Bread Yeast for Wine - A better, cheaper alternative: wine yeast.

It seems silly to recommend wine yeast for wine, but here I am doing so. There are a lot of wine makers that use bread yeast for making wine. Cool. Great. I have no problem with that. But really, what's the logic behind doing so? I asked some winemakers why they chose bread yeast, and I get a lot of answers that are often not true-

It's cheap - Well, that's actually wrong. Wine yeast is cheaper than bread yeast you can get in store. I think the cheapest bread yeast I found in store was 60 cents a pack. I sell a variety of wine yeast for 40 cents a pack. So technically for every two packs of bread yeast you bought, you could have bought three packs of wine yeast.

It works well - This is true and false. It makes alcohol, and you can get a good flavor out of it, sometimes. Since bread yeast has no rules regarding alcohol production quality (since they didn't take that in to account when selecting a strain), the yeast is much more unpredictable. Wine yeast has been closely selected through years of research to maximize alcohol and flavor qualities in wine, mead, fruit wines and the like. If you select the right yeast and treat it well, you will get an equally good, if not always better product using wine yeast over bread yeast.

Bread yeast makes strong wine - So does wine yeast! There are strains that let you get upwards of 22-24% alcohol in your wine! Bread yeast usually can't make it passed 16-18%.

The recipe calls for bread yeast - Well, it might be time to improve upon that recipe, save yourself money, and at the same time, get better results!

Cheers!
Aaron

PS- Any bakers out there looking for a cool alternative to bread yeast should give wine and ale yeast a try. You'll find it gives your bread a slightly different flavor...just don't proof too long, or you will end up tasting some alcohol in your bread;)

Two Grains and Hops to Try in Your Next IPA

One of the most popular homebrew styles, India Pale Ales are easily one of the most popular commercial craft brew styles on the market. Too name some of my favorites- we've got NOLA Hopitoulas brewed locally, Bell's Two Hearted in the Midwest, Bear Republic Racer 5 from the West coast, and Victory HopDevil from the East.

Be brave when brewing an IPA. Most American breweries go their own way on these beers.

Hops-

1. Perle - Don't think you need to just use high alpha hops (though this one is usually around 7%) in an IPA. Find a flavor you like. A lot of breweries out West use Perle as a finish or dry hop for the fresh minty and earthy flavors it gives a beer.

2. Crystal - This hop is a classic in the craft brewing industry, but never seemed to get the same mass appeal from homebrewers. It has a nice spicy character without giving you the massive amounts of citrus notes other "C" hops (Cascade, Centennial, Citra) give. Use at any stage in the boil, and you'll find you get a classic IPA flavor.

Grain-

1. Special B - If you're looking to keep your beer light in color, don't use this grain. It adds a beautiful dark amber color to an IPA, and brings some balance to the hops. Sweet, malty, and built to keep your beer in perspective.

2. Dark Munich - Another great grain to give your IPA some depth. Grainy and chewy, it'll bring your malt bill forward some against the massive amounts of hops your bound to throw in.

All-Grain Recipe - Bite Me Bitter : 1.061/1.015 (5 Gal)

Grain Bill (Assumes 72% Efficiency)

10.5 lbs. - Pale Malt
1 lb - Dark Munich Malt
1 lb - Wheat Malt
0.5 lb - Special B Malt
0.5 lb. - Crystal Malt (40L)

Hop Schedule [49 IBU]

2 oz - Crystal hops [4% AA] (60 min.)
2 oz - Crystal hops [4% AA] (40 min.)
2 oz - Crystal hops [4% AA] (20 min.)
1 oz - Perle hops [7.5% AA] (5 min.)

Yeast

Wyeast Rogue PacMan Yeast

Mash/Sparge/Boil

Mash at 152° for 70 min.

Cheers!

Aaron

Hop Pellet Sales

As well as some beer and homebrewing postings, I'm gonna post a bit about the business as well. Maybe just some info for some of you interested out there.

Top viewed hop pellets online for January (as of 1.24.2010)-

1. Citra
2. Simcoe
3. Cascade
4. Millennium
5. Warrior

Top sold hop pellets for January (as of 1.24.2010)-

1. Centennial
2. Hallertau
3. Simcoe
4. Kent Golding
5. Cascade

I find the viewed hops interesting, as it almost never correlates to the hops sold. People have definitely seemed interested in Citra, a newcomer to the high alpha citrus flavored hop family. Few people though, have had it on their shopping lists. That goes for Warrior as well. A bittering hop, that seems to be fading in sales some.

As far as the pellets that are actually selling, this month has been a bit different. Cascade and Kent Golding have typically been in or around the number 1 and 2 spots. With Hallertau always on this list as well. My guess is, if I looked back at sales, Centennial wouldn't always be on this monthly list of top performing hops. My guess is a few people brewed up some hoppy IPAs that called for Centennial, and it pushed it up to the top. Sales of all these hops were relatively close, Centennial nudging out the top spot to Hallertau by only an ounce.

Happy Homebrewing!
Aaron