Stephen Cook
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- Dec 9, 2019
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Yes, you would. I occasionally use Youngs all purpose 12% ABV tolerant wine yeast if I have run out of baker's yeast to bake my bread. It works absolutely fine. Though, it needs a tad more of the wine yeast as compared to the bakers yeast to produce the necessary rise in the loaf.Could not have put it better myself . Would you see a baker cooking with cider yeast
I have also done it the other way around and can report the following:
Bakers yeast generally is okay up to around 8% ABV. Though, I have managed to push it beyond that. But, have found it to be not worth the hassle much above 6%.
As for it's taste at 6%. I have found it to be fine. It does alter the taste a bit from what one might ordinarily expect. But, speaking only from a position of personal preference, I don't mind those small differences. Others may feel differently of course and they are entitled to. But, in short, in my view, it's fine for things like beer or cider.
If I brew a wine with bakers yeast, which happens occasionally, I have a little trick I use to get the ABV up to around 10% to 11%.
I make up the initial wine mix at its normal projected, say, 11% ABV strength. Then I add enough water to it to dilute the projected ABV to around 6%. Then I ferment it with the baker's yeast.
When it has fully fermented out, I stick it in some plastic 2 litre PET bottles and put it in the freezer for a few days. Then, bring the bottles out and melt 50% of their contents out (otherwise known as "freeze fractionation"). This brings the final brew to just under double the ABV of the original. If only at around 11% final ABV, it needs to be drunk pretty quickly and/or kept in the fridge because of so much exposure to air during the melting out phase. So, it needs to be a wine that does not need aging. Generally, I do this method with something like tea wine.
On the other hand, it can be run through the freezer again and the second melt would take it to the late teens or even early twenties in terms of ABV. At which point it becomes rock solid stable in terms of shelf life. Also, this means it can be aged so there is more scope for using more wine bases such as fruits etc.
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