Homemade Yeast Nutrient?

[vinny]

Has anyone ever played around with this?

I found out about Fermaid O and K from comments in my making wine without chemicals post. I believe O is just dead yeast cells, vitamin B, and non chemical additives as nutrient. I have 2- 2 lb vacuum packs of bakers yeast that didn't make it into the rotation. They were best before 2020 and they are far from active.

Today was a Costco run and they have been replaced, so these are now free for experimentation. Any way I can use them for nutrient?

I was thinking 150F (140 is kill temp) in the oven would completely kill them and then I could add in quantities similar to fermaid O.

Just not sure if bakers yeast for any purpose in wine is a bad idea. Off flavours etc. If they need to be activated in water in order to be killed off at 150F, or if dehydrated yeast will meet the same fate.

Any thoughts?

edit- it's common in beer making to add it to the boil to eliminate off flavours, chance of infection, etc.

 

[BigDaveK]

Don't know about the yeast question but I know malt extract was used years ago.

And many older recipes don't contain added nutrient.

 

[cmullin]

This guy uses bakers yeast as a nutrient all the time. https://www.youtube.com/c/DIYFermentation

 

[vinny]

This guy uses bakers yeast as a nutrient all the time. https://www.youtube.com/c/DIYFermentation

Thanks, I did a lot of reading on it last night. I also found his videos. I was wondering if I could somehow neutralize the the whole yeast pack and have a large batch of yeast nutrient ready to go, but it seems like it is easier as a one shot deal. People are using fermaid O as a standard and doubling the amount called for when substituting with bakers yeast. Simply cut some of the water from your recipe, add it to a pot and heat it up.

As I mentioned the kill temp is 140F, many are just boiling (212f), but this is overkill. Quite literally.

I am going to play around with this. Other common yeast nutrient in mashes and washes are vitamin B and epsom salt. Epsom is a micronutrient, Magnesium and sulphur, and is used in very small amounts. The salt components is a concern, it would literally be a few grains added per gallon.

There is no harm in trying. I will report back.