What do I do with this yeast fuel?

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FSBrewer

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I bought an ingredient kit and it comes with a vial of 5g of BrewVint Yeast Fuel. The liquid yeast that the kit came with is dead (tried a starter already) so I am going to use dry yeast. The kit instructions don't say anything about the yeast fuel. How do I use it? Should I use it? Shake it in when I rehydrate the dry yeast?
 
I am new to brewing, but from the two batches I brewed up, I think you throw the yeast fuel in the wort as the boil is wrapping up.
 
Hmmm.... I'm a newbie too, but also a purist, and I'm thinking all that wonderful malt should be fuel enough for the yeast. What's this yeast fuel made of anyway?

Unless I get some strong opinions in the next 60 minutes, I think I'll skip it this time.

I'm brewing a double bock by the way.
 
Who do you expect to be up in the middle of the night? ;) Oh wait, you're probably across the pond. Yeast fuel is used primarily for wines and meads, where nutrients aren't as scarce as they are in beer. If it were me, I'd save the yeast fuel for if you ever make a mead, it will be very beneficial. Yeast fuel is primarily vitamins and minerals, and also yeast hulls. Supposedly yeast hulls help new yeast buds grow faster.
 
Strange, I wonder why they included it in the kit. It's an Austin kit. At any rate, thanks for the posting, I'm gonna skip it.

As long as you're up :) let me pose another question as I still have a little time: I boiled a cup or so of water with a heaping spoonful of DME which I figured I'd dump my dry yeast into a while before pitching. First question is is this advisable and second how long before pitching should I do it?

(Yes, across a big pond. I find myself in Asia at the moment)
 
Who do you expect to be up in the middle of the night? ;) Oh wait, you're probably across the pond. Yeast fuel is used primarily for wines and meads, where nutrients aren't as scarce as they are in beer. If it were me, I'd save the yeast fuel for if you ever make a mead, it will be very beneficial. Yeast fuel is primarily vitamins and minerals, and also yeast hulls. Supposedly yeast hulls help new yeast buds grow faster.

Yeast fuel is a yeast nutrient made for beer but you can use it in wine or mead. People that use it really like it and it is very popular.

It works so well that it can take up to 2 days off of your fermentation time. It is the best way to have a fast, clean, healthy fermentation.

BrewVint Yeast Fuel will:

Reduce fermentation time.
Impart no off-flavors.
Provide nutrients often lacking in wort.
Provide lipids and amino acids which are beneficial for yeast.

Usage: Use one capsule per 5 gallon batch added at the last 10 minutes of the boil.

We have received many many emails from online customers and comments from instore customers who have tried BrewVint Yeast Fuel. They were all amazed at how quickly and easily the fermentation began, how vigorous it was, and how quickly it was complete. And now they will not brew with out it.

Sounds like I need to give out samples so people can post their results. Just PM me with an address and I can send out samples. PLEASE post your results so that people can learn.

Forrest
 
I normally just add a spoonful of baker's yeast to act as nutrients when boiling the wort. It's very cheap this baker's yeast and yes, the fermentation is very vigorous.
 
I normally just add a spoonful of baker's yeast to act as nutrients when boiling the wort. It's very cheap this baker's yeast and yes, the fermentation is very vigorous.

I hate to break this to you: There is actually more bacteria in baking yeast than yeast. Quality control is not as important in baking yeast because it is going to be cooked. Beer designed for fermentation needs to have virtually no bacteria.

Yeast Fuel has yeast hulls and other minerals such as zinc (very important) to produce a healthy fermentation.

Forrest
 
I hate to break this to you: There is actually more bacteria in baking yeast than yeast. Quality control is not as important in baking yeast because it is going to be cooked. Beer designed for fermentation needs to have virtually no bacteria.

But he said he adds it when boiling the wort, so I assume this will kill any bacteria...

So what does this yeast fuel actually contain?
 
But he said he adds it when boiling the wort, so I assume this will kill any bacteria...

So what does this yeast fuel actually contain?

My point is that if you go out to the garage and run your finger on something, the dust you come up with would have as much yeast and bacteria as baking yeast. You wouldn't want to put it in your beer.

Yeast fuel has yeast hulls and additional minerals including zinc. The will give you a cleaner, faster healthy fermentation.

Try it you will like it. PM me and I can send you a sample. Hopefully you can make a double batch and use the same strain of yeast in two seperate carboys. One with yeast fuel and one without. This would be the best way to convice you that it is worth while.

I think I will run this experiment as soon as I am able and try to post the results on Youtube.com

Forrest
 
I'd never given any thought to yeast nutrients before, but reading this thread prompted me to do a bit of reading around the subject. I thought this...

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-9-1.html

...was a good read for people as ignorant on the subject as me :mug:.

Forrest (or anyone) - do you know whether you'd need to add nutrients to a beer that you were going to pitch onto a yeast cake? If the aim is to help yeast reproduce I'd guess a healthy yeast cake would make adding nutrients redundant, but it'd be good to hear anyone else's thoughts.
 
why do you think your liquid yeast is dead?
and i've never used a starter and i've never had a problem. colour me lucky

My liquid yeast was in transit at unknown temperatures for 3 weeks. I made a started for it and after a full day there was no activity at all.

It was a good test for me because now I know not to bother with liquid yeasts unless I can find a way to get one here quicker.
 
that's rough. are there any breweries out in your area? you may be able to snag some yeast off a friendly brewer for a few bucks
 
PLEASE post your results so that people can learn.

Forrest

brewed two batched today (blonde and an india brown ale). Dropped both with AHS BrewVist with 10min. left in the boil. Both were bubblin' about 4 hours after they hit the primary....

good stuff, I think; but for about a buck, seems like a good deal to me.
 
Thanks for posting. Keep an eye on your gravity readings if you can. This will show you how quickly the beer ferments using Yeast Fuel.

Forrest
 
So yeast fuel is exactly yeast nutrients?
My local store sells those yeast nutrients. They even have one by Wyeast labs!
 
My liquid yeast was in transit at unknown temperatures for 3 weeks. I made a started for it and after a full day there was no activity at all.

I had a liquid yeast that took 7-8 days to resurrect itself after being stored in a fridge for almost a year, and the package never really swelled that much. I made a starter from it and it worked great.

Lesson learned: You should give the yeast some more time, and remember that even healthy yeast do not necessarily cause the package to swell. Make a starter to test viability.
 
I really don't understand the rush for such a quick fermentation. Once the yeast is pitched it will ferment over a period of time determined by a variety of factors inherent to the yeast and also related to the environment in which it finds itself. Commercially made yeast as we use to brew will outcompete all other yeast trying to survive in the wort.

What is the rush for "quick" fermentation. I see some quotes about knocking 2 days off of fermentation times. I just don't get it.

Once you pitch a starter of healthy yeast into uncontaminated wort you will end up with beer. If you can precisely control fermentation temperatures you can produce great beer.

Does the speed of fermentation have anything to do with how good your beer tastes???

:confused:
 
I really don't understand the rush for such a quick fermentation. Once the yeast is pitched it will ferment over a period of time determined by a variety of factors inherent to the yeast and also related to the environment in which it finds itself. Commercially made yeast as we use to brew will outcompete all other yeast trying to survive in the wort.

What is the rush for "quick" fermentation. I see some quotes about knocking 2 days off of fermentation times. I just don't get it.

Once you pitch a starter of healthy yeast into uncontaminated wort you will end up with beer. If you can precisely control fermentation temperatures you can produce great beer.

Does the speed of fermentation have anything to do with how good your beer tastes???

:confused:

Well, no. I wouldn't think so. From what I've read about the life cycle of brewer's yeast, when you pitch, the yeast colony goes berserk and starts reproducing as fast as it can. I would imagine yeast nutrients provide an even better environment, and therefore will kickstart the reproduction process. There's no real fermentation going on in the first day or so apparently as the yeast reproduces until it saturates the wort. The faster that you can get through the reproduction (where I read the main biproduct is CO2) the faster the beer will get to brewing.

Also, and this is wild speculation on my part, it would seem that with ideal yeast nutrients, the yeasties would stay active longer towards the end of fermentation before they settled into the trub at the bottom. This might help clean up some of the biproducts and impart a nicer, faster finish on your beer.

The first point is educated speculation from what I've read. The second is SWAG (Scientific, Wild-Assed Guess) from a little bit of logic.
 
I really don't understand the rush for such a quick fermentation. Once the yeast is pitched it will ferment over a period of time determined by a variety of factors inherent to the yeast and also related to the environment in which it finds itself. Commercially made yeast as we use to brew will outcompete all other yeast trying to survive in the wort.

What is the rush for "quick" fermentation. I see some quotes about knocking 2 days off of fermentation times. I just don't get it.

Once you pitch a starter of healthy yeast into uncontaminated wort you will end up with beer. If you can precisely control fermentation temperatures you can produce great beer.
:confused:

I was having these same thoughts. I thought I'd get a few more batches under my belt (figuratively as well as literally) and see if I feel the need for speed, or feel that there's something lacking.
 
So yeast fuel is exactly yeast nutrients?
My local store sells those yeast nutrients. They even have one by Wyeast labs!

It is a yeast nutrient. There are different grades and qualities. Yeast Fuel is a completely different animal.

The ingredient in beer do not provide the yeast all of the nutrients needed to have the best fermentation. A faster fermentation will reduce off flavors and make avery clean beer.

Just like you do not get all the nutrients your body needs from the food you eat. If you suppliment your food with vitamins and nutrients you will be healthier.

You should try it once. There are free samples available. Hopefully you can do a controlled experiment. If you use the product, I would hope that you observe the difference. Watch the batch ferment and take hydrometer readings. If you use it and throw the beer in the closet for a week without ever observing the difference, the point will be lost.

Forrest
 
I received a sample of BrewVint Yeast Fuel from Austin Homebrew. I used it last night in Cheesefood's VC Cream Ale. I tossed the capsule in the last ten minutes of the boil.

I pitched Nottingham directly onto the wort at 68*. The fermenter was in a tub I use to keep it 64*-70*. I went back to the tub to check on it about 20 min later. It was already bubbling. About an hour later I went back to check it out and it was going steadily. Meanwhile, my Amber Ale was sitting dormant next to it (grrr).

So anyway, this stuff seems awesome. I'll add more once fermentation has ended.

UPDATE: Today it has been bubbling like crazy. Nearly constant, with 1 sec in between max. These observations are form around pitch+12 to pitch+18 hours.

BTW, the main reason I want quick fermentation is less time to carefully control temp (I don't have a great setup for this yet).
 
I received a sample of BrewVint Yeast Fuel from Austin Homebrew. I used it last night in Cheesefood's VC Cream Ale. I tossed the capsule in the last ten minutes of the boil.

I pitched Nottingham directly onto the wort at 68*. The fermentor was in a tub I use to keep it 64*-70*. I went back to the tub to check on it about 20 min later. It was already bubbling. About an hour later I went back to check it out and it was going steadily. Meanwhile, my Amber Ale was sitting dormant next to it (grrr).

So anyway, this stuff seems awesome. I'll add more once fermenatoin has ended.

I'm just sayin'

Forrest
 
All I know is I like traditional Quaker oats more than I like the instant oats. ;)
 
I'm going to try this stuff (as well as the Wyeast nutrient) out when I order my next round of kits during the next sale.
 
Forrest,

I bought the starter kit from yall recently (I love it). Anyway, the starter kit came with the Yeast Nutrient. I made the starter with it and everything worked great. I neglected to throw in the Yeast Fuel capsule when I brewed. Is it still necessary when I make the starter? Fermentation kicked off great. I just wanted to know if it was best to use both.


Thanks,
 
I'd still like to know what's in it, where does it come from, etc. Are the ingredients a company secret?
 
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