Bread yeast in beer

[jceg316]

I've been using bread yeast as nutrients, putting it in about 10-15mins before the end of the boil. Quite a few of my beers have a strange flavour to them and I'm wondering if some of the bread yeast survived and fermented my wort. I know what you're gonna say: "it can't survive a 10-15 minute boil" but it goes in the same time as my immersion cooler, and this cools the boil for a bit. Technically, it still shouldn't be able to survive 15 mins in 95°C liquid, but I want to cross this off so just humour me.

As I make a lot of kveik yeast I ferment at 30-35°c. Has anyone fermented a beer with bread yeast at this temperature and what sort of flavours did you get?

Thanks.

 

[Leon103]

Never thought of bread yeast as a nutrient. The wife as loads of the stuff

 

[Didge]

Why not just use yeast nutrient? I know I would be stressed if I was given dead humans to eat.

Sorry, I've been on the homebrew :-)

 

[lupinehorror]

I've been using bread yeast as nutrients, putting it in about 10-15mins before the end of the boil. Quite a few of my beers have a strange flavour to them and I'm wondering if some of the bread yeast survived and fermented my wort. I know what you're gonna say: "it can't survive a 10-15 minute boil" but it goes in the same time as my immersion cooler, and this cools the boil for a bit. Technically, it still shouldn't be able to survive 15 mins in 95°C liquid, but I want to cross this off so just humour me.

As I make a lot of kveik yeast I ferment at 30-35°c. Has anyone fermented a beer with bread yeast at this temperature and what sort of flavours did you get?

Thanks.

i tried a kilju with bread yeast. took about 8 weeks but it got there. tased better than the version i made with turbo yeast (though as the name implies that was much quicker). not really related to your question i don't suppose. apologies. i have also been on the home brew.

 

[MmmBeer]

I've been given a sachet of Estonian Kuivparm yeast. I have been told its a super fast acting yeast that can ferment a batch of beer in a day or two, at Kveik like temperatures.

A bit of googling suggests that its actually used in estonia as a bread yeast, but it can work at temperatures up to 45°C

I haven't been brave enough yet to risk half a days mashing and boiling etc with something that may not end up drinkable, but with time on my hands now, maybe I'll give it a go. Will keep you posted.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

It's certainly an interesting idea to add bread yeast to the boil as a nutrient, I guess why not?
As to fermenting beer with bread yeast I'm sure it's possible, but bread yeast (especially the commercial stuff) is a highly specialised strain developed to do one thing: reproduce and produce as much CO2 as fast as possible.
Personally I'd be a bit worried that it might even produce methanol: it is certainly capable of it, given the right metabolic pathway

 

[MrRook]

During prohibition home brewed beer got a well deserved reputation for being not very good; using bread yeast was one of the reasons.

 

[MmmBeer]

I have done a litle more reseach on this matter. Both ale yeast and baker's yeast are the same species, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, originally the brewer would have collected live yeast from his fermentation and sold this to the local bakers. More recently c. last 200 years, brewer's yeasts and baker's yeasts have been carefully selected for desirable traits, e.g. alcohol tolerance, high flocculation and low ester production for brewer's yeast and higher CO2 production for baker's yeast.

So a beer brewed with baker's yeast could be cloudy, low in alcohol and perhaps a touch estery. I still might give it a go though, I mean, what's the worst that could happen?

 

[jceg316]

There's a way to brew with bakers yeast, I think it requires a cold fermentation and slowly raise the temperatures. Lars Marius Garshol briefly covers it in his book Historical Brewing Techniques.

Why not just use yeast nutrient? I know I would be stressed if I was given dead humans to eat.

Sorry, I've been on the homebrew :-)

Baker's yeast is cheaper and more readily available. I do a lot of bread making as well so I tend to have a lot of bread yeast lying around anyway.

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

Surely intact yeast cells will not provide any nutrients- you’d have to breach the cell walls first. Yeast-based nutrients are processed - presumably by autolysis which is basically the dead yeast digesting itself.

 

[peebee]

…

Why not just use yeast nutrient? I know I would be stressed if I was given dead humans to eat.

Baker's yeast is cheaper and more readily available. I do a lot of bread making as well so I tend to have a lot of bread yeast lying around anyway.

And dead bodies lying around? Which reminds me: Your order for <WARNING: Spoiler alert!*> a box of Soylent Green will be a little delayed

(*Actually the film Soylent Green is nearly 50 years old so it's a bit late to think I'm posting spoilers!).

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The subject of using bakers yeast comes up fairly regularly and members views are always split.

Common issues with Baker’s yeast

In addition to the low tolerance baker yeast normally has to alcohol, there is another major issue which will concern those brewers seeking a perfect beer.

flocculation
Baker’s yeast generally has poor flocculation qualities when compared to most types of brewer’s yeast. flocculation is the process where the yeast forms into ‘flocs’ or ‘flakes’ and collects together before falling out of suspension and settling in the trub.

Having a high flocculating yeast, or one that does it at all, is desirable because it leads to a clearer beer and there will not be the overpowering taste of yeast in your beer. However, this isn’t always an issue for some homebrewers and is actually desirable in some beer types.

You can, of course, combat the cloudiness of your beer through several methods, including cold crashing and the use of finings. If you suffer from a cloudy beer.

flavor
Another issue that has come up in my research is that many brewers complain about the taste that baker’s yeast gives to their beer. Baker’s yeast can produce phenolic flavors, some between cloves or band-aid, which have been bred out of most brewer’s yeast strains.

In some cases, the yeasty or bready flavor compliments the beer well but most people say they really didn’t like it at all.

So, it seems that if the need is desperate, go for it but if you have access to brewer’s yeast then you’ll get a better tasting beer.

https://beercreation.com/bread-yeas...ctly the same species,higher ABV beer or wine.

 

[jceg316]

I don't particularly want to brew with baker's yeast, I have enough brewer's yeasts to experiment with for years! Just wondering about those who have. and what flavours have been produced. @MmmBeer it would be good to hear how the turbo bread-kveik yeast comes out!

Surely intact yeast cells will not provide any nutrients- you’d have to breach the cell walls first. Yeast-based nutrients are processed - presumably by autolysis which is basically the dead yeast digesting itself.

It goes into the boil which kills the yeast. I know a lot of kveik brewers including myself use it with great results. The issue I'm having is probably not to do with using bread yeast, I just want to be sure to cross it off. If there is a problem, I may not be using enough which is causing off flavours.