Cheap bulk yeast?

[daft]

I want to stash a pound of yeast in my freezer... what search terms should I try for amazon? Distillers or bakers, and not champagne or brewers? I want it cheap and fast acting. I have been very happy with baking yeast for my cran-grape cider, but am tempted to try something else for variety.

Champagne just seems to come in tiny pricey packets and I didn't like it when I tried decades ago. This writeup found that yeast inferior to bakers yeast in almost every way (for distilling anyway) http://www.clawhammersupply.com/blogs/moonshine-still-blog/7784687-the-best-yeasts-for-distilling

I guess brewers yeast = dead nutritional yeast and is intended to eat rather than ferment.

Is distilling yeast really slow compared to instant dry bakers yeast? The link above rated bakers above their usual distillers yeast. It doesn't necessarily give different alcohol amounts or leave a "bread" taste.

 

[z-bob]

Bakers yeast stores for years in the freezer. You can buy it in 1 pound foil packages at Costco or Sam's, cheap. HTH

(this thread will probably get locked quickly because of the distilling link)

 

[Maylar]

You're posting in the cider forum... what do you want to ferment?

 

[daft]

Sorry, I edited in cran-grape cider. I see LeSaffre Saf-Instant Yeast, Gold getting rave reviews in amazon.... it is a bakers yeast meant for sweet breads as opposed to the normal red brand. Also maybe try red-star dady distillers yeast.

PS I cannot get bulk yeast at my sams club... they cater to the rice and not bread culture here and yeast of any kind is hard to get except 1 ounce.

 

[meatcleaver]

not to poopoo your idea but i don't really see a need to save dry yeast in bulk. I keep a few packets of dry yeast in the fridge for emergencies but I usually pitch from a slurry saved from a previous batch.
I agree that champagne yeast doesn't make a good cider but I would think a specialty cider yeast or good liquid ale yeast would make the best cider.
although these yeasts are expensive you can buy them just once, build a starter to twice the cell count you need, pitch half & put the rest back for later.
alternately, you could repitch from slurry or washed yeast saved from a prior batch.
something to think about...

 

[daft]

Thanks, but when I have reused yeast slurry it progressively picks up some off flavor (wild yeasts?). I can think how to reduce but not eliminate this. I suppose it would be worthwhile if I fell in love with a particular expensive yeast.

It seems like purple grape juice really "likes" bread yeast, if you like a peppery taste. Cranberry might prefer another yeast. So maybe I will try a few expensive small packs, but also stock up on the practically free bulk bakers yeast. I go thru a lot and found only one local store that sells a jar size vs the tiny packets, all expensive.

 

[gregbathurst]

You can buy 250g packets of yeast from winery supply companies, ec1118 (champagne) is usually the cheapest.You don't store dried yeast in the freezer, it will keep for years in the fridge. When you buy big packets there is a much better range of specialty yeasts available because that is how wineries buy their yeast.

 

[bembel]

Scott labs will sell you bricks. You can get smaller packages of most of their strains from MoreWine of you don't want 500g at a time. It's also hard to keep it in bulk and not contaminate it. That's why the 5-8 gram packets are so nice.

 

[MindenMan]

Pasteur Red - Red Wine Yeast (not champagne) makes great fruit based beverages. A 500g brick was really cheap online and is good for approx 100 five-gallon batches. Any yeasts I have purchased as liquids, I will make a step starter before I pitch so half of the virgin yeast goes back into the fridge for the next step batch and so on. That all but eliminates any funky yeast by-products as each time the yeast is pitched it is always "virgin".

 

[gregbathurst]

If you buy big packets of yeast you get a bigger range of yeasts, a lot of yeast varieties are only available in big packets. A favourite yeast for a lot of craft cidermakers is AWRI 350 yeast,which is difficult to get in small sachets but available in 500g packets.

https://store.tcwequipment.com/products/maurivin-awri-350

 

[laredo7mm]

Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast is $0.50 a package at my local brew supply place. Doesn't get much cheaper than that.

 

[daft]

I want to stash a pound of yeast in my freezer... what search terms should I try for amazon? Distillers or bakers, and not champagne or brewers? I want it cheap and fast acting.

Thank you all. I take it I should use search terms BAKERS and WINE but for some reason not DISTILLERS for bulk cider yeast from Amazon, which is one of the few vendors who will deliver to my location.

As for non-Amazon suggestions, I am not in your consumers paradise or even in a place where most companies will agree to send products to, even at a surcharge. I believe there is only one brewers supply store within 2000 mile radius, with sky high prices. In fact all retail prices are sky high, and I'm sick of waiting for the markdown by my one supplier of 4 oz jar of bread yeast once every 6mo. I may be overlooking something, but...

 

[laredo7mm]

...As for non-Amazon suggestions, I am not in your consumers paradise or even in a place where most companies will agree to send products to...

How are we supposed to know that if you don't tell us? We aren't mind readers, well, at least I'm not.

 

[daft]

Sorry, but all I had asked for were online search terms... generic categories of yeast. It embarrasses me to dwell on why I have to focus that approach. But another background fact is I have to shut down my soda carbonating gear and switch to all cider... time to stock cheap yeast by the shovel full!

It looks like amazon also has CIDER yeasts at many $ per packet (sometimes including nutrients). I thought it was silly I couldn't search BREWERS yeast because that term is reserved for hippie food supplements, but I could plug in ALE yeast (also in pricey packets). BEER doesn't work as a yeast search category.

It looks like bulk red star dady DISTILLER yeast gets hundreds of rave reviews on amazon, including explicitly saying good for other uses like cider. Strange because other brand reviews say lousy for non distilling, and the earlier link suggested distillers maybe should switch to BAKER yeast. I hope to give it a try and report here.

 

[HenryEvery]

Daft,

Did you have a chance to use the Distiller yeast?