Here's a way to easily make yeast nutrient for home brewing if you want a lower cost option or don't have a brewing shop nearby.
The yeast in the picture above cost me around $11 CAD. A popular yeast nutrient called Fermaid K is going to cost me close to $50 CAD for the same amount so although it would be a lot easier I want to be able to create recipes here people can create with minimal and easily obtainable ingredients.
The main ingredient in Fermaid K is dead yeast that has been broken down. I am going to deactivate the bakers yeast in the picture above so my brewing yeast can re-absorb all the nutrients as it ferments. I'll be using this in my upcoming tests.
Basically I have poured out the yeast on a baking tray and baked it for an hour at 150 F. Then before using it I am going to pour boiling water into a cup with the yeast to ensure the yeast is dead.
I have been using 1/4 tsp per liter of yeast nutrient in my earlier experiments but with this home made yeast nutrient I can bump this up to 1/2 tsp and I'll see how it works.
Other ingredients include:
Magnesium sulphate (epson salts picture above)
Zinc citrate or Zinc gluconate (found in vitamin supplements)
0.1 mg - 0.5 mg per liter
B multivitamin or Thiamin (although many B vitamins will already be provided from the deactivated yeast)
Maximum 0.6 mg per liter
I have yet to find a substitute for DAP (diammonium phosphate)
I will have to update this later with more exact proportions for some of the other ingredients but it's 95% deactivated yeast.
If you like this please upvote my posts and leave your comments and thoughts below. Cheers!
