Can I use bread yeast for tc?And a few other noob questions

Hi all. Totally new here and I'm trying to gather what I can before I get started. I'd be more than happy to get another yeast, but I thought since I have it already in the house its one less thing I need to get before I can start. I dont have a lhbs, all I have is Wilkinson's and the internet.

I bought 5 dj's for £6.50 at a carboot last week and want to get them in use ASAP

So I have a few questions for you all.

1. Can I use bread yeast for tc? (if so how much do I use per gallon?) If not, and I have to buy a sachet of yeast can I use jsut a bit of it for a gallon and save the rest for later? :wha: (I've just been reading for a couple more hours since typing this top bit, looks like bread yeast will of course work but is not ideal) Can you recommend me some yeasts to buy that would make "nice" tc and maybe another one for cordial wines? I'm going to have to order them online it seems. Other wise I'm just going to get young's cider, lager, and white wine yeasts to have on hand.

1A. Cant I keep a "mother" of the yeast in the fridge as long as I feed it every so often? Seems silly to me to keep buying it. What are your opinions? I'm familiar with making slants for microbiological culture storage( I am also very into mycology and growing my own gourmet mushrooms) but I don't think it would need to go as far as that.

2. How much sterilizing solution do I need to clean a gallon dj? Can I use it to sterilize one, then pour it into the next one to sterilize that one? Also can I use it after that to sterilize other equipment after that ie airlocks etc? I'm hoping it can to be more economical.

3 I want a hydrometer, will the one from there work fine? Do I need a trial jar to go with it?

I'm compiling a list of things to get as an order from Wilkinsons. I think its going to work out cheaper since I wont have to pay shipping on it as opposed to buying online. I'm not buying all these things just for tc, I'm expecting to get into ribena/cordial wines, ginger beer, dandilion wine and rhubarb wine and god only knows what else. Beer is on the list too but I have to do sweet tasty things so that I can get approval from the girlfriend. :rofl:

4. If you see anything in this list that I probably don't need or something that should be added to it please let me know.

Cellarman Hydrometer Loose Wine & Beer
Young's u Brew Trial Jar Plastic
Young's u Brew Syphon Pack
Young's u Brew Citric Acid 50g
Young's u Brew Pectolase 17g
Young's u Brew Stabilising Powder 30g
Young's u Brew Steriliser & Cleaner 100g
Young's u Brew Yeast Nutrient 50g
Young's Super Wine Yeast Comp 60g
A 25L fv bucket style or screw top?
A 25L pressure barrel
Maybe a co2 injector

5. Any preference between the regular bucket fv and the screw top ones? Its about £3.50 more for the screw top and I was wondering it its worth it.

6. Last question for now, with the pressure barrels, it seems like from what I've read so far, they hold there carbonation till about half way through the barrel then it subsides... Is there a way to re-carbonate it with out getting the Young's u Brew CO2 Injector?

I want to do 3 or 4 test recipes in the dj's I got and whatever is my favourite will go in to the 25L fermenter when I buy one later on.

I think I'm going to go with a cheap pressure keg from wilkys too. Seems like too much work to bottle beer now a days.

Sorry I think way too much and rant :nono: it gets better the more I learn I promise.

Right now I'm like :hmm: but I wanna be :drink:

Thanks in advance for the help guys. :drunk:

Ps this is the 3rd time I've edited and added more questions to this tonight. It started out as one simple question that I eventually kind of found the answer for my self. :shock:

Wilko's!
Yeast, Hydrometer, Trial jar and Steraliser.
Learn to walk first with 1 gall TC.
Yeast cultures and tailoring recipes come later.
Good luck :thumb:

To try to answer just a few of those, if you are using the Young's cleaner & steriliser it's just one teaspoonful to a gallon of warm water, and yes, you can do a few DJs with the same solution if they aren't too grubby, or pour some back into a jug for airlocks and other bits & pieces.

If you're using the Young's Super Yeast Compound for wines, I paid £2.05 for a pot last weekend and probably expect to get around 15 fermentations out of that, which is less than 15p a time, so it's really not worth trying to carry it over.

If you're brewing beer, the lidded bucket is easier.
If you're making wine, the screw-topped FV is a better option in my opinion.

Thanks for your responses guys.

I'll try to stick to the basics for now then.

since yeast satchels are for 5 gallons and I'm only using one at a time, can I just use a bit out of the package and store in a ziplock in the freezer or something? Is there anything wrong with using a whole satchel for a gallon? I've always thought that too much yeast could be a bad thing.

I dont want to use the wine yeast compound from wilkys for turbo cider. I dont really want it much over 5-6%. I like to drink beer and cider, not fire water :twisted:

Base said:

since yeast satchels are for 5 gallons and I'm only using one at a time, can I just use a bit out of the package and store in a ziplock in the freezer or something? Is there anything wrong with using a whole satchel for a gallon? I've always thought that too much yeast could be a bad thing.

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While you can do this it is less than ideal, if the yeast becomes contaminated you are pitching a bacteria culture not yeast . . . and ultimately you will end up with infected beer / cider. Yeast is cheap and easily used. I do part use 500g sachets of yeast (at 60 quid for 500g it's expensive to overpitch that much), but I sanitise with isopropyl alcohol and work in the zone of the flame (aseptic technique)

Base said:

I dont want to use the wine yeast compound from wilkys for turbo cider. I dont really want it much over 5-6%. I like to drink beer and cider, not fire water :twisted:

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The thing that controls the strength of the wine/beer/cider is the amount of sugar added at the beginning not the type of yeast, beer and cider yeasts are more than capable of fermenting to 10-12% . . . if they have the right amount of sugar.. . . if when making turbo cider you don't add any additional sugar you will end up at about 5% . . . . . even if you use a high alcohol tolerant yeast. . . . If you can get hold of any Youngs cider yeast you will make a good cider - dry though as Youngs cider yeast is a champagne yeast.

You won't get fire water as the amount of sugar in the juice will be the limiting factor and not the type of yeast used. If you just use cartons of apple juice you will not get much past 5-6%.

Aleman said:

While you can do this it is less than ideal, if the yeast becomes contaminated you are pitching a bacteria culture not yeast . . . and ultimately you will end up with infected beer / cider. Yeast is cheap and easily used. I do part use 500g sachets of yeast (at 60 quid for 500g it's expensive to overpitch that much), but I sanitise with isopropyl alcohol and work in the zone of the flame (aseptic technique).

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I'm quite familiar with agar work and aseptic technique. I frequently do work in a still air box. I cant see the point it using it for yeast at the present time. It's not really worth it for me to try to stretch out a sachel of yeast. I could see it would be when buying yeast in high quantitys though. :thumb:

Yeah I don't intend to add any sugar the first few times. I might make a stronger tc later on. I don't know how you guys drink it if its much higher than 8-9%. :drunk:

Once I get into wines I'll be adding sugar and going for a higher percentages.

So I could use the wine yeast compound from wilkys. What would that turbo cider be like? Also will that make an ok cordial wine? Is it more of a red or a white yeast?

Moley said:

If you're using the Young's Super Yeast Compound for wines, I paid £2.05 for a pot last weekend and probably expect to get around 15 fermentations out of that, which is less than 15p a time, so it's really not worth trying to carry it over.

If you're brewing beer, the lidded bucket is easier.
If you're making wine, the screw-topped FV is a better option in my opinion.

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Do you think the screw top is better for wines because of de-gassing?

Base said:

Moley said:

If you're brewing beer, the lidded bucket is easier.
If you're making wine, the screw-topped FV is a better option in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Do you think the screw top is better for wines because of de-gassing?

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No, with wines you want to get them going and then leave them alone, there's much less temptation to keep unscrewing the cap to take a quick peek than to lift a bucket lid.

When you lift a bucket lid, most of the protective head of carbon dioxide is going to be blown away. With the smaller diameter neck of the closed fermenter, most of the CO2 is going to stay inside the FV.

By the time it comes to degassing, your wines should have been racked off to multiple demijohns or PETs, still under airlock but filled right up to the neck to keep airspace to a minimum.