bread yeast

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tockeyhockey

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ok, this is going to be bad...

i was proofing my yeast in a bowl, waiting for my wort to cool when my wife came into the kitchen. she saw the slimey brown gook in the bowl and thought it was leftovers from a bowl of shredded wheat. she poured it down the sink.

so there i was, with wort and no yeast, and the only brewery supply store 40 miles away.

so i did the best i could do -- i added in fleischman's bread yeast insted. the beer is currently fermenting but at a slower rate than usual.

so what is this beer going to taste like? is it ruined?

at the very least, i've added an experimental brew to the history of home brewing.
 
Aigh.

Buy an extra pack or two of a fairly generic dry yeast and keep it in the fridge. I have a feeling you are going to have one nasty-tasting beer, but all you can do now is ride it out and see what you've got.
 
If you have a mutt vs. a greyhound, who wins the race? Bread yeast and ale yeast are the same sort of comparison. Thirty years ago, it was quite common for people to brew with bread yeast. Dried ale yeast is cheap and keeps for years in the fridge.
 
SWMBO...their neverending desire to clean up, even when your in the middle of something. Putting stir-spoons in the dishwasher, pouring out pans of "water", etc.

I have to brew when SWMBO is not home...if she is home and I can't avoid it I shut the dog gate btw rooms and ban her from the kitchen. :)
 
Exo said:
SWMBO...their neverending desire to clean up, even when your in the middle of something. Putting stir-spoons in the dishwasher, pouring out pans of "water", etc.

I have to brew when SWMBO is not home...if she is home and I can't avoid it I shut the dog gate btw rooms and ban her from the kitchen. :)
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Are we married to the same woman? :)

-a.
 
See, I use the baby gate, but that's to keep the kidling and puppy dog at bay (and away from three gallons of boiling wort!)

My wife has been great about this, she usually takes the kidling and heads out of the house for a few hours when I'm brewing. Of course, she's usually shopping or something, but at least I don't have my daughter - who I love dearly - crying to be picked up by Daddy when I'm trying to prevent a boilover. She also trusts me enough to pick up when I'm done (and she hates cleaning the kitchen herself), so she's never tried to dispose of things that are lying around the kitchen.
 
Exo said:
SWMBO...their neverending desire to clean up, even when your in the middle of something. Putting stir-spoons in the dishwasher, pouring out pans of "water", etc.

I have to brew when SWMBO is not home...if she is home and I can't avoid it I shut the dog gate btw rooms and ban her from the kitchen. :)
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Mine put dirty dishes in a sink filled with sanitizer when I was bottling :) Women... you gotta love em you know....
 
SteveM said:
I can't wait to hear how this one comes out. Please let us know!
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Yeah, definitely come back to us on this one. I actually tried the reverse. I wanted to see what bread made with beer yeast would taste like. I used the cake off of a hefe I had just racked. Unfortunately the beer ended up being contaminated so obviously the cake was nasty smelling and the bread dough was nasty. Didn't even bake it... ha!
 
Wow! you guys are lucky, I stand outside in the sweltering heat or freezing cold, dreaming about SWMBO allowing me to brew inside the house, I'd even settle for inside the garage in Winter but "the smell gets in the house".
 
I too have been exiled to the great outdoors. It's been in the 100s this week in Baltimore. My beer might have some sweat in it.

I'm debating whether or not to take this one all the way through the bottling process. It's a lot of work for something that I think is going to be pretty bad. It has yet to produce enough gas to make the airlock bubble, and it's been in there since sunday.

Do you think it's worth finishing? Maybe I'll just bottle a six pack, for posterity's sake.
 
OK, experts, since the bread yeast hasn't really done much yet...

What if he re-pitches with the right yeast? Since the "good" yeast is going to multiply faster than the bread yeast, is it possible for him to still salvage this batch? Will the beer yeast overwhelm the bread yeast, if the latter hasn't really gotten going?

I'd be inclined to make a trip out to the HBS for the right yeast (get stuff for your next batch at the same time). Why not, what can it hurt?
 
the_bird said:
OK, experts, since the bread yeast hasn't really done much yet...

What if he re-pitches with the right yeast? Since the "good" yeast is going to multiply faster than the bread yeast, is it possible for him to still salvage this batch? Will the beer yeast overwhelm the bread yeast, if the latter hasn't really gotten going?

I'd be inclined to make a trip out to the HBS for the right yeast (get stuff for your next batch at the same time). Why not, what can it hurt?
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well, i'd agree with you, but i'm worried now that it's been four days and the chances of infection are pretty high. or do you think that the bread yeast would have created enough alcohol to protect the wort at this point?

there has been some bubbling, but very minimal. the only way i can get the airlock to move is by pressing down on the lid of my plastic fermenter. that presses some gas up through the airlock, but not much.
 
What's it going to hurt?

You know you want to brew again soon, you're hooked like the rest of us. Double this if you truly DO have a dumsterbrau on your hands. If at all possible, I'd make the trip to the HBS sooner rather than later, and give it a shot. Assuming everything was all sanitized properly and everything is sealed up, I wouldn't worry too much about an infection.

The question in my mind is whether the bread yeast HAS consumed enough of the fermentables that it's too late. That, I just don't know.
 
the_bird said:
What's it going to hurt?

You know you want to brew again soon, you're hooked like the rest of us. Double this if you truly DO have a dumsterbrau on your hands. If at all possible, I'd make the trip to the HBS sooner rather than later, and give it a shot. Assuming everything was all sanitized properly and everything is sealed up, I wouldn't worry too much about an infection.

The question in my mind is whether the bread yeast HAS consumed enough of the fermentables that it's too late. That, I just don't know.
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alright -- as soon as i get home from work i'll dump in the new brewer's yeast i picked up last night. i'll let you know what happens.
 
You do know, of course, that I'm an idiot, so don't blame me if it doesn't help! ;)

But, seems to me to be a real small price to pay to potentially salvage the brew. Good luck.
 
I can't see an infection because of this... an offtaste certainly is more probable. Like it was previously said, people used to use bread yeast.
 
budbo said:
I'd say repitch and see I'd rather spend another $1.75 for a packet of dry with a chance of saving the brew rather than just dump the batch.
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well, i got home from work and went to take a gravity reading of the beer. it's at 1.010, right about where the recipe says it should be. so i'm not going to add more yeast.

so i'm thinking that i've got myself some sort of beer. i just have to wait and see what wonderbrau is going to taste like.
 
tockeyhockey said:
well, i got home from work and went to take a gravity reading of the beer. it's at 1.010, right about where the recipe says it should be. so i'm not going to add more yeast.

so i'm thinking that i've got myself some sort of beer. i just have to wait and see what wonderbrau is going to taste like.
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Did you taste it when you took the reading?
 
ok, so i tasted it. it's good! it's a little syruppy, but i think that's to be expected for three to four day old wort.

whaddya think?
 
Beer Snob said:
Well if it did not taste like a loaf of pumpernickle I'd say you have a fair chance !
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it definitely tasted like beer, and the specific gravity is about where it should be. i think i've got wonderbrau.
 
This might be the best story of a misadventurous beer on these boards for a while. I am REALLY interested in knowing how this turns out in the end, even more than before.
 
SteveM said:
This might be the best story of a misadventurous beer on these boards for a while. I am REALLY interested in knowing how this turns out in the end, even more than before.
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there is an inordinate amount of crap and debris floating around on the top of the beer. i wasn't going to rack to a secondary because i figured extra work and time on this beer would probably not be worth it, but now i'm thinking i might just do that.

any suggestions? should i just go straight to bottles and drink it in a couple of weeks knowing that it won't be that good? or should i go the whole nine yards?
 
Racking to a secondary is a lot less work than bottling. I'd rack and give it the full two weeks, then take a sample. If it's drinkable, go ahead and bottle at that point - if not, then come back here, we'll probably tell you to drink it anyway but you *might* decide then to dump it. Even if it works out well, it's not going to taste GREAT after two weeks in the secondary, but you should be able to get enough of a sense then whether it truly is ruined.

If you end up having to dump it, much better to have only spent the time to move it to secondary than to have bottled.

OK, I want to back up a second and ask the experts - what SHOULD he have done when his yeast was thrown away? Obviously, he should have had more dry yeast around, that's lesson 1. Would it have been better, though, to have sealed up the wort WITHOUT pitching the bread yeast - knowing the risk of contamination - then getting the right yeast the next day? Would that have been better than the bread yeast?
 
the_bird said:
Racking to a secondary is a lot less work than bottling. I'd rack and give it the full two weeks, then take a sample. If it's drinkable, go ahead and bottle at that point - if not, then come back here, we'll probably tell you to drink it anyway but you *might* decide then to dump it. Even if it works out well, it's not going to taste GREAT after two weeks in the secondary, but you should be able to get enough of a sense then whether it truly is ruined.

If you end up having to dump it, much better to have only spent the time to move it to secondary than to have bottled.

OK, I want to back up a second and ask the experts - what SHOULD he have done when his yeast was thrown away? Obviously, he should have had more dry yeast around, that's lesson 1. Would it have been better, though, to have sealed up the wort WITHOUT pitching the bread yeast - knowing the risk of contamination - then getting the right yeast the next day? Would that have been better than the bread yeast?
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i know it's not what i "should" do, but i'm going to put it straight into bottles this weekend. that way, i free up valuable space for new batches. i have friends coming into town at the end of the summer and i want to make sure that i have beer for them to drink. but i also don't want to "totally" waste this batch. i don't see the point in having what is probably bad beer take up valuable fermentation space in my cramped brewing headquarters.

rules be damned -- i'm bottling it this weekend! i'm having a crab fest, so my guests will be switching from natty boh to my home brew and back. wonderbrau is bound to look good in comparison.
 
Bottling after only one week fermenting is truly working with no net.

I am betting it is drinkable, after it ages a bit.

As far as the question above about what would you do if you spilled or otherwise lost the yeast, since I don't claim expert status I will cheerfully duck it.
 
I guess I am perhaps a little concerned with how this thread is appearing to people with little experience brewing. Want to make certain that folks in this category understand that by no means is using bread yeast a good thing. Bread and beer yeast are two completely different things. I think this thread should be viewed as very good reasons to keep some dried yeast in your fridge/freezer rather then a green flag to use bread yeast in your quality beers.

Also wanted to ask a question to folks. We know what happened with this beer and it seems like a good subject to talk about what if this was to happen again? Is this solution actually the best solution that was available? How long could it sit waiting for the correct yeast?
 
I have the same exact question - given the circumstances, what SHOULD he have done? I'm inclined to think - seal up as good as possible, figuring a 50/50 chance of avoiding contamination for 24 hours versus pitching bread yeast and pretty much guaranteeing a beer that, in the best case, would be barely drinkable. Life's too short to drink bad beer!
 
As a person who almost used bread yeast 12 days ago i found this thread great reading, it's easy for somebody like myself who is fairly new to brewing to think "yeast is yeast" i'm glad now i didn't. Hope your beer turns out okay mate and i think we all learned a lesson here
 
Beer Snob said:
I guess I am perhaps a little concerned with how this thread is appearing to people with little experience brewing...
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I think there is no great risk in this, I think most people *get* that there is great potential for mishap here. But the proof will be in the pudding. I think everyone is mostly curious as to whether it will be drinkable, not whether it will be a great beer.
 
SteveM said:
I think there is no great risk in this, I think most people *get* that there is great potential for mishap here. But the proof will be in the pudding. I think everyone is mostly curious as to whether it will be drinkable, not whether it will be a great beer.
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well, i put it in bottles this weekend. i know it should have gone into a secondary for a while, but i wanted to cut my losses a bit. if it's bad, who cares? i've got more on the way. if it's even drinkable, i'll be very happy.

i tasted it before i bottled it and it definitely has alcohol. it's very bitter, but that probably has something to do with the 4 oz of saaz hops the recipe called for.

there was a noticibly rough yeast flavor, very bready, almost "wood" like (i can't think of a better description).
 
i had my first taste of wonderbrau last night. it's not quite done carbonating (needs another week at least in the bottle) but i figured i'd give it a taste just to see what was going on.

i definitely tastes like beer. however, it doesn't taste like good beer. it is harsh, and has a sharp, ultra-bitter finish. i used saaz hops as my bittering and finishing hops, 2 oz total, so i wasn't expecting something totally overpowering.

pretty nasty stuff really. but i'll let you know in another week what comes of it.
 
Yeah 2 oz of Saaz "should" not be too overpowering. Outside of the yeast issue the hops needs some time to mellow. Your beer is still pretty green. The first AG I did was a wheat and the AG process had a few bumps cause it was my first one. The stuff... last I tasted, was real nasty too. I just put it in the back of storage somwehere to forget about it for a little while. Not that I'm saying this is what you should do, but let it age a bit more. If at the end, two months go by and it still taste nasty then you might consider doing what I've done so it can age a bit more and you can move on to other things.
 
TH - which is it?

...it's very bitter, but that probably has something to do with the 4 oz of saaz hops...
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...i used saaz hops as my bittering and finishing hops, 2 oz total...
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Four ounces or two? If it was four, that might have something to do with the bitterness.

All in all it sounds like a better outcome than anyone would have expected, but as was noted, it is still pretty young.
 

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