Challenge! Bread yeast beer swap...

I dont know if this has been done, but is anyone up to making a swap type beer using bread yeast?

I think it could be neat thing to do.

Kick EvilTOJ in the nuts if this is just silly.

it would most deffinitly be extremely sweet because as far as i know it attenuates poorly. There are quite a few meads made with bread yeast...i dont know about beer though

Kick me in the nuts eh? Well we'll just see who has the last laugh when you can't log into chat anymore, Mr. Flynn (if that is your REAL name)

Had 2 beers at our last local meeting, made with bread yeast, they weren't too shabby. *shrug*

OK - I have to ask. Why would you want to do this??? With so many amazing yeast strains made FOR beer - why try something NOT made for beer.

Just curious - making a brew takes time and I would prefer to use that time for making an awesome beer.

OK - I have to ask. Why would you want to do this??? With so many amazing yeast strains made FOR beer - why try something NOT made for beer.

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For the challenge and the experimentation, of course. There was an interesting thread a while back for a grocery-only brewing challenge, to see what could be brewed using ingredients available in your local grocery store.

Mike- this would be an interesting challenge, and I seem to remember an episode of Basic Brewing Radio where they were baking with beer yeast and brewing with bread yeast....

I wonder what would happen to bread yeast after several hundred generations of being fed on wort.

Chriso said:

Had 2 beers at our last local meeting, made with bread yeast, they weren't too shabby. *shrug*

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what type of beers were they? maybe i was wrong.

Not really "to" any certain style, I'd say taste of an American Blonde, color of a brown ale.

scinerd3000-

In meads, I think it's the high alcohol levels that causes the bread yeast to poop out early. I'd say to make a quaffable balanced beer with bread yeast, you'd have to keep it to a low gravity beer like a mild.

Hmm I remember Kaiser did an experiment with mash temp where he used bread yeast since it was cheap. He said it gave 75% attenuation with wort.

I've been wanting to try this. (Eyes empty Mr Beer fermenter) I'm in. Think I'll do an IPA since I have 7# of hops.

flyangler18 said:

For the challenge and the experimentation, of course. There was an interesting thread a while back for a grocery-only brewing challenge, to see what could be brewed using ingredients available in your local grocery store.

Mike- this would be an interesting challenge, and I seem to remember an episode of Basic Brewing Radio where they were baking with beer yeast and brewing with bread yeast....

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I was just going to ask if anyone has ever tried this...

flyangler18 said:

scinerd3000-

In meads, I think it's the high alcohol levels that causes the bread yeast to poop out early. I'd say to make a quaffable balanced beer with bread yeast, you'd have to keep it to a low gravity beer like a mild.

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makes sense....thank you for the clarification

I've wondered if it might be possible to brew something that resembles beer from grocery store ingredients. Does anyone know if Ovaltine has been tried as a kind of DME? I wouldn't have a clue as to what percentage is fermentable.

OvaltineUSA Products

Anbrew said:

I was just going to ask if anyone has ever tried this...

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I made pizza dough using yeast recouped from a fermenter. The dough had a nice and slightly beery taste to it, but didn't rise much - I may not have added enough yeast. I'd like to try it again using Belgian yeast to see if it gives any Belgian flavors to the pizza. I suspect it wouldn't, but perhaps if you leave the dough long enough something might emerge. The other option would be to slow fermentation by leaving the dough in the fridge for a couple of days, in which case a lager yeast could be a better choice?

Danek said:

I made pizza dough using yeast recouped from a fermenter. The dough had a nice and slightly beery taste to it, but didn't rise much - I may not have added enough yeast. I'd like to try it again using Belgian yeast to see if it gives any Belgian flavors to the pizza. I suspect it wouldn't, but perhaps if you leave the dough long enough something might emerge. The other option would be to slow fermentation by leaving the dough in the fridge for a couple of days, in which case a lager yeast could be a better choice?

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Very interesting, I've never actually made a bread with yeast before so this is all pretty new to me. Did you just throw all the trub into the dough? How long did you give it before you threw it in the oven?

i have made bread with beer yeast before ,, and it works fine ,, but its slower to get started , at least it has been for me, but the yeast had been off beer for a few weeks.
but it works just fine it just has more of a lead time than super active dry bread yeast
but bread yeast is packet with amylase which is why i think it starts faster

i'd imagine you could get good flavor from a brewer's yeast in a bread by using a process similar to what sourdough bakers do. Make a really thin dough with equal parts flour and water then add the brewer's yeast to it. Let it sit at room temperature for a few days, mixing it when it starts to form a liquid on top. That should allow the flavors to develop. Then use this starter (sourdough bakers call it a poofa or fupa or fubar or some damn thing) in your bread recipe adjusting the flour and liquid appropriately.

I've been curious about this type of thing too. I've always thought, "For cryin' out loud, people have made beer for 2000 years. They didn't have specialized yeast. Heck, some of them just used wild yeast in the air, and hoped it made beer instead of vinegar. Yet, they've made BEER."

So, I (being an ultra Conservative who is always expecting the end days) have always wondered "How will I brew after the economic/shipping/retail infrastructure fails?"

The answer of course will be to use yeast that I've stocked up on (the easiest being bakers yeast) until that runs out, and then wild yeast.

So I'm very interested in seeing the results of these experiments. I'd like to try it myself, but I only have one primary, and one secondary, and I would like to make some prooven-to-be-good cider for CHRISTmas. So don't have time to experiment.

But, I eagerly await hearing about ya-all's results.

MrNate said:

I wonder what would happen to bread yeast after several hundred generations of being fed on wort.

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I've actually heard of this being done by a local brewing club. From what I've heard the yeast attenuates a little more each time. This can be a good experiment if you want to raise some of your own yeast that attenuates to a certain amount and then stops. Maybe if you want a sweeter stout. What's homebrewing if not a perpetual biology and chemistry experiment, right?