Beginner questions about yeast

[elephant]

I have a couple of quick questions about yeast.

First off, in the beginner video I watched (see my other thread), they said just to use bread yeast for your first time.

I just got some yeast out of the cupboard and used that. Now that everything is done, I noticed that it said on the yeast, "sweet bread yeast" ... whatever that means. Does that matter, that it's "sweet" bread yeast?

Second question ... does it matter how much yeast you put in? I am assuming the yeast multiplies as the brew goes on. I imagine you could put too little in (meaning it would take a longer time I guess), but can you put too much in? In most recipes I have seen they just say to put in "a teaspoon".

 

[SimPilot]

I would just stop by a brew shop and buy a yeast packet (1-2$). Bread yeast is for bread. Brew yeast is for booze.

 

[CKuhns]

Bread yeast will work bur in my opinion no optimal unless making a JAOM. - Be sure it is not quick rise yeast. As well, bread yeast craps out pretty early so if you planning a high ABV mead > 11% it probably wont get there. As @SimPilot suggests stop by your local homebrew shop and pick up a couple packets of yeast.

As far as volume of yeast to use. For 1 - 5 gallons I add 10 grams and start it a few days early.

 

[kmarkstevens]

Bread yeast and Beer yeast most likely share a common ancestor. Anchor Steam back in the 1960's with Fritz Maytag used Red Star bread yeast (before it was dried) for a while.

That said, beer yeast is
1. cheap. go to your local home brew store and ask for the cheapest dried beer yeast for a beginner. Don't waste all the time and effort on a first beer with using the dodgiest ingredients to save a couple of bucks. Most likely the results will be sub optimal and not encouraging for future beers.
2. the drying of the yeast may have off flavors for beer
3. it will work. Bread yeast will ferment sugars into alcohol.
4. Beer yeast will in the vast majority of scenarios will be "better"

As a new brewer, you don't have to buy top of the line stuff, but you also shouldn't scrape the bottom of the barrel.

 

[elephant]

Thanks guys,

Thanks for the responses, I appreciate everyone taking the time, but this wasn't intended to be about bread yeast vs bear/wine yeast. The instructions in the video were specifically to use bread yeast. He talked about it a little while and said just use bread yeast. I have some proper yeast on order, so I will try that too! I just wanted to follow the instructions for my first one.

The questions I was really interested about were how much yeast to use in general? They said "a teaspoon" for one gallon, but can you use too much or is that not really possible? I have seen recipe calculators and the yeast seems to increase at a 2g per gallon, but why does that matter if the yeast culture multiplies and grows during the process (or does it not?).

Also anyone have any idea what's the difference between "sweet bread yeast" and "dry bread yeast" and if it matters for what I'm doing?

Thanks!

 

[CKuhns]

how much yeast to use in general
This is a hotly debated topic. - Can you use too much yeast? Sure but have yet to find that point. My belief is as long as you don't overwhelm them and stress them your going to be OK. A tsp of yeast per gallon of bread yeast should be just fine.

I have found more is better (BUT not absolutely necessary). If dry yeast, I always start my yeast with 10 - 20 grams for a 5 gallon batch or roughly 2 - 4 tsp for 24 - 48 hours in a similar must and temperature as i will be placing them in. I use a stir plate and add a lot of air by leaving the flask just covered with a clean linen towel to keep anything from getting into it. The yeast start out requiring an aerobic environment to reproduce and tend to go through a "Lag" phase while they do so. The starter time allows for those little buggers to bud and reproduce making a ton of new viable yeast cells. I believe it kind of jump starts your ferment as you then add billions of healthy yeast to your must and they just kind of take off from there.

Some commercial meaderies use a LOT more yeast (See Ricki's recipes from Groenfell) Mead Recipes I follow his recipes and practices for my Session meads but sub out D47 and use Omega Hot-Head liquid yeast. (No starter.)

"sweet bread yeast" and "dry bread yeast"
No idea - Sorry,

 

[ncbrewer]

I see your video is about mead. But if you also plan to brew beer, I recommend reading the pertinent sections of howtobrew.com. It's getting a little dated now - Palmer has put out updated paper versions up to version 4. In the yeast info, he discusses adding sugar when rehydrating, but that isn't recommended now by the yeast labs I'm familiar with. But it still has lots of good info.

 

[Maylar]

Bread yeast - Fleischmann's Active Dry (not quick rising) - should only be used in a JAOM. Mead yeast should be selected to match the flavor / aroma profile of the honey.

 

[SimPilot]

I would recommend following meadMakr BatchBuildr - MeadMakr

General Instructions 1. Clean and sanitize everything that will come into contact with your must. 2. Dissolve honey in small amount of water (leave room to add additional water to reach batch volume). 3. Add water to your batch volume minus volume for rehydration. 4. Aerate the must with a drill stirrer or shake/stir vigorously for 15 minutes. 5. Rehydrate, temper and pitch yeast per Go-Ferm rehydration instructions below. 6. Record specific gravity and temperature for future reference. 7. Apply airlock. Ferment per your yeast temperature specs. Low 60 deg F is sufficient for most wine yeasts. 8. Degas twice per day for first week of fermentation. 9. Dose nutrients per nutrient protocol instructions below. 10. Rack when yeast is done fermenting, as evidenced by no drop in SG for two full weeks. Also rack within 3 weeks of sediment layer forming on the bottom of an aging vessel to avoid sur lie or autolysis flavors. 11. When mead clears, bottle and enjoy. After 2-3 months, mead should be ready to drink.

Go-Ferm Rehydration Procedure For 1 packet(s) yeast, dissolve 6.25g of Go-Ferm Protect in 125mL hot water (the hotter the better). The warmer the water, the easier it will be to dissolve the Go-Ferm. When the water reaches 104 deg F (40 deg C), pour in your yeast. Give the slurry a quick swirl. After 15 minutes, begin tempering yeast by adding 63mL must to the yeast slurry every 5 minutes.When yeast slurry temperature is within 10 deg F of must temperature, pitch yeast into fermenter.

 

[dvi]

The CS Mead youtube channel is a bit... controversial among mead makers. I personally would recommend other resources (Man Made Mead, Homebrewtalk, the r/mead subreddit) that are far less likely to give you bad advice.

SimPilot gives solid advice on the process and nutrient schedule, which will help create a drinkable end product in a much shorter time frame and also avoid stalls.

I'll add in my own two cents that wine yeast is much more reliable than bread yeast and generally results in a much better end product. As for the amount needed, you technically only need one gram per gallon of must. However, that doesn't leave much room for error (yeast not rehydrating properly, etc.) and runs a slightly higher risk of stalling. There's no harm in overpitching a little and it can also result in a faster overall fermentation, so 2 grams per gallon is a reasonable amount.

Hope this helped!

 

[elephant]

The CS Mead youtube channel is a bit... controversial among mead makers. I personally would recommend other resources (Man Made Mead, Homebrewtalk, the r/mead subreddit) that are far less likely to give you bad advice.

SimPilot gives solid advice on the process and nutrient schedule, which will help create a drinkable end product in a much shorter time frame and also avoid stalls.

I'll add in my own two cents that wine yeast is much more reliable than bread yeast and generally results in a much better end product. As for the amount needed, you technically only need one gram per gallon of must. However, that doesn't leave much room for error (yeast not rehydrating properly, etc.) and runs a slightly higher risk of stalling. There's no harm in overpitching a little and it can also result in a faster overall fermentation, so 2 grams per gallon is a reasonable amount.

Hope this helped!

Sure did! Thanks!