11 replies to this topic

[ANUSTART]

For a while I've been using this stuff: (Wyeast Nutrient blend if the pic doest show up). I'd put a small unmeasured amount in starters and 1/2 tsp in every 5 gal batch. Eventually I ran out. It kinda looked like Fermaid K. I'm not sure what the differences are.The homebrew shop I was at didn't have that brand, but they had an LD Carlson branded nutrient blend that contained DAP and Urea. It mostly looks like DAP crystals. The instructions say 1 tsp per gallon must (clearly intended for wine). I asked the guys and they said 1 tsp for a 5 gallon batch of beer. I used 1/2 tsp just in case, DAP can be pretty strong.There's also a whitelabs brand of nutrient that is crazy expensive, about 5-6x the price of anything else. I didn't get that.What do you guys use, if anything? What are the differences?Is urea piss?

[MtnBrewer]

Are you suggesting that we pee in our wort?I use 1/8 tsp of the dry Wyeast nutrient in my starters. I usually don't use any nutrient in the beer except for really big ones. In that case I might use a capsule of servo or a teaspoon of old yeast that I've been saving. All grain wort should have all the nutrients needed for a healthy fermentation. Mead is another issue altogether. Honey contains almost no nutrients so adding nutrients is very important to a good mead fermentation (and probably wine also).

[BlKtRe]

I use WY nutrient. Our club did a bulk buy on it for not much money.

[positiveContact]

I usually put dry bread yeast in my starters (it gets boiled) b/c I have a big block that was really cheap. I heard that dead yeast cells have a lot of good nutrients for yeast. I kind of imagine it's like the matrix where they liquify people and feed them to other people.

[ANUSTART]

Are you suggesting that we pee in our wort?

It's what made the dirty diaper brew so good, right?

[ANUSTART]

I might switch to just using it for starters. I doubt there was any tangible benefit to adding it to the beer. I used it because I had it.

[zymot]

I have canned starters with Servomyces. 1 capsule per 5 gallons of canned starter.I have added Servomyces to various beers, last 10 minutes of the boil. Mostly larger beers.My purely anecdotal and empirical data says the Servomyces makes a difference and is worth the cost to me. I get shorter lag times and faster and complete ferments.

[shmgeggie]

Instead of paying $$$ for servo, go to the hippie store and buy "nutritional yeast." Way cheaper and it's a bunch of dead yeast cells, just like servomycese

[gnef]

I've been using the wyeast nutrient, but repackaged by austin homebrew from around 3-4 years ago (I bought at least a pound or so, so it has lasted me a while). It doesn't matter what beer I am making, I always add it (when I remember to!) for peace of mind.I don't use DAP directly for beer, I use it only for meads, and in very finite metered amounts (staggered nutrient additions), along with fermaid-k. I know that the wyeast nutrient blend has DAP in it, but as only part of the blend of nutrients.I have heard that servomyces from Wlabs is awesome, but haven't used it myself for the cost.If you don't mind waiting, just find an online homebrew shop that sells what you want/need, and get it that way.

[zymot]

Instead of paying $$$ for servo, go to the hippie store and buy "nutritional yeast." Way cheaper and it's a bunch of dead yeast cells, just like servomycese

As I understand it.Servomyces is more than just a bunch of dead yeast cells. It is a specific strain of yeast that can absorb zinc to a greater degree than other yeast. The servomyces yeast are rich with zinc heavy and your beer yeast eat the servomyces and become enriched with zinc, which is good for your fermentation. Servomyces is the best way to infuse your wort with zinc. You cannot go out and buy zinc tablets from the vitamin store and throw it into wort.I doubt the hippie drug store nutritional yeast is the same thing.

[Breakpoint]

For your average session brew, I just throw in some bread yeast and let the boil kill that dumping out the yeastiness (in biological terms). I'm getting ready to brew a big ol' barleywine, so I picked up some the Wyeast nutrient from NB. The guy there recommended it saying, "Seromyceses was good, but way overpriced and not as good as Wyeast nutrient."

[Stout_fan]

For your average session brew, I just throw in some bread yeast and let the boil kill that ...

I'm about 1 TBsp in 14 gal.Same thing, got a half kilo block at Costco for $3 or some low price.