Nickeldeposit
Well-Known Member
Will Champagne yeast carbonate your wort in the carboy?
Champagne yeast carbonation
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ifishsum
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I guess I don't completely understand your question. Any yeast can lightly carbonate your beer in the carboy as it's fermenting. To get full carbonation though, you would have to seal in the pressure - which is not recommended for doing with a carboy.
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Nickeldeposit
Well-Known Member
I'm currently running a test in a beaker to see what happens and it is very carbonated. Basically I just made a nice yeast starter, sugar+water+yeast and put an air lock on it to see how it would go. Two weeks pass and the mixture is what I would call "hyper" carbonated to the state of shaken up 7 up when you swirl it. Is this what Champagne yeast does for those of you in the know with Champagne yeast?
No. Champagne yeast is just like ale yeast, wine yeast, etc. It ferments.
The carbonation comes from having a closed vessel where co2 is unable to escape. It doesn't matter what yeast caused the fermentation.
lunchbox
Well-Known Member
Would using wine yeast in a beer wort give a higher abv than a regular ale yeast?
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Nickeldeposit
Well-Known Member
Ok so beings I have an airlock on so co2 can escape why is it carbonated, any thoughts? Could the yeast have worked at such an intense pace that it carbonated?
Quite possibly- depending on what the ingredients are. Unfermentable dextrins still won't be fermented, but the wine yeast strains generally have a higher ABV tolerance.
Because sometimes the co2 pressure inside the fermenter isn't enough to bubble out of the airlock fully, especially if it's cooler. A cool liquid "holds" onto the co2 better than a warmer liquid. That's why there are carbonation tables that take temperature into account. That's also why wine kits need degassing before bottling- it's not really carbonated in a true sense, but it can be a bit "bubbly" and gassy.
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Nickeldeposit
Well-Known Member
When I mix/ swirl it up it goes crazy with bubbles
smizak
Well-Known Member
I heard an interesting podcast on the Brewing Network with Shea Comfort on wine yeasts and brewing. He claims that champagne yeast will NOT ferment maltose, they lack certain enzymes to cleave the molecule. I'd love to try that one day.
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Nickeldeposit
Well-Known Member
Maybe that’s what’s happening, the not fermenting. I checked the gravity and it really hasn’t moved from 1.060 in two weeks. But how would it be causing carbonation? Does anyone know if champagne yeast can convert ordinary table sugar or not?
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Nickeldeposit
Well-Known Member
I read that champagne yeast needs maltose sugar and not sucrose sugar to ferment into alcohol, can anyone back that up? In that case maybe I just made carbonated water?
No. champagne yeast is just a strain of wine yeast. It ferments sucrose, fructose, etc, just fine. I use it in most of my wines.
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Nickeldeposit
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Maybe this weekend I'll try to lite the area well and get it on video or some pictures.
JefeTheVol
Well-Known Member
I used to use Champagne yeast when I made shine. My mixtures would include: water, table sugar, and bacterial nutrient(of all things). I would ferment 5 gallons in a water jug to about 18-19%. They seemed very hearty to me, and the fact that I fed them nothing but table sugar (glucose and fructose) can definately attest that those guys will ferment like crazy for abour 5 days or so.
Hex
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you have a stuck fermentation, what temperature is the sauce?
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Nickeldeposit
Well-Known Member
It's holding at about 60 degrees
That's pretty cold for champagne yeast. You may want to warm it up. Also, if you have an airlock on it, take it off. Yeast need oxygen to reproduce, especially if the SG of the wort (must) is over about 1.030.
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