Organic Yeast

Picobrew · Mar 25, 2009

This may seem like a weird question, but are Wyeast/White Labs yeast packs "organic" ? I can't seem to find any information about this online, but I am really curious as to the answer. It seems you can easily do the whole brewing process in an organic fashion, except for the yeast. I know the yeast are just little fungi, but what about the process of making them? What was fed to them? What is really in that smack-pack? etc. I would think someone would have addressed this. The only thing I can find on Wyeast's website is some info about their Mead yeast, which has an organic pear juice smack pack inside. Does anyone know anything about the beer yeasts? They don't have a USDA organic stamp on them, as far as I can tell.

Here is the quote from the Wyeast site:

13. Dear Sir or Madam, I just read that your products are produced without animal ingredients in your FAQs. That is great. Now, I would like to know if your product #4184 Sweet Mead is produced with any products which are derived from grapes (e.g. wine, grape juice, seeds, tartaric acid, grapes, rosins). I am asking because I would like to use your mead and it would be more kosher if so. It would be nearly 100% kosher if it never came in contact with animal, grapes, and grape products; if it would have not been cooked, and if it was cooked, not in equipment that contained animal, grapes, and grape products or cooked only in thoroughly cleansed equipment. I am looking forward to your answer. Yours sincerely, Albert

Albert, Good news! None of our products contain animal products or grape products. Our media pack for the wine strains contains organic pear juice. Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns. Jess

Picobrew · Mar 26, 2009

I just got a reply from 7bridges on the matter:

Unfortunately, thus far we have not found a supplier of truly USDA certified organic brewing yeast. Someday we hope to change that by having some custom produced, but currently the demand is not yet large enough to provide sufficient financial incentive for a yeast manufacturer to make the required investment. I have discussed it with representatives at Wyeast, and part of the problem is some of the additives they routinely use as nutrients would not be allowed in certified organic product.

So, the straight answer is none of the Wyeast or White labs products are organic.

So does this mean it isn't really possible to do Organic homebrew? Wild yeast, I guess?

DeathBrewer · Mar 26, 2009

I can think of a way to "extract" a new yeast cell and culture your own.

Make up your own yeast starter with organic malt, pull a sample off of it, find some fresh healthy yeast, make a slant, seperate a single new cell, step that up with wort from organic malt, etc.

Is it really of that much concern? Why not just buy a vial and then maintain the yeast under organic conditions? True, the original did not use all organice materials, but you could propagate from there.

Picobrew · Mar 26, 2009

DeathBrewer said:
I can think of a way to "extract" a new yeast cell and culture your own.

Make up your own yeast starter with organic malt, pull a sample off of it, find some fresh healthy yeast, make a slant, seperate a single new cell, step that up with wort from organic malt, etc.

Is it really of that much concern? Why not just buy a vial and then maintain the yeast under organic conditions? True, the original did not use all organice materials, but you could propagate from there.

For me personally, it doesn't really matter, I was just surprised at the lack of discussion and information about the topic. I really do like to know what ingredients I'm working with, so it naturally led me to wonder why the yeast isn't organic, because it seems it should be.

Given that the yeast isn't "farmed" on soil, I am really not as concerned with its organic-ness. Malt and hops on the other hand, if grown in a non-organic fashion, can be detrimental to soil and people etc.

All this being said, I mix and match all sorts of products now, I was just wondering how easy it would be to go all out organic. From an impact point of view, buying organic malt is probably the biggest thing you can do, then going organic with hops, and yeast is probably not even a real concern.

Hmmm, can I still call my beers organic??

ShortSnoutBrewing · Mar 26, 2009

Just curious, have you spoken with folks at Roots, HUB, etc?

brewingsam · Mar 26, 2009

you could try a wild yeast,
most anything containing sugar will ferment if given a little water
but you spin the yeast wheel of fortune, whick is a lot like the "bust a deal, face the wheel" wheel form beyond thunderdome will it be a fast brew or a slow brew, is it goignto finish light and sweet, or brew totally dry, what are its temp ranges?30-40 50-70 70-100, will it only make vinigar? who knows, thats the problem with wild yeast, its wild

but if you did get one tht brewed nicely you could save the yeast cake and make your own cultures with a wort solution, but from there you are on your own

Picobrew · Mar 26, 2009

Kilted Brewer said:
Just curious, have you spoken with folks at Roots, HUB, etc?

No, but that's a good idea.

littlelord · Jul 28, 2011

i've wondered this myself... i use organic hops & malt whenever i can... so why not yeast? here's what i think: just because Whitelabs/Wyeast aren't officially labeled organic it doesn't mean they're not organic. like you said, yeast isn't a crop that's "grown" in the conventional sense so maybe it's just not something the USDA knows how to classify... or cares to classify. after reading chris white's book, i find it hard to imagine his yeast is cultivated with nasty chemicals.

jonmohno · Jul 28, 2011

At least alot or all of danstar is non-gmo.For a lot of small farmers the organic label is something unaffordable for them. Its also a marketing thing that some seem to get away with cheating on like some of the bigger organic dairy markets have done.Anytime a big company gets involved seems they like to take shortcuts to maximize profit. My question would be is how would a yeast be involved with pesticides and whatnot? Processing is a scary thing as they manipulate and frakenfry a food to fit profit.

Organic Yeast

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