I used regular yeast

[winerackmel]

I was wandering what everyone had to say in there opinion in that I already completed a 5 gallon batch and it was great, but I think I used to much of the yeast, the stuff was very powerful tasting, very warm, very strong: but anyways has anybody used regular yeast if so how much do you advise to the 6 gall

 

[Luc]

First too much yeast will not give the wine more
alcohol. Alcohol is made by the yeast 'eating' the sugar.
The powerfull taste might be a combination from
alcohol mixed with high acidity.
Any figures on acidity ???
What kind of wine is it ???

Second.
Yeast will multiply about each half hour.
So eventually 1 yeast cell can start a fermentation
of any size batch wine.
The more yeast you will use the faster the germentation
gets going. That is the difference.

Third.
By regular yeast I presume you mean bakers yeast.
Before wine making shops and clubs started to
be common (as now) people did not have any other yeast
as bakers yeast.
Bakers yeast ferments fine but is likely to give
you more foam and a longer fermentation time.

Luc

 

[bigorange82]

How much longer would you say the fermentation time is when using bakers yeast? Im fermenting for 2 weeks.

 

[Sacalait]

Probably not much longer than wine yeast but you may end up with a sweet wine since bakers yeast is not as alcohol tollerent as wine yeast. It will likely conk out before all the sugar is consumed.

 

[bigorange82]

Probably not much longer than wine yeast but you may end up with a sweet wine since bakers yeast is not as alcohol tollerent as wine yeast. It will likely conk out before all the sugar is consumed.

Good to know. The yeast was fairly old too, but this is my first attempt so I dont expect anything spectacular.

 

[zendog3]

Yeast

Each yeast has a different taste and a different character. All yeast turns sugar into alcohol but since yeast is not an expensive part of your batch, you are way better off getting the correct batch, or at least a wine yeast, for your wine. There is so much effort, expense and mostly time involved, do not try to save a few pennies on yeast.

 

[TheTooth]

Each yeast has a different taste and a different character. All yeast turns sugar into alcohol but since yeast is not an expensive part of your batch, you are way better off getting the correct batch, or at least a wine yeast, for your wine. There is so much effort, expense and mostly time involved, do not try to save a few pennies on yeast.

Well said. Too many people seem to want to "go cheap" on the yeast, which does more than just contribute alcohol. Yeast contributes flavors and aromas on it's own. I was curious about this when I started brewing beer, so I split a batch of beer into multiple fermenters and added different yeasts. The difference from one beer to the next was amazing to me.

 

[Luc]

Probably not much longer than wine yeast but you may end up with a sweet wine since bakers yeast is not as alcohol tollerent as wine yeast. It will likely conk out before all the sugar is consumed.

'may' is the keyword here.

Trust me, I have made in the past 2 years more
wines with bakers yeast as you can imagine.

I did it because everyone always told me not do so.
And I am the kind of guy that needs prove or real good arguments
which nobody ever could give me. So I started experimenting.

And the results were never disappointing.
Aim for alcohol in the range up to 11%
Maintain good winemaking practices.
And you will be fine.

Luc