Page 1 of 1
Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 6:03 am
by mrbean
Long story short I have a stuck sugar wash and I suspect it was caused by the nutrients I used. I have a bottle of Fermax that I've used in the past with good success. I've had this particular bottle for some time (a year or more perhaps). When I opened it up most recently it had a very strong ammonia odor along with a slight rotten smell. IIRC, when the bottle was new is smelled like fish food (the little flakes you would feed to a goldfish).
The bottle doesn't have an expiration date printed on it and the manufacturer has no information on their website. Did this stuff ruin my wash? SG is now around 1.025 and has only dropped 10 points in the last 5 days.
Edit: Also, is it worth trying to re-start this wash or should I just cut my loses and distill it? Or, I might just drink it as is. It's pretty darn tasty.
Re: Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 10:55 am
by Dnderhead
if it stoped at a rather low ABV it will restart easily..if you have a high ABV you mite have a hard time restarting.
add nutrients and a large starter..this is the best chance
Re: Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 3:56 am
by mrbean
ABV is about 15% right now. It's probably not going to take.
Any comments on the old nutrients?
Re: Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 8:29 pm
by rad14701
mrbean wrote:ABV is about 15% right now. It's probably not going to take.
Any comments on the old nutrients?
15%...??? Why so damned high...??? And you think you want it to go higher...??? How much sugar were you using per gallon and what was your target %ABV...??? A final potential of 14% is the highest we recommend around here for good reason... There is no room for greed in this hobby...
Re: Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:56 pm
by Dnderhead
"A final potential of 14% is the highest we recommend around here "
hell i go for less the 10%...much I've done is 5-7,it has much better outcome.pushing the yeast is where the "bite" starts.
but then some like that.they thank it has to be there to be "shine"
Re: Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 3:20 am
by mrbean
rad14701 wrote:mrbean wrote:ABV is about 15% right now. It's probably not going to take.
Any comments on the old nutrients?
15%...??? Why so damned high...??? And you think you want it to go higher...??? How much sugar were you using per gallon and what was your target %ABV...??? A final potential of 14% is the highest we recommend around here for good reason... There is no room for greed in this hobby...
This was another iteration on a recipe I've been playing around with. I'm shooting for 18% but I start out with an SG of about 1.050 and keep adding more sugar as the SG drops. The theory is that keeping the SG low keeps the yeast from getting too stressed and makes the final ABV target easy to achieve. I've done it before with other statins of yeast but was trying to get a cleaner flavor on this batch by using a different strain.
Regardless of my intentions, does anyone have any comments on the smelly nutrients?
Re: Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 4:26 pm
by rad14701
mrbean wrote:This was another iteration on a recipe I've been playing around with. I'm shooting for 18% but I start out with an SG of about 1.050 and keep adding more sugar as the SG drops. The theory is that keeping the SG low keeps the yeast from getting too stressed and makes the final ABV target easy to achieve. I've done it before with other statins of yeast but was trying to get a cleaner flavor on this batch by using a different strain.
Regardless of my intentions, does anyone have any comments on the smelly nutrients?
I guess you still aren't getting it... Keep pushing the %ABV higher and all you'll get is more foreshots, heads, and tails, but less nice clean hearts, proportionately... You can keep beating yourself up until you concede or you can take advantage of the centuries of experience being freely shared here in these forums and resist the greed factor... Stepped additions won't help... Stick with a Tried and True recipe and maybe you'll get more help if you somehow run into trouble... When you venture off into the unknown any help offered would be guessing at best...
Re: Do yeast nutrients expire?
Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:20 am
by Sparhawk
Well Mrbean you really stepped in it here didn't ya....
You said you were using a different strain of yeast this time what is the alcohol tolerance of the new yeast?
As for the nutrient, if it smelled like ammonia I wouldn't use it. Ammonia is for cleaning floors not for food. Toss it and get new. JMHO
Run what you got, pay special attention to the smell, if any ammonia bleeds through id toss it. My $0.02.