brewing with Champagne yeast??

[fishinfur1]

had a great beer last night from Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace. One of the best beers I've had in awhile. It's brewed with Champagne yeast. I was wondering if anyone has tried to homebrew with it and if it changed the amount of sugar in Bottle carbing? does it produce more krausen? Overall is there any homebrewing difference??? And is it hard to find for homebrewers?

 

[Matt3989]

I've never used it, but it's available at most LHBS, and online. People use it to finish out a fermentation once the ABV gets to high for normal yeast, >10% I think.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I used some on a hard lemonade way back when I first started fermenting things and didn't really know what I was doing. It definitely contributed some flavors that I didn't care for (champagne-like for lack of a better descriptor), but the recipe I used was pretty much cr@p to begin with, so I can't blame the champagne yeast entirely. If you want to use it, I'd recommend using the most neutral one you can find and choose a fermentation temperature at the lower end of the yeast's recommended temp range to minimize its flavor contribution.

 

[fishinfur1]

Microbus, Did u do ur entire fermentation with the champagne yeast or just add it in after the primary? was everything else the same or did the champagne yeast make bottling harder or produce extra CO2 or anything? I think I can figure out a recipe I like I'm just trying to figure out the legistics.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Microbus, Did u do ur entire fermentation with the champagne yeast or just add it in after the primary? was everything else the same or did the champagne yeast make bottling harder or produce extra CO2 or anything? I think I can figure out a recipe I like I'm just trying to figure out the legistics.

I did the entire ferment with champagne yeast. The reason was the recipe had a whole bunch of lemon juice in it, so it was very acidic from the start and the champagne yeast is supposed to be more acid tolerant. I don't remember a lot of details because this was all 10+ years ago and the resulting beverage was pretty nasty, so I never tried it again. As for carbonation level, I don't remember it doing anything unusual.

 

[fishinfur1]

Thanks Microbus, Think I may give it a try as an experiment. Beer with lemon juice doesn't sound all that great too me to begin with, and pairing it with champagne yeast I think would enhance that acidic tartness. but hey an experimenting is worth a shot. thanks for the info.

 

[TNGabe]

Check out the 'spec sheet' on Brooklyn's webpage. It's bottled conditioned with champagne yeast, but fermented with a Belgian strain.

 

[microbusbrewery]

Thanks Microbus, Think I may give it a try as an experiment. Beer with lemon juice doesn't sound all that great too me to begin with, and pairing it with champagne yeast I think would enhance that acidic tartness. but hey an experimenting is worth a shot. thanks for the info.

And you'd be spot on...it was pretty much horrible. Definitely not my proudest brewing moment.

 

[sfrisby]

check out the 'spec sheet' on brooklyn's webpage. it's bottled conditioned with champagne yeast, but fermented with a belgian strain.

+1

 

[CGVT]

I keep a pack of Montrachet yeast on hand in case I get a stuck fermentation. I've used it twice now. In both cases it made a much drier beer than I planned but it doesn't change the taste much as far as I can tell.

 

[snaps10]

I used Montrachet to bottle my Christmas barleywine this year. Bottle bombs away!!!! It dried out the beer far beyond what I was planning on. I added it and y botling sugar to the bottling bucket 3 days before bottling. It went to town on the sugars in that beer. I spent a week and a half venting bottles before I could give them away after having the only bottle bomb I've had in my brewing career.