So last night I made a 2000ml starter for an IPA I’m going to be brewing here in a few days. I’ve never used fermaid K before and actually forgot to add it when I was boiling my DME/water in my flask on the stove. Instead, I boiled another small amount of water, cooled it and then put in 1 gram of fermaid K. I cooled the starter and placed it onto my stirplate, adding the fermaid K solution.
Does anyone think I made a mistake by adding the fermaid K in this manner or should I be fine? I’m thinking it will be okay, after all it’s just a nutrient.
Besides the extra work involved, it doesn’t sound bad to me.
Never used the stuff myself though, I thought it was more for getting wines and meads to finish, and not so much for starters.
I have a Wyeast nutrient that I inevitably forget to add to my starters; it’s probably even expired at this point…
I dont understand even why you’d add to yer starter. Seems if you think you need extra nutrients fer yer yeast, you’d use it in the boil. The starter isn’t to make the yeast bud, its to build up the enzymes and oxygen to help them bud when they hit the wort…. running er swimming. Sneezles61
The question I had wasn’t IF I should add the nutrients… it was WHEN. The yeast cells need all the nutrients they can get including oxygen to insure they are as healthy as possible… which I’m sure you know. Your right, some folks add nutrients to the main boil when brewing, which I have done before. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt if you added it to both, the starter and the main boil. However, I’m adding it to my starter so the yeast start their multiplying nice and healthy.
The question was, did I make a mistake by not boiling the nutrients with my starter wort.
I don’t think it has made a difference. Adding the Fermaid K to the boil with the DME is probably just for the pasteurizing effect.
A lot of interesting reading on Fermaid K and FermGo. Whether or not it is a yeast nutrient, only used as stepped additions in wine making, and whether one of the ingredients can be toxic to yeast.
It is sold as a nutrient in yeast starter kits for beer.
