Keep a yeast going

[Drapeta]

Lately I have been working with bread yeast. Making a starter for my dough and keeping it going by feeding it.

Is it possible to do this with wine yeast... like keep a starter going..

Thanks

 

[WineBaker]

I know you can do a Starter with wine yeast ,but I don`t know about the keeping it going part

 

[WI_Wino]

Most wine yeast is <$1 per pack. Why do you want to keep it going? Is it a special strain?

 

[Drapeta]

Most wine yeast is <$1 per pack. Why do you want to keep it going? Is it a special strain?

Mostly I am interested in yeast for the sake of yeast. It isn't about the money, it's more about the idea behind it I guess. To know if it can be done. Has anyone tried?

 

[Tnuscan]

Mostly I am interested in yeast for the sake of yeast. It isn't about the money, it's more about the idea behind it I guess. To know if it can be done. Has anyone tried?

What will you be doing with the yeast?

 

[vacuumpumpman]

here is a good video on how to harvest your yeast -

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS5Cqm_q9lk[/ame]

I would rather suck off the top layer rather than pouring - I have never done this before - but it does seem practical. It can only be done so many times where the yeast is not as good as originally pitched. I believe it is around 5-8 times.

 

[Drapeta]

I am not sure what I want to use it for yet. It is mostly to increase my knowledge base. Down the road im sure the information will come in handy. Thank you for the link!

 

[PhilDarby]

you can use an old coffee jar to make starter bottles, basically, you put in some liquid (part of the must) I tend to deliberately keep some un dissolved sugar in the bottom, to prolong fermentation, basically u use a small amount to activate your wine, its very handy if your making a few batches, at the same time, to activate a starter bottle several days before making them, thus you can activate all of them from the one yeast sachet and also ensure an active yeast colony when needed.

If you drill a 10mm hole in the top of the lid a standard airlock tends to fit, well, in my case that's the bore of my airlocks I use, yours might be different.

You can also, keep a yeast strain going using a starter bottle, but, from what ive researched 3 generations is the maximum recommended usage because of divergeance of the yeast and possible contamination from wild yeasts (ie) three separate ferments and bottle topping up, for re use, is the maximum, then bin it.

If your using bread yeast its not worth the effort, unless you live in an area where its hard to obtain wine yeast, bread yeast in general produces a mediocre drink at best and cant be guaranteed to produce sufficient alcohol for preservation, its also worth using if you have a short supply of yeast, or, if you want to preserve a special yeast.

Basically bread yeast and wine yeast differ in that bread yeast is intended to start fermentation rapidly to make the bread rise, wine yeast doesn't necessarily rapidly ferment initially, but, is bred mainly to produce a nice alcoholic drink with no off flavours, which probably isn't an issue for bread yeasts, also, bread yeast may, or may not be capable of producing the required alcohol content for preservation, hence it might make you ill.

If you intend to make wine, your best bet is to use a dedicated wine yeast, not sure if a starter bottle would aid in bread making, but, it is possible I guess.

Having said that I have successfully used bread yeast in the past, although the end result isn't guaranteed.

 

[Floandgary]

Lately I have been working with bread yeast. Making a starter for my dough and keeping it going by feeding it.

Is it possible to do this with wine yeast... like keep a starter going..

Thanks

I would suppose that, if done properly, you could have a consistent yeast for all of your ferments. I would also presume that is what happens in the yeast manufacturing industry!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I have been learning about survival tactics and this is one of the topics I brought up about winemaking in a survival situation - It was a bunch of great people who went to the seminar.