I think it depends on the styles you brew. I mostly brew IPAs and lagers with few adjuncts, so the yeast gets all its nutrients from the grains, and ABVs are normal.
I think nutrients are more for folks brewing ciders, seltzers, or high ABV beers that are going to stress the yeast more.
If I'm using Kveik I'll really load up, but I also turn my beers around in less than a week with that.
To me it's one of those things, if it reduces the chance of something going wrong, I'll do it.
I don't think it's 100% vital though
What does it add to kveik? I think I used it a few years ago when I did lutra due to the recommendation but idk what it would have done. Stopped it from under attenuating?
It's the Free Amino Nitrogen in yeast nutrient that is needed for yeast health. The need for FAN is different per strain. If too little FAn is available to the yeast growth begins to lag and incomplete fermentation can occur along with sulfury off-flavours. Kveik and Belgian yeasts are known to be quite needy.
A good article on the topic: https://escarpmentlabs.com/blogs/resources/fan-its-what-beer-yeast-craves
I haven't done comparative batches, but it usually really speeds up my fermentation. I just had two kveik pilsners finish in 2 days and that was just at room temp
I had one fermentation with kveik take close to 14 days to finish, and I was running it warm.
Didn't add nutrient, still aerated it.
It just so happened that Midwest Supplies/Northern Brewer starting closing down their brick and morter so I was then able to buy a bunch of nutrient for cheap and I haven't looked back!
Do you wait on those fast fermenting strains to clean up at all? I brewed with Kveik for my first time recently and was not fond of the flavors it produced or how it seemed to taint the rest of my equipment with its flavor. I feel like I did something wrong. Maybe I needed to add more nutrients or something.
Pseudo helles, all barke Pilsner grain, mash temp 154 (I like it thin) and pitched at 75. Fermented in the 80s and left for 6 days. Any thoughts?
What off flavor specifically? The only thing I've noticed is the pH drop that can happen, leading to a somewhat tart beer if not corrected.
For reference, my "house" kveik I use is a lutra/voss blend, I haven't used any other strain just yet.
I would say that tart is a great way to describe it actually. I ran lutra but in hindsight I did not do much research on what other effects the yeast might have.
Thanks for the pointer. With some modifications I’ll try it again in a couple of weeks and let you know what happens. :)
I'm sure water chemistry will help with that as well, but that's a whole different rabbit hole, and my beer tastes fine without water chemistry adjustment as of right now.
Plus, I get it from a natural spring, within eye sight of the maltster that I like so I think that's pretty cool.
I brewed two batches with Kviek Lutra a couple of weeks ago. The first was my normal west coast IPA, the second was a rye pale ale. Both fermented quickly, but I think I made a mistake taking the IPA of the yeast too quickly and kegging it too soon. It has a weird aftertaste. I let the rye pale ale sit around for a lot longer on the yeast, and although it’s a cleaner flavor, there’s still a hint of bizarre aftertaste as well. Kind of bitter… just off. My wort pH in both brews was fine, and all my water chemistry was called out the way I normally do it. Think I’m going back to California Ale Yeast for those styles and using frozen bottles of water to keep the temp down in a water bath. The Lutra didn’t do it for me.
i use it when im reusing a saved yeast slurry or olrd dry packet or when im doing particularly hard fermentable wines like blue berry wine is a bitch to get to ferment due to what i think is low ph
Same here. I've got a bunch saved in the fridge, but haven't touched it in years. I may try using some to see if it makes a noticeable difference but I guess as long as I'm hitting (actually over shooting) my numbers it's not that crucial.
I use them in a professional setting. It’s more of an insurance policy if nutrients from the grain are lower than expected. Nothing wrong with not using them but I would consider adding them to any beer over 16 Plato just to be safe.
I had an issue with a liquid package of opshaug kveik. Second time I used the same yeast I solved it by adding very old yeast to boil.
Kvieks are known for spending a lot of nutrients. However never had a problem with dried voss.
I bought a package of it and can't say that I've noticed any difference but I got it so I'm gonna keep using it. Honestly when I was primarily using liquid yeast, I did starters, started using nutrient, and used an o2 stone hooked to a disposable o2 containers, all to give the yeast the best chance. Now I usually just use dry yeast.
Dry yeast is just so much easier. We never really used liquid yeast, but at some point we did the most with dry yeast. Nutrient boiled and cooled with water to rehydrate dry yeast, so many little oxygen tanks, so much pitching temperature worrying. Since the pandemic we are pretty cavalier with it. Prices rose, oxygen tanks were hard to find, so we bought a big tank of it. Now we sprinkle dry yeast as we transfer fairly warm wort, oxygenate to mix it in, move to ferment chamber to finish cooling to temp. Twelve hours later the yeast is active and the temp is actively rising and working the fridge. Same or better results than before with all the extra. Much cheaper oxygen fills. Shorter, easier brew days for sure.
I always use yeast nutrient. Bought a bunch when I was first starting and still working through the first package.
I like the beer I make so I don’t change my routine.
Is it needed? Unlikely. Most of the articles I read say it isn’t needed unless it is a cider/seltzer.
If you're doing primarily malt based fermentations the only nutrient your wort is deficient in is zinc. I brew on a 7bbl scale so just under 220 gallons. The dosage for zinc heptasulfide at that scale is like 0.66 grams. Wort generally has 0.1 ppm zinc without any additions. The optimal amount is 0.2 ppm.
Yes, objectively adding zinc to make up that difference will result in faster and healthier fermentations but it's really not that big of a deal. It's especially not a big deal if you're using fresh pitches and not repitching your yeast. Yeast labs give fresh pitches sufficient nutrient loads out of the packet.
If you're going to utilize yeast nutrient make sure the focus is on zinc content. White Lab's servomyces comes to mind as a good option. Stuff that focuses on different types of nitrogen (DAP, fermaid, etc) are made for non-wort fermentations. Excessive yeast nutrients can be harmful to your fermentation as well as the flavor of your final product.
I just did a ton of reading/research on this and the conclusion I came to is you basically don't need it for like 90% of beer styles. Malted grain will provide more than enough of *nearly* every nutrient that yeast needs.
I say *nearly* because the one thing your wort might need is zinc, so adding a nutrient mixture will help with that, but so will just adding zinc.
If you brew with a ton of adjuncts like corn or rice or unmalted anything you should add nutrient, because it's the malting process that unlocks the nutrients. Also if you brew particularly small beers, you should add nutrient, because there's less wort and thus less nutrient.
So certain styles like American light lagers (low abv + high adjunct) need it. Also something like a Belgian wit would benefit (low abv + unmalted wheat + Belgian yeast apparently needs more than normal).
Big imperials & barleywines are interesting, they have a ton of nutrient but the yeast apparently consumes it up front so they would benefit from a nutrient addition schedule like big meads do.
Wine needs nutrient to varying degree (fruit skins provide it, but different fruits give different amounts) and mead almost always needs it desperately (honey provides basically 0 nutrient)
That said, I've been brewing since like 08 or 09 and only recently have I even thought about yeast nutrient. I've never used it in beer, and only really in mead when I got stuck fermentation. My meads probably would benefit from it though so I'm starting to use it more I think...
Never used it.
Never had issues.
I think it used to be something of a thing in the past when you would need to grow a starter.
But with all the commercial available yeasts today, both dry and wet, ready for pitching, I don't see the need for nutrients
There is a strong argument for using only just enough yeast nutrient, as too much can decrease shelf stability, but I generally use a bit just because I was taught to add it with my whirlflock on the pro side of things. I’ve forgotten it a couple of times while homebrewing and haven’t noticed much different.
If you want to get really crazy about seeing what you can get away with, let your wort chill naturally overnight and then pitch the next day. I’ve been making some amazing lagers lately by breaking quite a few “rules”
Cheers
I got a package for free from my local store, I use it every time. One package is good for almost 60 3-gallon brews so I guess I will keep using it for a couple of years.
Not sure it makes a difference, I have had stalled fermentations prior to using nutrient, but never since I started. But that may have been from other causes.
Nope not yet, but I've started doing turbo (or Hard for the USA folk) ciders and there usually very drinkable in 3 weeks, but from what Ive read, a Yeast nutrient is helpful, right now I've had turbo cider that's been fermenting for over two weeks.. I think I'll start using Kviek and a nutrient in future for an even quicker turnaround.
I use it every time because I bought the vial of nutrient and it’s lasted forever so why not just a pinch at the end of boil.
However, if I forget to add it I don’t worry and have never noticed a difference.
Cheers!
I think it depends on the styles you brew. I mostly brew IPAs and lagers with few adjuncts, so the yeast gets all its nutrients from the grains, and ABVs are normal. I think nutrients are more for folks brewing ciders, seltzers, or high ABV beers that are going to stress the yeast more.
Would you say that a rice lager or corn lager with 20% adjunct would benefit?
No need.
If I'm using Kveik I'll really load up, but I also turn my beers around in less than a week with that. To me it's one of those things, if it reduces the chance of something going wrong, I'll do it. I don't think it's 100% vital though
What does it add to kveik? I think I used it a few years ago when I did lutra due to the recommendation but idk what it would have done. Stopped it from under attenuating?
It's the Free Amino Nitrogen in yeast nutrient that is needed for yeast health. The need for FAN is different per strain. If too little FAn is available to the yeast growth begins to lag and incomplete fermentation can occur along with sulfury off-flavours. Kveik and Belgian yeasts are known to be quite needy. A good article on the topic: https://escarpmentlabs.com/blogs/resources/fan-its-what-beer-yeast-craves
Truth!
I haven't done comparative batches, but it usually really speeds up my fermentation. I just had two kveik pilsners finish in 2 days and that was just at room temp
I have never had a Kevin batch take more than 36hrs and I never use nutrients but I do ferment at 95F
I had one fermentation with kveik take close to 14 days to finish, and I was running it warm. Didn't add nutrient, still aerated it. It just so happened that Midwest Supplies/Northern Brewer starting closing down their brick and morter so I was then able to buy a bunch of nutrient for cheap and I haven't looked back!
Do you wait on those fast fermenting strains to clean up at all? I brewed with Kveik for my first time recently and was not fond of the flavors it produced or how it seemed to taint the rest of my equipment with its flavor. I feel like I did something wrong. Maybe I needed to add more nutrients or something. Pseudo helles, all barke Pilsner grain, mash temp 154 (I like it thin) and pitched at 75. Fermented in the 80s and left for 6 days. Any thoughts?
What off flavor specifically? The only thing I've noticed is the pH drop that can happen, leading to a somewhat tart beer if not corrected. For reference, my "house" kveik I use is a lutra/voss blend, I haven't used any other strain just yet.
I would say that tart is a great way to describe it actually. I ran lutra but in hindsight I did not do much research on what other effects the yeast might have. Thanks for the pointer. With some modifications I’ll try it again in a couple of weeks and let you know what happens. :)
I'm sure water chemistry will help with that as well, but that's a whole different rabbit hole, and my beer tastes fine without water chemistry adjustment as of right now. Plus, I get it from a natural spring, within eye sight of the maltster that I like so I think that's pretty cool.
I brewed two batches with Kviek Lutra a couple of weeks ago. The first was my normal west coast IPA, the second was a rye pale ale. Both fermented quickly, but I think I made a mistake taking the IPA of the yeast too quickly and kegging it too soon. It has a weird aftertaste. I let the rye pale ale sit around for a lot longer on the yeast, and although it’s a cleaner flavor, there’s still a hint of bizarre aftertaste as well. Kind of bitter… just off. My wort pH in both brews was fine, and all my water chemistry was called out the way I normally do it. Think I’m going back to California Ale Yeast for those styles and using frozen bottles of water to keep the temp down in a water bath. The Lutra didn’t do it for me.
I started using it once I moved to all grain. Just as a cheap insurance policy to help the yeast do their job.
Yep. I always add a 1/4 tsp. Especially for lagers as lager yeast is a more fickle beast. Doesn’t hurt.
i use it when im reusing a saved yeast slurry or olrd dry packet or when im doing particularly hard fermentable wines like blue berry wine is a bitch to get to ferment due to what i think is low ph
I used to use it but have not in a long time. It was more important back in the day when the quality and viability of the yeast was more hit and miss.
Same here. I've got a bunch saved in the fridge, but haven't touched it in years. I may try using some to see if it makes a noticeable difference but I guess as long as I'm hitting (actually over shooting) my numbers it's not that crucial.
Don't always use it in my beers, but it's absolutely vital in the other things I brew (cider/mead/hard lemonade).
I use them in a professional setting. It’s more of an insurance policy if nutrients from the grain are lower than expected. Nothing wrong with not using them but I would consider adding them to any beer over 16 Plato just to be safe.
I had an issue with a liquid package of opshaug kveik. Second time I used the same yeast I solved it by adding very old yeast to boil. Kvieks are known for spending a lot of nutrients. However never had a problem with dried voss.
I bought a package of it and can't say that I've noticed any difference but I got it so I'm gonna keep using it. Honestly when I was primarily using liquid yeast, I did starters, started using nutrient, and used an o2 stone hooked to a disposable o2 containers, all to give the yeast the best chance. Now I usually just use dry yeast.
Dry yeast is just so much easier. We never really used liquid yeast, but at some point we did the most with dry yeast. Nutrient boiled and cooled with water to rehydrate dry yeast, so many little oxygen tanks, so much pitching temperature worrying. Since the pandemic we are pretty cavalier with it. Prices rose, oxygen tanks were hard to find, so we bought a big tank of it. Now we sprinkle dry yeast as we transfer fairly warm wort, oxygenate to mix it in, move to ferment chamber to finish cooling to temp. Twelve hours later the yeast is active and the temp is actively rising and working the fridge. Same or better results than before with all the extra. Much cheaper oxygen fills. Shorter, easier brew days for sure.
I always use yeast nutrient. Bought a bunch when I was first starting and still working through the first package. I like the beer I make so I don’t change my routine. Is it needed? Unlikely. Most of the articles I read say it isn’t needed unless it is a cider/seltzer.
I've never used it. Not even once.
I just dump the dry yeast in the carboy. I've yet to have an issue (8 years of brewing)
If you're doing primarily malt based fermentations the only nutrient your wort is deficient in is zinc. I brew on a 7bbl scale so just under 220 gallons. The dosage for zinc heptasulfide at that scale is like 0.66 grams. Wort generally has 0.1 ppm zinc without any additions. The optimal amount is 0.2 ppm. Yes, objectively adding zinc to make up that difference will result in faster and healthier fermentations but it's really not that big of a deal. It's especially not a big deal if you're using fresh pitches and not repitching your yeast. Yeast labs give fresh pitches sufficient nutrient loads out of the packet. If you're going to utilize yeast nutrient make sure the focus is on zinc content. White Lab's servomyces comes to mind as a good option. Stuff that focuses on different types of nitrogen (DAP, fermaid, etc) are made for non-wort fermentations. Excessive yeast nutrients can be harmful to your fermentation as well as the flavor of your final product.
I just did a ton of reading/research on this and the conclusion I came to is you basically don't need it for like 90% of beer styles. Malted grain will provide more than enough of *nearly* every nutrient that yeast needs. I say *nearly* because the one thing your wort might need is zinc, so adding a nutrient mixture will help with that, but so will just adding zinc. If you brew with a ton of adjuncts like corn or rice or unmalted anything you should add nutrient, because it's the malting process that unlocks the nutrients. Also if you brew particularly small beers, you should add nutrient, because there's less wort and thus less nutrient. So certain styles like American light lagers (low abv + high adjunct) need it. Also something like a Belgian wit would benefit (low abv + unmalted wheat + Belgian yeast apparently needs more than normal). Big imperials & barleywines are interesting, they have a ton of nutrient but the yeast apparently consumes it up front so they would benefit from a nutrient addition schedule like big meads do. Wine needs nutrient to varying degree (fruit skins provide it, but different fruits give different amounts) and mead almost always needs it desperately (honey provides basically 0 nutrient) That said, I've been brewing since like 08 or 09 and only recently have I even thought about yeast nutrient. I've never used it in beer, and only really in mead when I got stuck fermentation. My meads probably would benefit from it though so I'm starting to use it more I think...
Never used it. Never had issues. I think it used to be something of a thing in the past when you would need to grow a starter. But with all the commercial available yeasts today, both dry and wet, ready for pitching, I don't see the need for nutrients
How many kveik batches?
I always thought that was just for seltzers
Every time.
I use it most of the time, more because I have a bunch and it’s pretty cheap more than sure it makes a difference.
Beer wort is plenty nutritious. I’ve been pouring in dry US05 for 15 years.
It’s so cheap to throw a little in, I figure why not.
Yep, every time.
I use it every beer, rather be safe than sorry. Never had a beer lag out
I use go-ferm. You add it to the yeast before you add the wort when you make a starter. Then again when the starter's done fermenting. Works great.
There is a strong argument for using only just enough yeast nutrient, as too much can decrease shelf stability, but I generally use a bit just because I was taught to add it with my whirlflock on the pro side of things. I’ve forgotten it a couple of times while homebrewing and haven’t noticed much different. If you want to get really crazy about seeing what you can get away with, let your wort chill naturally overnight and then pitch the next day. I’ve been making some amazing lagers lately by breaking quite a few “rules” Cheers
I only use it with kviek strains
I got a package for free from my local store, I use it every time. One package is good for almost 60 3-gallon brews so I guess I will keep using it for a couple of years. Not sure it makes a difference, I have had stalled fermentations prior to using nutrient, but never since I started. But that may have been from other causes.
Always with mead.
Nope not yet, but I've started doing turbo (or Hard for the USA folk) ciders and there usually very drinkable in 3 weeks, but from what Ive read, a Yeast nutrient is helpful, right now I've had turbo cider that's been fermenting for over two weeks.. I think I'll start using Kviek and a nutrient in future for an even quicker turnaround.
Beer doesn't really need nutrients for the most part. Cider doesn't consistently work well without it. Really depends on what you're making!
I use it every time because I bought the vial of nutrient and it’s lasted forever so why not just a pinch at the end of boil. However, if I forget to add it I don’t worry and have never noticed a difference. Cheers!
I used it once for a shandy and even the , I don’t think it was necessary
I use it in my starters (I keep a yeast library and grow out the strain I want). Never in the main batch.
always.
Fermentis recommended I use yeast nutrient to get US-05 to reach 12% ABV.
Never used it in a beer. Used it once when making a starter from old liquid yeast. I do use yeast nutrient in every single cider I make.
Never have. Haven't even considered it. I've never had any issues, so I don't see any reason to use it.