The problem with cheerios

[Alchemist75]

Well those of you who are aware of the types of things I ferment know that I chronically use breakfast cereals as the primary nutrient source in my sugar washes/sugar heads. For the most part this works really well but not all cereals I've dabbled in have been so hot and cheerios stands out as being one of the worst. I've conducted several ferments using cheerios and all of them went brutally slow or even got stuck. I finally asked why and what I discovered with a little research gave the answer. Cheerios is one of the only cereals I've encountered that contains tripotassium phosphate which as it turns out is a potent anti microbial agent. Actually it's presence in this popular old breakfast classic has gotten some folks hackles up as it may well be toxic to humans too. Moral of the story: don't add cheerios to your breakfast cereal ferments.
Happy hooching

[cranky]

That's funny, I used to use Cheerios routinely and never had a problem. Now I seldom use them in favor of whatever organic cereal I can find randomly in the mark down bin.

[MDH]

You can actually fix this with a very small amount of zinc sulfate. Stir it into the mash while very hot, mix extremely thoroughly and leave for some time, It precipitates as a solid (Within the mash) that does not affect the yeast anymore. You have to be careful of course as too much zinc will stop the fermentation itself; but just enough will do what's necessary to get rid of the TSP/TPP.

Same case exists for sorbates and benzoates.

[Alchemist75]

That's funny, I used to use Cheerios routinely and never had a problem. Now I seldom use them in favor of whatever organic cereal I can find randomly in the mark down bin.

Yeah, I've seen other recipes that call for them that apparently ferment well. Dunno, maybe they've changed the excipient profile in the last 5 years or so. Odd.

[cranky]

That's funny, I used to use Cheerios routinely and never had a problem. Now I seldom use them in favor of whatever organic cereal I can find randomly in the mark down bin.

Yeah, I've seen other recipes that call for them that apparently ferment well. Dunno, maybe they've changed the excipient profile in the last 5 years or so. Odd.

or maybe Cheerios have changed over the past couple years. I don't think I've used them for about 2 years now.

[Alchemist75]

I've become much more aware of the stuff they put in cereals anymore. Is it fit for my yeast to eat? Will it impart a nice flavor? Sodium content? Preservatives? Etc etc. They like to hide stuff in the other ingredients section that may seriously effect things.