Used entirely too much yeast nutrient

So, I was making the wort for a super-high gravity beer. The yeast I'm using is white lab's super high gravity yeast, and they recommend for super-high gravity wort putting in yeast nutrients, at 2x the regular levels. So I merrily added 2 vials of yeast nutrient, only to later find out that each vial has approx. 20 doses in each vial. How bad is my beer messed up? Is there any way to fix this?

Yeah, that’s a lot of nutrient. I've never heard of anyone using that much, so I can’t say for certain what sort of flavor you will get (there is a chance of bad flavors from the nutrient itself and from the fermentation character of a beer with that much nutrient). I would just wait and see, you might be surprised and have a nice beer.

Most yeast nutrients will just settle out, if the yeast do not use them. If yours has zinc as an additive, I'd be a bit concerned about getting a metallic flavor. But, if you don't taste it now, you don't need to worry about later.

It's always a good idea to read the instructions, THEN ignore them. Another example is Irish moss. I've never seen a recipe that follows the directions on the IM package.

LOL - 40 doses of yeast nutrient to one batch...

At this point, probably not much you can do but wait it out and see what happens. I think it might end up just fine...

Possibly yeast on steroids w/ Yeast-roid RAGE beating up other yeast cells! Giant freakin 5gallon cage match!

Seriously though, yeast will only take and use what it needs. the rest should just settle out. Should be just fine.

any update on this? just curious if there where any side effects of too much yeast nutrient.

Ya, I would like to see the ferment on that batch.

I hope you have blow off tubes hooked up.

It would be fun to wash that yeast also, See if you get more than normal amounts.

So here's an update:

The thing fermented like mad crazy for the first day or so, and then went down to bubbling every minute or so for about two weeks, at which point I opened it up and took a hydrometer reading...only to discover that the gravity had only gone down by a third (about .040; this was a super-high gravity beer), oddly enough. The taste wasn't too bad, though - didn't have a harsh or metallic overtone, possibly because the thing's very hoppy and my palate may just be overwhelmed by that.

At any rate, took a few more readings in the days after and it seems like the fermentation is stuck. Right now I'm brewing another batch of beer in order to have a good yeast cake to try to jump-start the fermentation and get the thing chugging again.

Did the beer ever turn out... or were there noticeable off-flavors?