Yeast Fuel for WhiteLabs

Well I went ahead and bought some WhiteLabs WLP300 to compare against my Safbrew WB-06 batch.

My question is, the place I bought it from recommends using a yeast nutrient or fuel. I have some Nutient and even some yeast energizer I used to use on wine.....would that work?

Or do I even need to use this?

Wine nutrient isn't the right stuff. I like Wyeast yeast nutrient. You are probably OK without it though for a low-med gravity beer.

yeah ok....I will only be shooting for about 4.5 to 5.5 % alcohol

Then you really do not need a yeast nutrient if you make a proper starter. It certainly would not hurt, though. The worst thing that could happen is nothing.


TL

I use and swear by yeast nutrient. I use Wyeast brand, and it is amazing stuff. I made some hard lemonade that was doing terrible as far as fermentation was concerned. Added some yeast nutrient and it was fermenting like crazy the next day. All of my brews ferment very well when I use the nutrient.

interestingly.....the Yeast Nutrient I have is from E.C. Kraus. And on the label it says that I can use it on wine or beer. It says to cut the dosage in half for beer.

Should I use this? I'm pitching the WLP300 in and firing up my batch tonight. My first liquid yeast batch!

Di-ammonium phosphate won't be too helpful for beer, but it won't hurt either. I recommend Wyeast or Ferm-K for beer because they have yeast hulls and zinc, both of which help to shorten lag times. I use nutrient in every batch, and my typical lag time is under six hours.

I use whitelabs yeast nutrient. I don't think it matters much there should be plenty of nutrients in the wort.

ApolloSpeed said:

interestingly.....the Yeast Nutrient I have is from E.C. Kraus. And on the label it says that I can use it on wine or beer. It says to cut the dosage in half for beer.

Should I use this? I'm pitching the WLP300 in and firing up my batch tonight. My first liquid yeast batch!

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The LD Carlson nutrient I have is Urea and Ammonium Phosphate. The DAP and yeast hulls and B complex are in the LD Carlson energizer. Ammonia Phosphate and Diammonium Phosphate are slightly different things but similar.

Id say go ahead, it will work fine.

so I should use the energizer instead?

I went ahead and pitched the yeast in.....I didn't add any nutrient or energizer. My OG is about 1042-1044.

Wort temp was 75F, room temp is 71F...... Also... when I poured the yeast in, I stirred it up! Should I maybe have not done that???

ApolloSpeed said:

Also... when I poured the yeast in, I stirred it up! Should I maybe have not done that???

Click to expand...

No problem there at all. The yeasties probably will enjoy the extra oxygen to get started.


TL

Forget the name and get something that has yeast hulls, zinc, Diammonium Phosphate, and B complex vitamins. Get what ever has the most of the above ingredients. You don't need everything on the list but it wont hurt. Its why I use both.

Interestingly, lapaglia, there is a product that has everything yeast need as nutrients - more yeast!

Bloody little cannibals.

Seriously, the best yeast nutrient I've ever found was out-of-spec dry yeast packets tossed into the last five minutes of the boil. In fact, a LHBS gave me an entire box of Muntons packets once. I'm out now - and back into my supply of Yeastex 82 - but it's an idea. Instead of buying expensive blends of chemicals, use yeast! Inexpensive packets of bread yeast from the grocery will perform the same function.

Just make sure you add it in the last 15 minutes of the boil, and you're good to go!

Bob