Help, no brewers yeast....

[Annpan]

I did have some.... 7 months ago, before we had a kitchen demolished and moved out for 2 months.... now we are living out of plastic storage boxes and I *thought* I knew where the yeast was.... in a caddy next to dried chillies and turmeric.... but alas, said caddy is nowhere to be found... so I am out of brewers yeast...

Can I use bread making yeast or should I get to Glasgow tomorrow and get myself some brewers yeast?

What a pickle....

[Green Aura]

I've used bread yeast to make beer but not wine - I don't think it makes enough alcohol for wine.

[Annpan]

worst case scenario.... can I at get the wine into demi-johns (without the yeast) and add yeast in a few days... cause getting to Glasgow tomorrow isn't going to be easy anyway....


ach!

[MKG]

Ahah!!! I assume this is the next batch of rhubarb?

Bread yeast isn't as efficient at producing alcohol as wine yeast (but it is more efficient at producing carbon dioxide bubbles - horses for courses). However, although it's a purpose-bred strain, it is exactly the same species of yeast.

Your rhubarb wine-to-be would probably be OK if you left it in the demijohns whilst you flitted away to the smelly metropolis - but I wouldn't feel all that confident if I left it more than a day or so, especially in this weather. The best thing, I think, would be to stick in some bread yeast now. That will, at least, start the fermentation off and should ensure that nothing nasty is occurring while you get your backside to the homebrew shop in Glasgow. When you have your wine yeast, make up a starter (see below) and add that. Being the same species there'll be no competition but, when the bread yeast dies out, the wine yeast will still be there to carry on the fermentation.

You don't need to add all of the sugar at the initial stage - just a couple of pounds to keep the bread yeast fed until the real thing arrives. On the other hand, it doesn't matter too much (just in case all the sugar is already in there )

OK - starter. One bottle. Half fill with tepid water. Add squeeze of orange or lemon juice. Add three teaspoons (heaped) of sugar. Shake well. Add a level teaspoon of yeast. Plug the neck of the bottle loosely (cotton wool is ideal) and put the bottle in a warm place (difficult not to at the moment). Wait for 24 hours, then share it out between the demijohns.

The reason you've had to do this is that the bread yeast will have whipped all of the oxygen out of the rhubarb stuff - and yeast needs oxygen to multiply. The starter means that you've already multiplied your wine yeast before you put it in with all the other stuff.

Does that make sense - I've been out tonight ?

Mike

[Annpan]

right-o... thanks for that MKG.... I now have dilema #2

I got to the home brew shop 20 mins after closing but managed to get to a holland and barret (health food store) and I asked if they had brewers yeast.... which they did... but, hang on a minute.... is this the right stuff? It is brewers yeast for sure, but it is a dietery supplement.... doesn't say anywhere on the box that it is for home brew Have I bought totally the wrong thing? or is it the right thing, which is strangely also a dietery supplement??? It is in a pretty big box too

[MKG]

The straightforward answer is I don't know. It's certainly pure brewers yeast, but whether it's active or not I can't tell. Apart from which, I suspect that the tablets are manufactured from beer yeasts. Certainly, if you can activate it, it's better than bakers yeast. So, crush enough tablets to make up a level teaspoonful and try the starter described in my last post - you'll soon know if it's usable.

EDIT: Actually, you've made a good point, Ann - there are MUCH cheaper ways of getting a yeast dietary supplement than going into a Health Food store

Mike

[Annpan]

I looked it up on wikipedia

"Brewer's yeast" (also known as "brewing yeast") can mean any live yeast used in brewing. It can also mean yeast obtained as a by-product of brewing, dried and killed, and used as a dietary supplement for its B vitamin content.

So I popped a wee bit of bread yeast in the wine this morning.... don't know when I'll get back to Glasgow for more proper stuff


So if anyone wants a large box of yeast dietary supplement let me know (it is the granular stuff)