Solved: Substitute Yeast Nutrient

The following I found in various threads around here seem like simple, low cost, and (mostly) natural alternatives if you're out of nutrient.

If you are boiling you can add any dry yeast to the boil, including bread yeast. It is the same as using yeast hulls. Yeast are cannibals and they will go for the dead yeast first. -Revvy

use grape nuts it works great, take one cup and add water boil for a couple of min in a microwave, then cool and strain add only the liquid to the fermenter. It will take off like a rocket ship. -yodalegomaster

(I was curious what makes grape nuts a good yeast nutrient so I looked up the ingredients: whole grain wheat flower, wheat flower, malted barley, salt, dried yeast, soy lecithin, other things including 6 kinds of B vitamins. All sounds yummy for the yeasties! I read somewhere they need B vitamins.)

Yeast Energizer/Nutrient:
Bee pollen. If you're buying directly from the producer, ask them.
Raisins. Chopped, smashed, or generally abused.
Acid Blend:
Lemon juice is a good substitute. Just add it to taste, probably 1 mL at a time.
-will_cbe

I was curious about yeast nutrient and energizer after I got the stuff I ordered off the internet so I did a little digging. I really didn't like the idea of putting urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) in something I plan on drinking. My bad for ordering something without reading the ingredients. Thought I'd share what I gathered. Cheers!

Thanks for the info! Plan on trying to GrapeNuts next, sounds full of good yeast foods!

i ain't adding grape nuts... nope, not gonna do it.

I hated grape nuts when I was a kid...

All the nutrients yeasts need can be found in malt extract.

I could see no difference between using ME and ME + Difco yeast extract.

Grape nuts go in my belly, not my starter.

FWIW, wort is typically deficient of soluble zinc. Grape nuts, bread yeast, etc. do not provide soluble zinc. Worst case, they contribute flavor to the finished beer.

My advice is to use a recommended yeast nutrient. A deficient mineral fermentation primarily affects successive yeast generation [cell wall] health/permeability.

So, if you're brewing all grain wort and not washing/rinsing your yeast, I wouldn't even worry about adding "nutrients".

Believe it or not, grape nuts have zinc oxide.

I've used bee pollen before as well as brewer's yeast the nutritional supplement.

musick said:

All the nutrients yeasts need can be found in malt extract.

I could see no difference between using ME and ME + Difco yeast extract.

Grape nuts go in my belly, not my starter.

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musick, try adding 5 or 10 grams per liter of Difco Bacto-peptone to the ME, that might kick 'em in.

jb721 said:

I really didn't like the idea of putting urea and diammonium phosphate (DAP) in something I plan on drinking.

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D'oh, I've just bought some nutrient and thought DAP sounds similar, so checked ingredients and yeah, I've got some pee in my yeast nutrients. Maybe I should save some money and just take a leek into my wort before pitching in future?

Got a couple of questions........wont the yeast eat the DAP and all the other things we dislike that comes in yeast nutrients. I have used yeast nutrients in whiskey mashes for years (and yes I know we distill that and prolly leave all that behind) ---- but does anybody KNOW if you can taste any of those Y.N. when used in beer???? I had a stuck or slowed ferment once recenly and wanted to add some Y.N. but just wasn't sure so I didn't but would it really ruin the brew??? I think the Grape Nuts or maybe a couple of people vitamins would work -------- no??
Things that make ya go hmmmmmmmm.

ChillWill said:

Maybe I should save some money and just take a leek into my wort before pitching in future?

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Make sure you post the results.

heeler said:

Got a couple of questions........wont the yeast eat the DAP and all the other things we dislike that comes in yeast nutrients. I have used yeast nutrients in whiskey mashes for years (and yes I know we distill that and prolly leave all that behind) ---- but does anybody KNOW if you can taste any of those Y.N. when used in beer????

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I'm pretty sure you won't have any off tastes unless you go ever recommended dosage. I would agree that the yeast would break down those compounds... It's just the IDEA of them in there I personally find distasteful.

heeler said:

Got a couple of questions........wont the yeast eat the DAP and all the other things we dislike that comes in yeast nutrients.

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Yes. The yeast will take these up and use them for such nasty things as amino acids, nucleic acids, even ATP (adenosine triphoshate). Who would want these in their beers???!!???. Oh wait, they are already in there anyway. Never mind.

Just so everyone is fully informed, urea is a common component in blood, and is filtered out by the kidneys for later excretion (pissing). Since it is in blood, that means that steak you ate had some urea in it. If you don't want to eat or drink anything with urea in it, you'd better become a vegan.

In that case, Mmmmmm...urea.

40watt said:

In that case, Mmmmmm...urea.

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+1

If you're out of DME and you want to get your starter going, there are alternatives to "yeast nutrient" from the LHBS. All I'm saying.

I honestly did not know that all the best things in life are made of pee.

Cheers!

HardHatPat said:

I hated grape nuts when I was a kid...

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Then you grew up and discovered that they taste just like 2-row?