Pitched whole vial of Wyeast Nutrient. Problem?

[McGruber]

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I had a miscommunication in my brewery yesterday, and a whole (full) vial of Wyeast Beer Nutrient Blend got pitched into the boil kettle (10 gallon batch). Being that it only calls for a 1 tsp dose, we gave 10X the recommended amount. Fermentation in a conical seems to have taken off at a predictable pace. Is this going to be a problem?

I did e-mail Wyeast and MoreBeer to see if they had any feedback, just wanted to see if anyone has done the same thing and what the results were. If I hear back I'll update.

[McGruber]

So, I heard back from Wyeast, and this is what they said:

"At a high enough dose, the various compounds in the nutrient blend can go from being beneficial to detrimental to yeast cell health; so it's possible that the fermentation may struggle later on, but I think it's a positive sign that the wort started fermenting as quickly as it did.

I would expect the finished beer to have a vitamin pill-like flavor/aroma (which may be more or less apparent depending on the recipe, ingredients, beer style, etc). There isn't anything toxic or harmful in the nutrient blend, so the beer should be OK to drink from a safety standpoint - although with the high dosage and concentration of vitamins, minerals, etc., it may be prudent to treat this batch like a multivitamin supplement and limit the number of servings per day, if that makes sense."

HA! Maybe I'll make this a nutritional breakfast IPA.

[VaWineSnob]

You may be on to something here. Beer in lieu of vitamin supplement...

"Beer, not only is it not just for breakfast anymore, it's better for you than breakfast."

[McGruber]

Just to follow up on this: The finished IPA ended up tasting pretty darn good. I thought it did have a very slight mineral or metallic flavor. However, it was hard to tell if it was just hop bitterness, and I was tasting was what I was "searching for". I had already dry hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe (2 X 5 days), but thought the flavor and aroma was still lacking. In an attempt to boost flavor/aroma, add citrus notes and cover metallic flavor, I dry hopped with Citra for 3 more days. That made all the difference. I served it on keg at a party for 40 people and all 10 gallons were gone at the end of the night. IPA and non-IPA drinkers alike enjoyed it.

I don't recommend dumping an entire supply of yeast nutrient into your boil kettle, but proof-possitive that you can make it work! Glad I didn't toss the batch.