An experiment on feeding yeast cheap

[Corerftech]

I am as noob as can be to ethanol , fermentation, etc.
My direction is fuel, so anything I do doesnt have to be fit for consumption.

Not having a yeast nutrient on had and being as cheap as one can be.... I read up on what yeast wanted.
I am testing 3 quarts of 12.5 BRIX sugar wash, pH adjusted to 4.2 on all.
Each quart has a different solution.

List of potential ingredients used:
Ammonium Nitrate (Im in AG and still have access to good unudulterated AN.)
Miracle-Gro
Calcium/Mag/Zn tablets.
L-Arginine
Citric Acid
Dead/Killed yeast
Glutamine

The first quart has just Miracle Gro which has most of the needed ingredients ( I dont care about Urea and Ethanol, not drinking it). Added an 1/8 TSP of microwave killed dry yeast (killed by 1 minute in very little water and boiled for a solid 30 seconds). I added it to sugar wash and it never moved, as a test. 1/2 TSP of some off brand dry yeast.

The second quart was arginine, Cal/Mag/Zn, Dead yeast as above, AN, Glutamine. 1/2 TSP of the same brand yeast.

The last quart was the overburden of both, about in equal parts. So the whole parade made an added quart. The dead yeast omitted. Activated yeast (90 minutes in sugar water to verify activity, at least 3x growth in open air), dumped in (about 1/8 TSP dry before activation) plus another 1/8 TSP of the same dry yeast, dry like the others received.

So all 3 have been innoulated with closely matched yeast except the last, which got a bonus of pre-growth before innoculation. 1/4 TSP of yeast in each.

All 3 are venting by airlocks into a pint jar by clean 1/4 inch hose.

Almost instantly the second quart went to work. It formed a head in 10 minutes of about 1/8 inch.
MG infused is forming a head.
Havent looked at #3.

All have kraft paper bag sleeves for light reduction.

When at the local Kroger for a fresh jar of yeast (the dry packs I used had expired in 2021 but the activation test showed that there was still viability of some sort), I found something interesting.

Kroger brand and Bragg brand "Nutritional Yeast Seasoning". It is dead yeast, hyperfortified with 500% the daily allowance of Vitamin B complex (and I mean all of it), to be used as a cheese flavor substitute for those lactose intolerant folks like my wife. As I read what the contents were I realized that it is YEAST FOOD minus the phosphorus and nitrogen.

Thus, if added to DAP (or two forms of available high nitrogen and phosphorus salts), it would likely be all that is needed. Unsure of calcium though. But 4.5 ounces today was $5.49 (Bragg brand, I trust them, and Vit B content was double the Kroger) and adding a piece of a Cal/Mg/Zn and a potassium Gluconate tab, you have pretty much all you need in redy powder form. Basically I raped the garden shed, the drug cabinet, plus my stock of aminos that I used for athletic performance enhancement (weight lifting).

Ill try the Bragg stuff next go around. I didnt take SG to start as the liquid was at 100-105F for pitching dry yeast.
If I see some activity on all 3 when they hit room temp of about 76F later tonight, Ill check the SG on all 3 and chart progress. They all shared the same BRIX so only yeast and nutes are different.

One note- since the MG spiked solution had lots of oxidizers in it, the pH was way up at 8.5. Had to add a good pinch of citric acid to drop it to 4.2
The other blend of aminos, etc was at 5.5 naturally, pinched much less citric to drop to 4.2

I understand 4.0/4.5 is the best window for yeast to operate (please someone correct me if I am worong but I found many research docs pointing at 4 to 5 and 4 being optimal.

My SG hydrometer hasnt arrived yet so precision measurements not possible right now for OG and FG. Tuesday it arrives. Right now have a cheap beer triple gauge that Im sure is accurate to roughly 50% error. Hoping brix was withing 5%!!