Using yeast nutrient

My homebrew dealer gave me a Wyeast poster with beer yeasts on one side and wine yeasts on the other. One of the products listed on the poster is their yeast nutrient.

When and how would this product be used? Does anyone have experience with it?

Does using it change the character of the beer?

In wort, it's usually not necessary but in some musts for wine and in all meads, it's very necessary. This being said, I use yeast nutrient in my wort to try and ensure a healthy yeast population. I use White Labs Servomyces and have had good results with fast starts and short primary fermentations.

The more yeast you have and the healthier they are, the better off you are is the short of it.

Volumes of info can be researched on the net concerning this. You'll get less off flavors with shorter fermentations.

I use yeast nutrient only for ciders and even then only when I am forced to use filtered apple juice. If you were making a large batch of a high gravity ale, you would want to use some nutrient in the starter. It doesn't change the beer at all, just gets you there faster.

i've also used it when a beer seems to get a stuck fermentation. I'll boil a little of it in a cup of water and dump it into my carboy. Then I rouse the yeast and re-seal it.

I don't know how much it helps, but I figure it can't hurt. When the bottle I have now is gone, I'll probably never buy anymore. Heck, the current bottle was a hand-me-down from a friend who tried to make mead once.

-walker

mmditter said:

How do you tell a stuck fermentation from one that just is a very short one?

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I mainly go by taste. Too sweet = sugar not all fermented.

You could also use a hydrometer to check gravity, but I avoid iusing my hydrometer for the most part.

-walker