Yeast is an essential ingredient that is needed during the fermentation process of brewing beer. As long as the quality of your yeast is excellent, you will produce good beer. Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast species to which both bread and beer yeast belong, converts carbohydrates to carbon dioxide and alcohols during a fermentation process. The end products of this reaction have been used for a very long time in baking and alcoholic beverages.
Baker’s yeast or bread yeast is the common name for the strains of yeast used in baking bread and bakery products. It plays the role of a leavening agent, which makes the bread rise (that is, expand and become lighter and softer) by converting the fermentable sugars contained in the dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol. Brewer’s yeast is also produced from a one-celled fungus called Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and it is used in making beer.
Brewer’s yeast has a bitter taste and is different from bread yeast. Cider is an alcoholic beverage that is produced from the fermented juice of apples. The kind of yeast used for cider production has a lot of impact on the quality of the final product.
If you are a brewer and want to know if you can use bread yeast to make cider, we will tell you. You can use bread yeast to make cider because both yeasts (bread and beer) are different strains but the same species,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. If you do it the right way, you should be able to get 6% alcohol content. If you are using bread yeast, make sure you hydrate it before pitching it. Also, avoid adding too much sugar. The difference between bread and beer yeast is their method of cultivation. Each of these yeasts are nurtured for the characteristics they give to the final product. Beer yeast is nurtured to produce more alcohol and less carbon dioxide, while bread yeast is nurtured to produce more carbon dioxide than alcohol.
How much baker’s yeast to pitch?
Pitch 11 grams of bread yeast per 5 gallons or 23-liter fermenter drum. Suppose you pitch more than that; you may render the yeast redundant.
What ABV alcohol does bread yeast make?
Bread yeast tends to ferment alcohol up to about 8% with less effort, which is quite a good tolerance range for beer, but when it tries to produce alcohol above this level, the bread yeast starts to struggle, and most times, it ends up stopping around 9% or 10%. It is that way because beers are brewed between 4% and 8%.
What should you know about bread yeast
You should be aware that your cider or beer won’t taste as good or look as clear as the beer you are used to brewing when you use bread yeast during the fermentation process. Why did we say that? Bread yeast doesn’t settle very well as brewer’s yeast does. If you decide to bottle condition your cider or beer, you can clear the baker’s yeast by cold crashing the fermented wort before racking it to a bottling bucket and eventually bottling it.
Baker’s yeast usually gets suspended in the beer for a longer time than brewing yeast. The cold temperature helps to force the baking yeast out of suspension and to the bottle of your beer. Finings is another thing you can use to clear the baking particles in your beer. Also, chilling the bottles before putting the beer in it will also go a long way in helping.
Can you use bread yeast to make mead?
You can use bread yeast to make mead and wine too. It would be best if you tried it out.
Using baking yeast to handle a beer that’s stopped fermenting
If you noticed that your beer stopped fermenting all of a sudden, you could pitch some baker’s yeast to rescue your beer. But you must know that adding a second yeast may alter the taste of your beer. To ensure that your beer’s flavor comes out well, try activating the yeast in water before pitching it.
What baking yeasts can you use for your cider?
There is good quality baking yeast you can find in any supermarket close to you. You can try Fleischman’s active dry yeast or Edmund’s Sure To Rise.
Using brewing yeast to bake bread
You can also use brewing yeast for baking bread because it is an “active yeast.” Although you may not get the perfect bread, you desire if you use brewing yeast because brewing yeast gives off more alcohol than carbon dioxide. If you love trying out new things, you can try using brewing yeast for baking bread and comparing the difference.
Common issues with Baker’s yeast
Baker’s yeast has a low tolerance to alcohol than it is to carbon dioxide. There are also issues associated with using baker’s yeast in making cider or any other beer.
1. Flocculation
Baker’s yeast usually has poor flocculation attributes when compared to most brewer’s yeast. Flocculation is when the yeast forms into “floc” or “flakes” and collects together before falling out of suspension and settling in the trub.
It is pretty good to have a high flocculating yeast because it often leads to a clearer beer, but your beer will end up having a strong taste of yeast in it. S homebrewers don’t have any issues with that. You can use cold crashing and finings to handle the cloudiness in your beer.
2. Flavor
Using baker’s yeast in your beer alters the taste or flavor, too, to an extent. Some baker’s yeast produces phenolic flavors and other types of flavors. Some homebrewers say they love the yeasty or breast flavor baker’s yeast gives to their beer, but most people don’t like drinking a beer with that kind of flavor.
Conclusion
Both bread and brewer’s yeast are made from the same fungus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. You can use baker’s yeast to make cider. It is very safe, but you may have issues with flocculation and flavor.
If you haven’t tried using baker’s yeast to ferment your beer before, you might want to try it out so you can compare the taste and the flavor.
Baker’s yeast and brewer’s yeast are different even if they come from the same fungus. Baker’s yeast produces more carbon dioxide than alcohol, while brewer’s yeast produces more alcohol than baker’s yeast.