Home Distiller

Was in my local Holland & Barrett's the other day and saw this Brewers' Yeast the back of the pack says 100g portion typically contains:

• Thiamin 10mg

• Pantothenic Acid 5.5mg

• Riboflavin 3mg

• PABA 1000ug

• Niacin 30mg

• Inositol 390mg

• Vitamin B6 30mg

• Choline 400mg

these are all B vitamins so I bought a 460g packet and added about 2 thirds of a tsp of this to a slow 25L wash that I had prepared a day before, within 30min or so a large head about 1cm thick had developed on top of the wash and the CO2 vent was constantly releasing.. It seems to be another great source of cheap yeast nutrient.

Dead yeast is one of the best yeast foods out there...

That makes those one pound bags of bakers yeast from the discount stores pretty attractive....

Hay----dagwg is that not known as that brewers yeast ???

junkyard dawg wrote:Dead yeast is one of the best yeast foods out there...

Dead yeast is mostly vitomin B's

You can use nutritional yeast too, it bein' dead yeast and all

Just a question if most nutrients for yeast are B vitamins I just wounder if one could use a can of red bull in there wash? It has a bunch of B vitamins in it????

Red Bull probably has some preservatives in it that would inhibit the yeast somewhat.

I'd say that if you wanted to add b-vitamins to your wash, add dead yeast or crush up a B-100 supplement tablet.

BW Redneck
Yea your probaly right about the preservitives. I always forget about that...

I have what looks like a fairly minimalist nutrient mix which contains:

DAP
MgSO4
Vit B1, 3, 5 & 9 (aka thiamine, niacin, pantothenic acid and folic acid)

Don't neglect that yeast contains a considerable amount of protein, which also takes care of the ammonium issue. Second-best as a complete natural source would probably be some sort of cereal, eg, boiled whole wheat or rice. This could be part of the reason for the popularity of wheat germ, and is obviously why whiskey washes don't usually present a nutrient problem. I guess if someone got desperate they could resort to processed breakfast cereal, although the sodium content isn't particularly desirable. Lastly, there is the ever-popular tomatoe paste. It may have enough vit B complex to do the job, but I would say it is probably lacking in the ammonium/protein area.

Buy some VEGEMITE. You can put it on toast for breakfast as well. Best stuff in the world for all sorts of things, including yeast nutrient.

blanik

vegemite is distillers yeast cooked with spices. got lots of it in the bottom of fermenter for free. just needs cooking

OK, now this thread caught my eye.
cause... I'm about done fermenting my third wash. it's a wineos simple sugar wash. i was editing a copy of it today to send to my partner in this project. i realized that i don't see any of these b vitamins in wineos recipe. what am i missing? are they hidden in there some where? does his recipe not need b vitamins? do they cause some off flavors?

i looked in the parent site and the tried and true recipe section and found some info that says they are great for supporting the health and reproduction of yeast. why not in wineos recipe?

this wash did start slowly and run quietly. but it did start at 1.060 and now is just barely below 1.000.
not complaining, just wondering.

Freedave wrote:i looked in the parent site and the tried and true recipe section and found some info that says they are great for supporting the health and reproduction of yeast. why not in wineos recipe?

Microbes are unusual because they can synthesise Vit B, whereas it's an essential nutrient for us humans. That is why brewer's yeast is such a rich source. I would speculate that the main purpose of adding vit B is to shorten lag times before the ferment starts, and that it shouldn't affect whether the ferment actually completes or not. Also, as wineo says, he gets away with fewer nutrients by adding more yeast, which of course contains vit B and everything else that yeast needs! I dunno whether I necessarily agree that more nutrients lead to more congeners when making neutral spirits. Lastly, there is the question of the difference between adding a heap of live yeast versus a blend of live and dead; the latter to be cannibalised.

PS: yeast-based spreads are high in salt, so are not a great nutrient for that reason.