Is it possible to brew with bread yeast?

[darrio84]

I decided to try and brew some mead and see how cheap I could make it. It started bubbling away but I'm just wondering, what happens with bread yeast instead if brewing yeast? Will it destroy the batch?


Thanks for all the responses

 

[Brew_Force]

It won't destroy the batch. It might not attenuate very well, and it could leave your batch kinda yeasty tasting. Really, though, dry brewing yeast isn't very expensive, and is well worth your investment.

 

[urbanmyth]

You could check out Yooper's recipe for Joe's Ancient Orange Mead. That is about as cheap as it gets.

 

[Bradinator]

+1 to JAOM.

Just be prepared to wait upwards of 8 months for it to be drinkable. I have only made a couple meads before but JAOM is one of them (my first actually). Its not the most pleasant drink when its young (actually its pretty awful), but after 8 months it really starts to shine. At a year it is absolutely divine.

 

[Hermit]

Mead and cheap just don't go together in my book. We have a few excellent mead makers locally so I'm spoiled.

 

[Golddiggie]

Mead and cheap just don't go together in my book. We have a few excellent mead makers locally so I'm spoiled.

+1

I've been making mead too. Best results come from high quality honey (not always expensive), with high quality yeast (~$2 per packet/batch) and treating the yeast right (food, O2, etc.)... Trying to make it as cheap as you can, IMO, using bread yeast, is a recipe for disgusting.

 

[ctwtp]

i would go for proper brewers yeast if you can. i did accidently use bakers yest for my blackberry and sole, after an initial fruit and bread smell once the yeast had done its job that smell soon went.
i was even surprised by its alcohol tolerance, took my wine up to 12% ( what i was aiming for) !

 

[ctwtp]

*sloe not sole

but i got off lightly i certainly wouldn't risk it

 

[malkore]

my first mead was a cyser with no sanitizing, pasteurized apple juice, and Sue Bee Honey...all fermented with some Fleishman's bread yeast.

It certainly was rough around the edges, but we also drank it young, from primary. It'll give you a sense of what mead tastes like, so you'll know if you want to go further with it, or if mead just isn't your cup of tea.