When is best to add yeast nutrient? In the wort boil? After the wort is cooled? Only in the starter? When you pitch yeast?
I ask because of an observation of my starter wort. I boiled it in a glass flask last time instead of a SS pot, and I notice the wort got very dark. I know melanoidins form as you boil the wort, but this seemed excessive. I checked my yeast nutrient, and it has a lot of DAP in it. I know that people making syrups also use DAP in making dark Belgian candy syrups. I am wondering if the DAP I added to my starter wort caused the excessive darkening, resulting in the DAP being sequestered into melanoidins and no longer available to the yeast a free nitrogen. Maybe I should add it at the end of the boil, or once it is cooled?
I have no idea if the DAP caused the darkening, or if the darkening matters at all. I use Wyeast yeast nutrient in both my starters and the kettle. I boil my starters for 10 min. with nutrient in the whole time. In the kettle I use 1/2 tsp. for the last 10 min. per instructions.
It took me a second before I realized it was a typo. At first I thought it was some new technique with which I wasn’t aware.
I add the Wyeast powdered nutrient in starters and Servomyces in the boil for most batches. I’m wondering if I really need to use Servomyces or if I can just use the less expensive powdered nutrient instead. I’m not sure what the differences are. I once used them hit and miss. Now I use them all the time. Nutrients do seem to help quite a bit.
I am pretty sure it was a typo but there is a technique, not much held by homebrewers anymore as far as I know, that involves putting olive oil in the starter to provide the yeast with lipids. This allows you to lessen or even skip the aieration step and supposedly increases shelf life. I beleive some large scale pro brewers do use this as it closes up a quality loss door in long term storage/transporation.
AFAIK, no commercial breweries are actually doing this. My understanding is that results of the study at New Belgium found a shorter shelf life. If anyone knows differently, please correct me.
I noticed Wyeast recommends dissolving in warm water prior to adding to the kettle. I have always just dropped it in without dissolving. I wonder what difference that would make…or not. :-\
Wrong “tom” I know, but I add the recommended dosage. I don’t think you want excess nutrient left around after the yeast is done, especially free available nitrogen. This only provides a more hospitable environment for bacteria. This is something that is attended to closely by winemakers. I know the nutrient blend doesn’t seem to have much DAP in it but I do believe it has some amino acids. Plus if theres zinc you might not want a lot of extra of that either.
I think its like taking two vitamins, maybe one thing in there is useful at an elevated concentration but theres other stuff that might be just the opposite. Since we know you can make good beer without the nutrient to begin with, I wouldn’t go with a dose higher than recommended. They’re selling the stuff after all, they have every reason to recommend a higher dose.
I haven’t ever experimented with when is best to add nutrients. For beers I use nutrients in starters and in the boil. Boiling nutrients can certainly lead to wort darkening, although there is generally plenty of nitrogen in the wort to lead to some darkening.
I use Servomyces, I’m still working through some 10 hl packs I got a while ago I don’t know what they use in the Wyeast blend besides the nutrients, but I would think it would be fine just throwing it into the boil. Maybe it clumps if you throw it in directly, that’s the only reason I can think of to dissolve it first.
I’ve never seen it clump. I believe the stuff has some yeast hulls, as well as zinc, b vitamin or two (niacin and pantothenic acid?), some little bit of DAP and probably some amino acids from yeast extracts.
I assumed adding it late in the boil was to prevent the destruction of the vitamin(s).
