Nitrogen Addition

[Logger]

I was reading "Designing Great Beers" the other day and it mentioned that malt extracts lack "free amino nitrogen" that is essential to a fast fermentation. does anyone add nitrogen to help along their beer? if so, in what form?

[jaydub]

I made a mead last year which required supplementing the must (mead wort) with a teaspoon of "FAN" powder, which my LHBS guy provided. Supposedly malt is better at providing the nutrients than honey however. Sometimes I use "servomyces" capsules in my beers, which might serve the same function by increasing the quality of the fermentation.

[Sherlock Holmboy]

usually nitrogen is only taken into consideration with wine and meads where nutrients for the yeast are very scarce. Just for beer, all you might want to add is a nutrients blend such as Wyeasts or Servo, or a couple pinches of bread yeast into the boil.