Can you electrocute yeast

[bstein]

I am brewing a saison for the first time. Didn't realize before I started that they like warm temperatures. I have a fermwrap heater on my stainless conical fermenter.

A few days after a pitched the yeast I saw nothing happening. I went to check it and when I touched the fermenter I got shocked by the fermwrap. It's a little old and should be replaced. Anyway, I put more yeast in and it's still not fermenting which got my wondering if the electricity from the electric heater might have zapped my yeast preventing fermentation.

Anyone know?

Thanks in advance.

 

[itchygomey]

I'm no expert, but I do remember reading something quite a while ago about electrocuting yeast in some sort of cancer research. As i recall, the basic answer is yes it is possible. Probable?? I don't know. Id kill the heater and repitch if fermentation hasn't started.

 

[Kent88]

What yeast is it, how much did you pitch, what temperature has it been sitting at, and how much time has gone by?

Aside, I find it interesting that someone with a stainless conical is posting in the beginners forum.

 

[bstein]

I don't brew very often so I still consider myself a beginner. I like brewing so I invested in a conical for the long term.

I used safbrew t-58 as I read it's good for saison. I read it likes heat. The fermenter is in the garage where it's cold, but the heater is keeping the wort at 70 degrees.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I don't brew very often so I still consider myself a beginner. I like brewing so I invested in a conical for the long term.

I used safbrew t-58 as I read it's good for saison. I read it likes heat. The fermenter is in the garage where it's cold, but the heater is keeping the wort at 70 degrees.

no no no no no with a conical he only needs to brew like one batch every 3 years

 

[ajdelange]

Anyway, I put more yeast in and it's still not fermenting which got my wondering if the electricity from the electric heater might have zapped my yeast preventing fermentation.

I have no doubt that it would be possible to kill yeast by subjecting them to an intense enough electric field but that didn't happen here. As the fermenter is conductive and the heater is on the outside the inside is effectively shielded from the heater. The electric field (from the heater) inside is 0.

 

[Owly055]

I have no doubt that it would be possible to kill yeast by subjecting them to an intense enough electric field but that didn't happen here. As the fermenter is conductive and the heater is on the outside the inside is effectively shielded from the heater. The electric field (from the heater) inside is 0.

I think you are more or less right on this. To be electrocuted in this situation, there would have to be a current through the wort, and the wort would have to have a lower conductivity than the yeast cells so they are the path of lest resistance.

As an example, let's take the "toaster in the bathtub" electrocution. Water with low mineral conductivity is not a good conductor, in fact distilled water is an INSULATOR, and is used in some transformers. The human body however has a considerable concentration of minerals and salts which are an excellent conductor. The circuit in this case is from the toaster to the ground presumably, the ground being the plumbing ...... the drain, assuming conductive pipe. You can see right away that this is improbable in this age of plastic. The body being very conductive, and the bath water being considerably less conductive, the electricity passes through the body, which is the path of least resistance.

Example 2. I made a set of grounded pliers many years ago to pull spark plug wires off a running engine without getting shocked. The pliers were metal, instead of being insulated.... which would seem to be counter intuitive, and I used them with bare hands. We all know how powerful the shock is from modern electronic ignition systems.... or most of us do. I could pull a wire off holding the metal pliers in my bare hands, and watch the spark jump to the pliers. The path of least resistance was the ground wire.........not my body........so I never felt so much as a tickle.

Remember......."path of least resistance" and "circuit"


H.W.

 

[ajdelange]

I think you are more or less right on this. To be electrocuted in this situation, there would have to be a current through the wort, and the wort would have to have a lower conductivity than the yeast cells so they are the path of lest resistance.

No, there wouldn't have to be a current through the wort. It could be a perfect insulator (though of course a real wort is far from being a good insulator). All that is needed is an electric field within the yeast sufficient to break down some critical structure(s). Now the fact that a real wort does conduct electricity and would work to the yeasts' benefit if the wort conductivity were higher than that of the yeast as in that case it would shield the yeast cell in the same way the stainless cylinder shields the wort. If the wort were perfectly conductive and the yeast cell a perfect insulator there would be 0 electric field inside the yeast as the potential at one end of a cell would be the same as the other - shorted by the wort (as with your pliers example).

 

[agrazela]

Maybe that's how they make:

Or maybe now we know this guy's backstory?:

 

[bstein]

Many thanks to ajdelange and Owly055 for the help and the lesson on electrical conductivity. I need to learn more about electricity.

It sounds like I may have a temperature problem more than a electric shock problem. I put another packet of T-58 in there and it still isn't fermenting. The fermenter is at around 70 degrees (depending on the time of day. lower at night because of the drop in temperature outside in my garage). I removed the thermwrap, found the problem, and put electrical tape on part that was exposed and put it back on. No more shocks ban. Now I need to find a way to get the temperature up to it can start the fermentation process.

B

 

[unionrdr]

It sounds to me like it needs a controller to keep it it plus or minus a degree or so. Temp swings can have adverse effects on the fermentation as well, depending on the yeast. Some will drop their drawers more readily than others.
Maybe name it ride the lightenin' ale?

 

[Opiate42]

I used safbrew t-58 as I read it's good for saison. I read it likes heat.

Damn right it does. T-58 has become my favourite "let's see what happens" yeast. Have had some pretty interestingly enjoyable experiments with it, even from batches that fermented at 85F-ish in a closet through a heat wave.

OT: have no idea, but can't imagine any living organism enjoying getting it's nutsack zapped off.