Author Topic: Keeping Yeast  (Read 2300 times)

lillian

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Keeping Yeast
« on: June 24, 2008, 10:28:31 »

Can you keep opened sachets of yeast if you don't want to use it all at once.
Most seem to be for up to 5 gallons, but I only plan to make 1 or 2 gallons at a time.

PurpleHeather

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Re: Keeping Yeast
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2008, 10:46:11 »
There are several types of yeast
Baking Yeasts

Fresh, which freezes. Separate into small quantities and just use as it is wanted. Put the yeast into the warm water/sugar mix in it's frozen state or it gets very gooey when it defrosts.

Dried, where you put the granules into warm water with a teaspoon of sugar and wait for it to activate. This keeps.

Easy bake. This is added to the flour with sugar and salt. then liquid is added. Usually in small foil sachets. This will also keep if you take out a teaspoon full to use re-seal the top with ordinary 'scotch' tape.

I take it that you know that yeast is a raising agent like baking powder but you can not mix the two. So, never try to make up a recipe using yeast with self raising flour. One kills the other and you will end up with a very heavy flat lump of something, even the birds wont want.

Yeast eats sugar and makes little bubbles, this causes the mix to rise. Too much sugar will kill the yeast.

Brewer's yeasts are usually in tubs which keep for ages.
 



Baccy Man

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Re: Keeping Yeast
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2008, 10:48:52 »
You add the entire sachet wether you are making 1 gallon or 5. The exception is with tubs of general purpose yeasts where they often reccommend 1tsp per gallon.

STEVEB

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Re: Keeping Yeast
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2008, 21:23:12 »
bit of a rip of then ...silly question as allways but if  a sachet is suitable for 25 l and i use it in a 5l demi what happens?do i get double quick fermenyation?
If it ain't broke don't fix it !!

Baccy Man

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Re: Keeping Yeast
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2008, 22:23:25 »
Short answer is yes you do get a faster fermentation in a 1 gallon batch.

Long answer is there are two reasons for using the whole package.

Firstly, what you are adding (typically 5 grams) is not a fixed quantity of yeast needed to ferment your wine so much as a starter culture of yeast. The yeast in the packet represents the minimum amount of culture recommend to start an active fermentation, regardless of batch size.
When adding a packet of yeast to 5 gallons of wine, the yeast will typically multiply to around 100 to 150 times what you put in. In the case of a one gallon batch of wine, the yeast will multiply, but not as many times as it does when pitched into a larger batch, therefore it will get to the required levels faster. The yeast will only reproduce itself into great enough numbers to complete the job that has been placed before it.
So, when you add a whole packet of yeast to 1 gallon of wine, you are not adding too much yeast. You are simply adding the minimum amount required to start an active fermentation. To add less then a package will result in a slow starting fermentation that will take extra time to finish the job. A single yeast cell could reproduce itself enough times to ferment 5 gallons of wine but it would take an awfully long time.

Secondly, there would be the issue of what to do with the rest of the yeast anyway. Unlike yeast you buy for breadmaking, these packets of yeast are packaged under "sterile" not "food-grade" conditions, and are sealed with nitrogen to maintain this sterile level while in the package.
Once they are opened they are no longer sterile. The seal has been compromised. So, storing an opened package of yeast for any length of time is really not a viable idea, particularly when you weigh it against the costs of the packet.

STEVEB

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Re: Keeping Yeast
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2008, 23:35:51 »
i paid a pound a sachet is it worth buying the keeping tubs of yeast?
my local supplier is 10 miles away so want to keep visits to a minimum......although i love rooting round his storeits like the shop in the two ronnies scetch*FORK HANDLES*
If it ain't broke don't fix it !!

Baccy Man

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Re: Keeping Yeast
« Reply #6 on: July 20, 2008, 10:21:21 »
The tubs of yeast are general purpose & will work for anything but the sachets contain specific strains of yeast suited to making a particular style of wine so they will give better results.
I use both, sachets when making a particular style of wine & general purpose the rest of the time I also use general purpose wine yeast for cider. A lot of people I know only use general purpose yeast & their wine turns out ok.

 

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