Zinc Sulfate - Salt Additions

[Tiago Willian Pinto]

Hello everyone!

I would like to use Zinc Sulfate on my batches, but I don't have a clue on how it contributes to the total Sulfate ppm (not even on zinc ppm). Since the BF calculator don't have this option, I didn't start using it yet.

Anyone knows how to calculate it or have tips for using? Maybe BF's could add this element to the calculator if a lot of people find it helpful.

tks,
Tiago.

 

[ChicoBrewer]

Can't say I would find it useful but might make a good sunscreen beer.

 

[Nosybear]

Hello everyone!

I would like to use Zinc Sulfate on my batches, but I don't have a clue on how it contributes to the total Sulfate ppm (not even on zinc ppm). Since the BF calculator don't have this option, I didn't start using it yet.

Anyone knows how to calculate it or have tips for using? Maybe BF's could add this element to the calculator if a lot of people find it helpful.

tks,
Tiago.

Since the zinc requirement is so low, you can ignore the sulfate. I wouldn't use it - malt has enough zinc for the yeast.

 

[Tiago Willian Pinto]

Since the zinc requirement is so low, you can ignore the sulfate. I wouldn't use it - malt has enough zinc for the yeast.

Hello Nosybear, tks for your answer.

I didn't get it. Okay for the malt giving enough zinc, but, if I decide to use, how could I ignore the sulfate contribution?

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Wyeast yeast nutrient contains a form of zinc. It is an important nutrient, but too much is bad as well.

From Braufaiser:
Most yeast strains require 0.1 – 0.2 mg/l of zinc. Zinc levels greater than 0.6 mg/l can inhibit yeast growth (Priest, Handbook of Brewing).

Also from Bruakaiser:
Zinc may be the only yeast nutrient that even barley malt is deficient of. As a result fermentation performance may benefit from the addition of zinc.

I think you're right about adding some zinc for yeast nutrient, but I'm not sure how much zinc sulfate you would need to add, I would assume very little. In that case you could ignore the sulfate as Nosy mentioned. If you knew how much zinc was in it by weight, you could use the number above to get to .1-.2 mg per liter. Or you could take the total weight and add enough to get to .2 mg per liter assuming 1/2 of the weight is zinc and add the other half as sulfate in a water calculator. That would mean about 8 mg of zinc sulfate. The sulfate contribution is so small, it could be ignored.

I just use Wyeast yeast nutrient for simplicity sake.

 

[Tiago Willian Pinto]

Wyeast yeast nutrient contains a form of zinc. It is an important nutrient, but too much is bad as well.

From Braufaiser:
Most yeast strains require 0.1 – 0.2 mg/l of zinc. Zinc levels greater than 0.6 mg/l can inhibit yeast growth (Priest, Handbook of Brewing).

Also from Bruakaiser:
Zinc may be the only yeast nutrient that even barley malt is deficient of. As a result fermentation performance may benefit from the addition of zinc.

I think you're right about adding some zinc for yeast nutrient, but I'm not sure how much zinc sulfate you would need to add, I would assume very little. In that case you could ignore the sulfate as Nosy mentioned. If you knew how much zinc was in it by weight, you could use the number above to get to .1-.2 mg per liter. Or you could take the total weight and add enough to get to .2 mg per liter assuming 1/2 of the weight is zinc and add the other half as sulfate in a water calculator. That would mean about 8 mg of zinc sulfate. The sulfate contribution is so small, it could be ignored.

I just use Wyeast yeast nutrient for simplicity sake.

Tks for your help!

I read some similar material, that's why I was thinking about using it (Since yeast nutrients are hard to find are quite expensive here).

Let's assume zinc and sulfate are even. So, for a batch of 20liters, I would have to add just 10mg of Zinc Sulfate, right? Hard to weigh with my equipament though...

 

[Nosybear]

Wyeast yeast nutrient contains a form of zinc. It is an important nutrient, but too much is bad as well.

From Braufaiser:
Most yeast strains require 0.1 – 0.2 mg/l of zinc. Zinc levels greater than 0.6 mg/l can inhibit yeast growth (Priest, Handbook of Brewing).

Also from Bruakaiser:
Zinc may be the only yeast nutrient that even barley malt is deficient of. As a result fermentation performance may benefit from the addition of zinc.

I think you're right about adding some zinc for yeast nutrient, but I'm not sure how much zinc sulfate you would need to add, I would assume very little. In that case you could ignore the sulfate as Nosy mentioned. If you knew how much zinc was in it by weight, you could use the number above to get to .1-.2 mg per liter. Or you could take the total weight and add enough to get to .2 mg per liter assuming 1/2 of the weight is zinc and add the other half as sulfate in a water calculator. That would mean about 8 mg of zinc sulfate. The sulfate contribution is so small, it could be ignored.

I just use Wyeast yeast nutrient for simplicity sake.

I doubt you could measure it. Zinc is 65 g/mol, sulfate is 96 g/mol, so for each gram of zinc sulfate, you're adding 0.4 g zinc, 0.6 g sulfate. Adding a gram of zinc sulfate to a liter of water produces 400 mg/l zinc. So you'd want to add 1/400 g/l to get to a concentration of .1 mg/l. Assuming a 20l batch, you need 20/400, or 0.05g of zinc, 0.124g zinc sulfate. Use the yeast nutrient if you feel you need the zinc but over a lot of batches, I've never noticed problems, in fact, I don't even know what problems a zinc deficiency would cause.

 

[Tiago Willian Pinto]

I doubt you could measure it. Zinc is 65 g/mol, sulfate is 96 g/mol, so for each gram of zinc sulfate, you're adding 0.4 g zinc, 0.6 g sulfate. Adding a gram of zinc sulfate to a liter of water produces 400 mg/l zinc. So you'd want to add 1/400 g/l to get to a concentration of .1 mg/l. Assuming a 20l batch, you need 20/400, or 0.05g of zinc, 0.124g zinc sulfate. Use the yeast nutrient if you feel you need the zinc but over a lot of batches, I've never noticed problems, in fact, I don't even know what problems a zinc deficiency would cause.

Tks again man!

Okay, I got it... I'm overestimating it... Probably it's not even necessary, considering tons of other problems I can put my effort in...

Nevertheless, I don't think it would be that hard to measure... I could dilute 1g into 1L of distilled water and use 300ml of it... heheheh

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Another yeast nutrient you could use that would be available to you is bread yeast. Add 1 tsp to the boil in the last 10 minutes.

You could skip the nutrient and it would work, especially for low gravity beers. But for lagers and high gravity beers it could be beneficial, it can help with attenuation and overall yeast health.

 

[Nosybear]

I've never used it in either but hey, that's not to say it wouldn't help.