ghosts. I came up with a simpler approach. I went to Costco and bought half a kilo of Fleischmann's bread Yeast. I keep it in a jar in the fridge. Besides using it for bread (when I'm not brewing) I pitch a heaping tablespoon (AKA 2 tablespoons) into my 14 gal sized batch. I pitch it into the BK AFTER boil starts that way the yeast is terminated with extreme prejudice and adds no fermentation products to my beer, just protein and lipids.. DEAD ones!

I believe it has helped in faster starts, no stuck fermentations and a more complete fermentation without diacetyl. But this could all be speculative and wishful thinking, what the heck do I know. I'm retired.

I think it was in the old Dave Line book, that it was stated that Fuller's would pitch a bucket of yeast into the boil. Nothing about the size of the bucket. Fuller's had big kettles back then.
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Offline ynotbrusum

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Re: Yeast nutrient, is it needed for all grain?
« Reply #26 on: October 28, 2020, 05:16:21 am »
I have pitched old expired yeast into the boil instead of yeast nutrient.  I haven’t done any side by side comparisons, but it didn’t overtly change the process, time or flavor in my experience.  But this is a rare occurrence and I would have to compare side by side to see if autolytic results come from it....my guess is that it would take a lot of dead yeast to make any difference in a five gallon batch or ten gallon batch, which are the sizes I brew.
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