Yeast Nutrients?

Can somebody help me out with the proper technique for using yeast nutrients. I picked some up at the LHBS when I bought my ingredients for my next batch as it will have a higher O.G. that what I have brewed in the past. A few posts I have read suggested that adding it in to a high gravity beer was a good idea and the guy at the store agreed with this. It was't until I got home that I realized I have no idea how to use the stuff. Does it get added before, after or at the same time as the yeast? Does it need to be added to the boil? Does it go in dry, or in a slurry of some sort? I tried surching for an answer, but all the posts I found just seem to say, "add yeast nutrient". As I said no clue, so any tips or tricks you could offer would be greatly appreciated. The nutients I bought are called yeastex if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance for your help.

I think that with some yeast nutrients you have to be careful because they can leave some off flavors of their own if not needed.

Can you share your recipe or a better description of the beer you're making and which yeast you intend to use? I'd bet someone here would be glad to help you out with your question with a little more info.

Just from doing my own quick Google, it looks like Yeastex(61) is used more in wine, and the rate is about 1 gram per gallon, but I have no idea about how to use it with beer.

I use this stuff in my stqrter wort, I have never added it to my actual brew wort.

Wyeast Nutrient Blend


Product: Supplemental nutrients for propagation & brewing
Description:
A blend of vitamins, minerals, inorganic nitrogen, organic nitrogen, zinc, phosphates and other trace elements that will benefit yeast growth and complete fermentation. Additional nutrients are most valuable during yeast propagation and sluggish or stuck fermentations. Supplementing with nutrients will reduce lag time, improve viability and provide consistent attenuation rates.
Usage Rate: 1/2 tsp (2.2 Grams) per 5 gallons (19 liters) of wort.
Usage Instructions: Dissolve Wyeast Nutrient in warm water. Add solution to kettle 10-15 minutes prior to end of boil.
Stability: 1 year if stored in airtight container in a cool environment.

Thaks for the quick replies.

I don't have the exact recipe with me right now, but it is a Irish Red ale, using white labs Irish ale yeast. It's got 8 lbs of LME, and specialty grains which I don't know of the top of my head. I think the O.G was going to be 1.060, or 1.065just a guess. Not sure if any of that helps or not. The label on the yeastex says to add a 1/2 teaspoon to 5 gal. of beer. Thats it, no indicator of when, or how. I came up dry on a google search too. Yeastex web site was pretty useless found the same info you posted.

The Wyest nutrient blend sounds like pretty similar stuff. Is there a reason you don't add it stright to the wort? I have always used pitchable liquid yeast and never used a starter. Do you think a starter is a neccesity for this stuff and if so is there an easy way to make one? Starters are something else I know nothing about.

Thanks again for the help.

i use the wyeast stuff in both starters and batches. i have read a few suggestions that say you really only need it in a starter, as long as your starter is giving you a big enough pitching rate for your batch. i pitch massive starters, bordering on over-pitching, so i might stop using it in batches. i follow the directions exactly as posted by SuperiorBrew ^^. the wyeast stuff has little white crystaly chunks that i make sure are dissolved before i add it. i can't say that i've noticed a difference or improvement over beer i made before i started using it, but all of my yeast propagation and pitching procedures result in very fast, violent fermentations and well attenuated beers, so i'm not planning on changing anything.

It won't dissolve completely in wort, that's why you dissolve it in water first. The crystalline chunks are diammonium phosphate, the rest of the stuff is chelated zinc, and autolysed yeast cells.

STUNTx2 said:

Thaks for the quick replies.

I don't have the exact recipe with me right now, but it is a Irish Red ale, using white labs Irish ale yeast. It's got 8 lbs of LME, and specialty grains which I don't know of the top of my head. I think the O.G was going to be 1.060, or 1.065just a guess. Not sure if any of that helps or not. The label on the yeastex says to add a 1/2 teaspoon to 5 gal. of beer. Thats it, no indicator of when, or how. I came up dry on a google search too. Yeastex web site was pretty useless found the same info you posted.

The Wyest nutrient blend sounds like pretty similar stuff. Is there a reason you don't add it stright to the wort? I have always used pitchable liquid yeast and never used a starter. Do you think a starter is a neccesity for this stuff and if so is there an easy way to make one? Starters are something else I know nothing about.

Thanks again for the help.

Click to expand...

i'd follow the wyeast directions for time and procedure (dissolving in water) and i'd follow the yeastex directions for amount. i'm guessing a company like wyeast makes the stuff because even though they say that the smack pack is enough yeast for 5gal, it's really not, which is why most people make starters. like i said in my previous post i always make starters. read this recently resurrected thread about starters. you want your starter wort to be about 1.030-1.040. most people make them with driled malt extract (DME), and most use extra light. for most DME's you'll get those gravities by mixing 1lb of DME with 1 gallon of water. a good size starter for a 5 gallon batch of beer is to boil a half gallon of water and add a half lb of DME. cool as normal and pitch your liquid yeast into that. give it at least 3 days if you're going to pitch the whole starter, or at least 5-6 days if you want it to settle out so you can just pitch the yeast slurry at the bottom. you don't need a starter for dry yeast.

honestly you shouldn't need it for beer. beer wort has a lot of nitrogen in it, as well as other nutrients.

now if you were making wine or especially mead, then nutrient and especially energizer would be mandatory for a good solid fermentation.

malkore said:

honestly you shouldn't need it for beer. beer wort has a lot of nitrogen in it, as well as other nutrients.

now if you were making wine or especially mead, then nutrient and especially energizer would be mandatory for a good solid fermentation.

Click to expand...

True, free amino nitrogen is readily available in wort, and that's typically not the problem. However, low concentrations of zinc can be a significant problem (especially in very high gravity ales), as well as certain amino acids necessary for yeast reproduction otherwise not found in grains. This is where something like Wyeast's nutrient would come in. I'm not saying it's necessary, but in my experience happy yeast make cleaner beers, ferment quicker, and store better.

So if I use a little yeast nutrient it 6.6 ABV beer do you think it would speed up the fermentation process slightly? I am not being impatient, but I wanted to make something simple in the primary over the course of the next few weeks and then I wanted to use that fermenter to put a old beer into for the secondary. Any chance I can ferment a IPA in like 12 days and would I have better chances if I use a little Yeast Nutrient?

Do you guys add additional nutrients to your starter when using Wyeast? I bought yeast nutrient two years ago and never used the stuff because of the nutrient bubble in the wyeast smackpacks.