Yeast energizer is a great way to help stimulate fermentation when you’re brewing beer or mead. Brewing your own alcohol can be intimidating but knowing what ingredients to use can make the process easier.
However, what if you don’t have any yeast energizer? What could you use instead?
You can use lemon juice, black coffee, raisins, black tea, or bread yeast as a substitute for yeast energizer.
While there are no perfect substitutes for yeast energizer, these options can provide some benefits to your brew and can be used instead.
Yeast energizer is used to stimulate or restart a stuck fermentation. It’s made of several ingredients like
Vitamin B
Diammonium
Tricalcium
Yeast hulls
As well as others.
It permits yeast populations to grow in beer or mead that did not have an abundance of these ingredients before because a previous yeast population had used them up.
What do you use it for?
When you add yeast energizer to the beginning of fermentation or when fermentation is stuck, it will add to the beer’s flavor. It will also increase the alcohol levels.
It’s used to help to make the process of fermentation happen more quickly. It also helps to make the entire process more efficient.
Yeast Energizer Substitutes
1. Lemon Juice
Lemon juice will add citric acid to your brew. It won’t add most nutrients that yeast energizer would provide, but it still can be used as a substitute.
Black coffee is another alternative to yeast energizer. When brewing the coffee, make it very strong. Don’t add anything else to your coffee as it needs to be black.
Use 1 cup of black coffee as an alternative to yeast energizer.
3. Chopped raisins
Raisins contain a high sugar content while also having lower nitrogen-containing substances. This makes them a good substitute for yeast energizer.
Try using 1 cup of chopped raisins as an alternative to yeast energizer.
4. Black Tea
Black tea can be used as a replacement for a yeast energizer. This will add a lot of nutrients to your brew which is a great upside to this option.
When making the black tea, make it very strong. Don’t add anything else to your tea as it needs to be black. Use 1 cup of black tea as a replacement for a yeast energizer.
5. Bread Yeast
You can use bread yeast as an alternative to yeast energizer as well. Simply boil the bread yeast in water for 15 minutes to kill it. This will provide a great alternative to yeast energizer and is the closest option to the actual product.
You can boil it in 1 cup of water to use as a substitute.
Conclusion
There are several different choices of ingredients you can use instead of a yeast energizer. While not all of them will provide the same results as using yeast energizer, they can add unique flavors and benefits to your brew.
Try them out and see which end product you like the best!
