Without getting into detail, can beer yeast cross contaminate with wine yeast and vice versa? If, say, there was a building that was a winery, would there be a risk for that contamination if beer was suddenly brewed there as well? Are there any resources out there that supports or debunks this? Thanks guys...could be an important bit of information for the LHBS here in town.
I don't believe you are at great risk if you are using modern equipment - all of the modern small commercial brewing systems are sealed and thoroughly sanitized before use.
If you were using open fermenters, reusing casks, or something like that you might be at risk but I doubt this is the case.
Take appropriate precautions to thoroughly sanitize before brewing and you should not have any serious concerns.
If the LHBS I'm referring to were to brew beer, I'm pretty sure that the beer would be brewed in separate fermenters, etc. I think that maybe the owner is being a bit paranoid, thinking that the beer yeast will magically find its way into one of the carboys just for wine or something. Assuming the same sanitary practices are consistently used for both the beer and the wine and they have designated vessels, there's shouldn't be a problem, right?
He wants to expand from being mostly about wine into giving beer some more attention. The thing is, he's very reluctant/paranoid that there will be cross contamination and I'd like to set his mind at ease on that.
If the LHBS I'm referring to were to brew beer, I'm pretty sure that the beer would be brewed in separate fermenters, etc. I think that maybe the owner is being a bit paranoid, thinking that the beer yeast will magically find its way into one of the carboys just for wine or something. Assuming the same sanitary practices are consistently used for both the beer and the wine and they have designated vessels, there's shouldn't be a problem, right?
He wants to expand from being mostly about wine into giving beer some more attention. The thing is, he's very reluctant/paranoid that there will be cross contamination and I'd like to set his mind at ease on that.
call the guys at more flavor and see if they store morebeer stuff with the morewine stuff.
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You know what will happen if beer yeast automagically got into the wine? Nothing. It would ferment and stall out at about 5% if it even started at all. Since the yeast is removed as much as possible from wine I don't see how it would even make a difference even if beer yeast did get into wine must. The other way around, wine yeast would make the beer very dry, so there could possibly be concern there, but still it'd be minimal.
He's being paranoid about nothing. You'd think someone with experience with fermentation would know how contamination and sanitation practices work.
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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
If the average craft brewer can brew Belgians, Hefes and IPAs in the same equipment, I suspect there should be no problem doing wine & beer in the same building. Two major reasons to not worry: wine yeasts have been selected to ferment relatively simple sugars, and when you pitch a batch the yeast strain in the pitch will overwhelm any stray yeast.
Brett and Lacto bacteria are a whole different story, but most breweries and wineries don't mess with them.
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Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"
That all makes sense, guys. I don't suppose there'd be a good way to urge him to see the yeast situation from this more reasonable perspective? Maybe if I contacted a major LHBS for a debunking and shared the conversation with him? I think this is one of the major things that's really holding him back from doing the beer thing.
Beer Yeast + Wine Yeast = Cross Contamination?
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