Yeast Nutient ?

[monkale]

Hi all my last few brews are pulling up a bit short starting around OG1047 and falling over at about 1018-1013 aiming for 1010, I give the fermentor a bit of shake rattle and roll and still nothing.
So qestion should I give the yeast a helping hand next time and add some yeast nutrient? If so dose this go in to the fermentor or the kettle? :blink: sorry for the dumb questions but thats what Im here for.

Cheers all Monkale

 

[clay]

What yeast are you using? What temps are you mashing at?

 

[Hutch]

Hi all my last few brews are pulling up a bit short starting around OG1047 and falling over at about 1018-1013 aiming for 1010, I give the fermentor a bit of shake rattle and roll and still nothing.
So qestion should I give the yeast a helping hand next time and add some yeast nutrient? If so dose this go in to the fermentor or the kettle? :blink: sorry for the dumb questions but thats what Im here for.

Cheers all Monkale

Your FG will depend on many things, only one of which is yeast nutrient levels. If you are AGing, your mash temp will affect your FG. The attenuation of the yeast you use will also affect it. If you are making extract brews, the ratio of extract to dex will affect your FG.

Too many things that could be contributing here, the least of which I would imagine is yeast nutrient. If you pitch a healthy enough yeast, in the right quantity, then you will not need to throw nutrient into the mix. IMHO, nutrient is best used in making yeast starters, where it helps the yeast grow and build up its reserves ready to ferment out your wort. It has a nasty tangy flavour, and in my opinion has no place in fermenting wort.

Edit: pour speling.

 

[monkale]

Clay using US1056 for a few amber ales mashing at 67c holding temp well

 

[Hutch]

Clay using US1056 for a few amber ales mashing at 67c holding temp well

67 is getting toward the upper end, and with potential error in your thermometer readings, could well be higher than you believe (you need to check the accuracy of your thermometer to be sure).

1.013 is not necessarily a high FG for this yeast in an AG brew, though 1.018 is.
If your yeast is not pitched at the right rate, then it could be terminating early.
How big a starter do you use?

 

[clay]

Like Hutch said, calibrate your thermometer.I did a few brews in a row that finished high. checked the thermometer and found it was out 4 degrees.
If you've got alot of crystals in your amber ale this can increase fg abit too.

 

[monkale]

Hutch just rehydrating the yeast, and pitching so might make a big starter next time, any volume sugestions? Thanks fellas now we are starting to get some were.Cheers

 

[Hutch]

Hutch just rehydrating the yeast, and pitching so might make a big starter next time, any volume sugestions? Thanks fellas now we are starting to get some were.Cheers

I'm not really the best to comment on dry yeasts - I've always had much better results from WYeast, so hardly ever use fermentis yeasts (S189 is my exception!). In theory, you shouldn't need to make a big starter using something like US-05, although depending on the age of the pack, and condition it was stored in, the viability can be significantly less than ideal. Rehydrating is usually all that's required (recommended) for dry yeasts, so I wouldn't have thought doing a starter would help your cause in any way. Certainly when using liquid yeasts, a big starter is the way to go.

Check the age on the yeast packs you've been using, and try to source them as fresh as possible. I've made atrocious beer with US-05 that was close to 2 years old, part of the reason I moved to liquids and yeast-farming (another topic entirely!).

 

[katzke]

I'm not really the best to comment on dry yeasts - I've always had much better results from WYeast, so hardly ever use fermentis yeasts (S189 is my exception!). In theory, you shouldn't need to make a big starter using something like US-05, although depending on the age of the pack, and condition it was stored in, the viability can be significantly less than ideal. Rehydrating is usually all that's required (recommended) for dry yeasts, so I wouldn't have thought doing a starter would help your cause in any way. Certainly when using liquid yeasts, a big starter is the way to go.

Check the age on the yeast packs you've been using, and try to source them as fresh as possible. I've made atrocious beer with US-05 that was close to 2 years old, part of the reason I moved to liquids and yeast-farming (another topic entirely!).

Dry yeast from Fermentis will not benefit from a starter. The yeast are processed in a way that a starter will actually hurt your cause. Just look at the Fermentis web site for all the details.

I know someone brought up repitching, last time I said this, and that it is like a big starter. Well it is a different thing entirely. Pitching on a cake gives you a bunch more yeast then you would get out of a normal size starter. If we talk about propagating yeast from a brew that was done with dry yeast then it is just like any other liquid yeast and needs all the help it can get.