Yeast Nutrient And Water Chemistry

[Fat Bastard]

Possibly a stupid question from a stupid person!

Asked for some yeat nutrient at the LHBS and was given a package of Vintner's Harvest Wine Nutrient. It contains Diammonium Phosphate as the major ingredient, which seems legit, but also contains Magnesium Sulphate, Magnesium Carbonate and Trace Vitamins and Minerals ,whatever that means.

Given that I'm correcting my water using the EZ water calculator using in part MgSo4, is using this stuff going to wreak havoc with my water chemistry? the label says to use 24-30g per 23litres in lower concentration musts, which I assume means higher gravity worts.

Do I even need yeast nutrient at all in good wort with good water chemistry?

Cheers,

FB.

 

[mwd]

I doubt it does any harm at all but probably wines are a bit defficient in minerals hence the additives,

P.S. Magnesium Sulphate is Epsum Salts. I sometimes add a teaspoon of table salt and Epsum Salts when I remember but I think it makes no difference at all or none that I can identify.

For yeast nutrient I add a packet of kit yeast to the boil not sure it does much but gets rid of old yeast.

 

[felten]

Apart from the other issues, 24-30g per 23L seems a bit overboard. Wyeast nutrient usage rate is 2.2g per 19L.

 

[Fat Bastard]

I doubt it does any harm at all but probably wines are a bit defficient in minerals hence the additives,

P.S. Magnesium Sulphate is Epsum Salts. I sometimes add a teaspoon of table salt and Epsum Salts when I remember but I think it makes no difference at all or none that I can identify.

For yeast nutrient I add a packet of kit yeast to the boil not sure it does much but gets rid of old yeast.

I actually noticed a considerable difference when I started correcting my water using the calculator, but of course that's going to change dramatically dependant on your location!

Apart from the other issues, 24-30g per 23L seems a bit overboard. Wyeast nutrient usage rate is 2.2g per 19L.

Yeah, this is one of the reasons it raised a flag for me. I've never added more than 5 or 6 g of MgSo4 to the strike water and 25grams of this stuff could well contain that much MgSo4 at that sort of dosage, although you wouldn't know because they don't state the ratios.

Cheers,

FB

 

[Wolfy]

DAP is mostly useful in fermented products (such as wine and mead) where FAN (Free Amino Nitrogen) is lacking - this is not usually the case in beer wort.
Excessive use of DAP can also have negative effects, and compared the the 1g per batch of (Bintani brand) yeast nutrient I use, 24-30g in 23l sounds excessive to me, so I'd be very hesitant to use it and likely try to return the product, since it is not fit for the purpose you asked for.

 

[kevin_smevin]

I wouldn't be adding any more Mg. Yeast usually get enough Mg from the malt - they only need a small amount so if the nutrient has it already i wouldn't add any more. Zinc (Zn) is one of the most important components of beer yeast nutrient so i'd be looking into that. Might be that you just need to scrap the wine nutrient and get one that is designed for beer. Good luck

 

[Jazzafish]

I agree that this dosage is mostly for wine and higher gravity beers.
I also agree with yum yum yum that most beer nutrients are zinc focused.
Keep the wine nutrient, Good excuse for some mead brewing

 

[eamonnfoley]

DAP is mostly useful in fermented products (such as wine and mead) where FAN (Free Amino Nitrogen) is lacking - this is not usually the case in beer wort.
Excessive use of DAP can also have negative effects, and compared the the 1g per batch of (Bintani brand) yeast nutrient I use, 24-30g in 23l sounds excessive to me, so I'd be very hesitant to use it and likely try to return the product, since it is not fit for the purpose you asked for.

+1, take it back. Get the wyeast product if you want an insurance policy. If you can't, just ensure you have some calcium in your wort and good healthy yeast. Wort has enough FAN normally. The higher the amount of FAN in the wort the more fusel oil (higher alcohols & esters) is produced. So overdosing on wine nutrient could be a problem.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

as above - chuck that wine nutrient away, if you really feel the need for yeast nutrient, get stuff designed for beer.

and have a serious think about your usage of magnesium sulphate - i suggest that you are using shitloads too much and if you want the sulphates, you'd be better off with the vast majority being calcium sulphate and maybe just a touch of the magnesium.