Will vodka kill yeast?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

stephelton

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Messages
299
Reaction score
8
Location
Colorado Springs
I'm trying round two at a yeast starter/reconstitution. I've boiled some water + light DME to get about 1.040 SG and am letting the liquid cool before I throw my yeast in there. I threw on an air lock filled with vodka, and perhaps a bit too much at that. A small amount was pushed from the airlock into the jug and is now thoroughly mixed with my wort.

Only a small amount -- probably about 3-4 ml. Will this cause problems for the yeast?

Thanks!
 
Don't sweat it at all bud. Folks been using vodka in air locks (myself included) with no issues at all.

Your safe....
 
Most people just put foil on a starter not an airlock, it benefits the starter to have a fresh supply of oxygen through the process. Give this a listen, tons of good starter info.
 
OH yea, you don't want any alcohol to get into contact with the yeast, otherwise it will kill it for sure!










OK I'm totally kidding. But I had you going, didn't I? Yeast is quite alcohol tolerant (hell, it makes alcohol as a byproduct, one of the reasons we do this, right?) and a few drops won't hurt anything.
 
Straight Vodka will kill yeast, but a few ml in a batch of beer isn't a problem. Even an entire fifth in your fermenter wouldn't hurt anything.
 
And even then, the yeast doesn't necessarily die at those percentages, but they start to get so wasted that they have a hard time doing yeast-like things, like reproducing and making more alcohol.

Like the guys in the movie Beerfest, yeast can be trained to deal with higher ethanol levels if done slowly and methodically. Vodka drops that hit the wort will only contribute to a teeny % of alcohol in the mix. Think butterfly flapping its wings and *not* causing a hurricane.
 
Just thought I'd follow up. My concerns about vodka were needless. The yeast activity in the starter occurred very quickly, it must have happened within the span of about 5 hours during which I was gone. This was a very effective attempt, though; after pitching the yeast in to about 6 gallons of 1.044 wort, audible bubbling from my blow-off was apparent within 8 hours (pitched at 1 AM, woke up at 9 AM to the reassuring sound :)
 
Because vodka is essentially sterile. If you get negative pressurization and you have the airlock liquid sucked into the fermented, you don't want any nasties sucked in with the wAter. Make sense?
 
And even then, the yeast doesn't necessarily die at those percentages, but they start to get so wasted that they have a hard time doing yeast-like things, like reproducing and making more alcohol.


he he he....

at what percentage do homebrewers get so wasted that they stop doing homebrewer-like things as above?
 
Back
Top