Organic yeast nutrient question

[Birster]

Hi,

We are looking for DAP alternative since we cannot use this when producing a molasse based organic certified rum. So far we have found this: Fermcontrol BIO (1 Kg) | Scott Labs (scottlabsltd.com) and are giving it a try. Though, we wanted to know if any of you had experience, cues or alternatives in fermenting molasse without DAP.

Thank you,

 

[Silk City Distillers]

Using backset will help reduce external nutrient requirements, but also keep in mind that you can cook your old yeast and use it as a nutrient - which should have no problems for certification.

Not only will it save you a tremendous amount of money, realize you are recycling your nutrient in a way that's far "greener".

The very popular Servomyces is dead yeast.

[Birster]

3 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

Using backset will help reduce external nutrient requirements, but also keep in mind that you can cook your old yeast and use it as a nutrient - which should have no problems for certification.

Not only will it save you a tremendous amount of money, realize you are recycling your nutrient in a way that's far "greener".

The very popular Servomyces is dead yeast.

Thanks Silk, we were also planning on using bakset and experimenting with dunders too. So we should be good to go without DAP.

 

Cheers!

[Birster]

On 10/16/2021 at 11:23 AM, Silk City Distillers said:

Using backset will help reduce external nutrient requirements, but also keep in mind that you can cook your old yeast and use it as a nutrient - which should have no problems for certification.

Not only will it save you a tremendous amount of money, realize you are recycling your nutrient in a way that's far "greener".

The very popular Servomyces is dead yeast.

One last question. When feeding cooked yeast, it there a specific rate we should look for?

 

Thanks,

[Silk City Distillers]

It's very difficult to provide a dosage recommendation, since there are two factors at play:

1)  How much nutrient do you need to reach optimum?  Refined sugar requires far more nutrient than a grain fermentation using backset.

2)  How concentrated is your yeast slurry?

I'd say a good starting point for a slurry is 2x your yeast pitch weight for molasses based fermentations, and 3x your yeast pitch rate for more refined sugar fermentations.

So, if you are pitching 500g of yeast, pitch 1000-1500g of slurry, and go from there.  Tell-tale signs of nutrient deficiency for rum ferments are slow or sluggish fermentations, stalled fermentation near the end, and sulfur aromas in the wash/distillate.