MountainGuardian
Member
I had a teacher in HS that also went to my church and she was quite the brew master. She made wines, whiskey and beer.
When she was moving she contacted me and hired me to pack her place up for her and I got to see a lot of her equipment and a lot of the chemicals she used. I ran across one clear jug beside the sliding door leading out to the patio from her distilling lab and not knowing what it was I thought to pop the lid and sniff then I could determine how and where it would pack. It was straight ammonia and nearly burned the hairs out of my nose and not far from knocking me out I think.
Later I asked her what the ammonia was used for in the process and she explained the need for a nitrogen supply in wines and some of the higher alcohol fermentation processes and explained that the ammonia was used as the source of nitrogen in such fermentations.
I am a gardener as well as brewer and I save "urea" for my hugelkulture gardening. Hugelkulture taking branches, logs etc stacking piling and covering with soil, the wood rots and holds moisture through out the dry period... The wood rotting requires prodigious amounts of nitrogen and I cannot buy ammonium nitrate anymore because apparently a bunch of college students were using it for explosives instead of gardening, So long story even a bit longer, I went with urea as my nitrogen source.
In reading I came across a number of people using urea in the fermentation process as a nitrogen supply. I am currently trying it out on a sugar wash fermentation that is currently pounding away. Initially to be honest I did not view the idea very positively, but after I thought about it for a while I realized there really isn't anything keeping me from doing except the negative connotation in my mind.
The more I thought about it I realized that urine is antiseptic and non toxic so there aren't really any safety concerns unless maybe you take a medication then I would advise not considering this route.
I am curious as to whether it makes difference in flavor or scent within the alcohol, though as I will be separating the alcohol from water it seems unlikely that there would be enough of a difference to be of importance for me.
I am simply using the alcohol for extraction purposes and then I distill off most or all of the alcohol in the process of making medicinal extractions for myself.
Anyone ever tried this or know of anyone that has? Does it leave any effect of scent or taste within the fermented product? I know in wine people (not me) can actually taste the ammonia within the wine as well as other plants etc that were growing around the grape vines as the grapes grew. I would imagine one of those "tasters" would certainly be able to detect something.
I could not imagine ever using this for a product that someone else would use, though I ran into an ad for a medicinal supplement where they stated that they used urea in the fermentation of the alcohol used, then they went on to assure that it was a purified and sanitized urea. Yeahhhh I would not be buying that product after reading that caveat.... LOL...
What is your guys thoughts on urea as a nitrogen source in certain fermentation processes?
When she was moving she contacted me and hired me to pack her place up for her and I got to see a lot of her equipment and a lot of the chemicals she used. I ran across one clear jug beside the sliding door leading out to the patio from her distilling lab and not knowing what it was I thought to pop the lid and sniff then I could determine how and where it would pack. It was straight ammonia and nearly burned the hairs out of my nose and not far from knocking me out I think.
Later I asked her what the ammonia was used for in the process and she explained the need for a nitrogen supply in wines and some of the higher alcohol fermentation processes and explained that the ammonia was used as the source of nitrogen in such fermentations.
I am a gardener as well as brewer and I save "urea" for my hugelkulture gardening. Hugelkulture taking branches, logs etc stacking piling and covering with soil, the wood rots and holds moisture through out the dry period... The wood rotting requires prodigious amounts of nitrogen and I cannot buy ammonium nitrate anymore because apparently a bunch of college students were using it for explosives instead of gardening, So long story even a bit longer, I went with urea as my nitrogen source.
In reading I came across a number of people using urea in the fermentation process as a nitrogen supply. I am currently trying it out on a sugar wash fermentation that is currently pounding away. Initially to be honest I did not view the idea very positively, but after I thought about it for a while I realized there really isn't anything keeping me from doing except the negative connotation in my mind.
The more I thought about it I realized that urine is antiseptic and non toxic so there aren't really any safety concerns unless maybe you take a medication then I would advise not considering this route.
I am curious as to whether it makes difference in flavor or scent within the alcohol, though as I will be separating the alcohol from water it seems unlikely that there would be enough of a difference to be of importance for me.
I am simply using the alcohol for extraction purposes and then I distill off most or all of the alcohol in the process of making medicinal extractions for myself.
Anyone ever tried this or know of anyone that has? Does it leave any effect of scent or taste within the fermented product? I know in wine people (not me) can actually taste the ammonia within the wine as well as other plants etc that were growing around the grape vines as the grapes grew. I would imagine one of those "tasters" would certainly be able to detect something.
I could not imagine ever using this for a product that someone else would use, though I ran into an ad for a medicinal supplement where they stated that they used urea in the fermentation of the alcohol used, then they went on to assure that it was a purified and sanitized urea. Yeahhhh I would not be buying that product after reading that caveat.... LOL...
What is your guys thoughts on urea as a nitrogen source in certain fermentation processes?