Anyone Ever Brewed With Bread Yeast?

[RobW]

Slightly tangental, but - has anyone brewed using the "brewer's yeast" sold in health food shops?

[post="103309"][/post]​

No, because it is dead yeast.
They usually have a sticker on it saying so and it can't be used for homebrewing. At least that's what is on the stuff that is sold in the hippy section of my local supermarket.

[post="103377"][/post]​

It can't be dead or the bread wouldn't rise. The thing with using baker's yeast for brewing is it'll ferment but you don't know what flavour profile you'll get. Could be OK, might not.

 

[tangent]

Parisian essence

FYI
"Parisian Essence is burnt caramel. It's used as a gravy thickener and it also provides colour. In the US and Canada there's a brand called Kitchen Bouquet that's the same thing -- Or you can make your own: 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 2 cups of water. Put the sugar in a pan and let it scorch, stirring slowly all the time. When it turns a dark brown, add the water, stirring well. Store in a jar in the fridge. Works just as well as Parisian Essence and is much cheaper." - some cooking forum

 

[Stuster]

Tseay, see my Historic Aussie Recipes thread. I have made a small batch using this recipe, and perhaps unsurprisingly, in comparison to my fairly average AG attempts, it is not what I reach into the fridge for. :unsure:

 

[mikem108]

Apparently those crazy Swedes make a beer with juniper twigs and fermented with bakers yeast (See Papazian's Microbrewed Adventures for details and recipe)
You might want to try it for research purposes

 

[lpa]

G'day. Thought an update on my Lock-up Baker's Yeast Real Ale would be polite. Anyway, pitched 8g of Elfin Instant Dry Yeast for Breadmaker's direct from sachet into a half can of Lion Real Ale with 500g Dex in 11.5l at 22deg and have kept it at 20-22deg for the last 3 days. It was fermenting strongly after a night in bed and the gravity has dropped to 1006 already. The 'control' batch (exact same process and contents) got lazy at 1011 after 8 days - but 8 grams is a lot of yeast for a short brew. Funnily enough, it looks a bit lighter than the control and doesn't taste as sweet (Lion likes a bit of caramel in their beers I think). So, so far so good. Will give it another 5 days, then chill for 1.

 

[lpa]

G'day. Finally tasted said Baker's Yeast Prison Ale last night after two weeks in the bottle and, y'know, it's not an instant classic. But it's, as far as I can tell after an esoteric chomp and swallow, the same as the control batch I made previously except: it's a bit drier cos the bread yeast fermented like there was no tomorrow and had an FG of 1004, as opposed to the control brew's 1012. The Prison Ale tastes a little bit twangier than the control brew, but I put that down to less malty sugar in the final product. Could be wrong.

Anyway, in my under-performing mind this fairly unscientific result indicates the yeast that comes with the brewkits is, in many cases, as ordinary as most of you say it is, and the baker's yeast will do the job averagely - but not without a bit of chest-thumping pride - at a pinch (if you're in Prison).

I've moved on from this and am currently brewing a half can of Black Rock EIPA with 200g dark unhopped drymalt, 300g dextrose, a cutsie 12g bag of Fuggles, with a redydrated (first time - I can not express how exciting it was) foil of Munton's yeast. it's been down 8 days and during a sneaky hydro test on Monday it tasted fantastic. I've not said that before.

Man I'm rabbiting on. Go the Hurricanes!