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Each person has his own hobby, I have moonshine, my wife has cooking. She loves to bake bread, various buns, pastries and all kinds of sweets. Our sticking point is the yeast we both use to make our products.
My wife does not understand why her yeast costs 25 rubles, and mine – 500 rubles per pack. The fact is that yeast is different for yeast, and this is what I want to talk about.
In fact, yeast is fungi, without which it is impossible to prepare any alcoholic product – neither beer, nor vodka, nor whiskey, nor cognac. But why such a difference in price?
Yeast strains used in home brewing
It is worth mentioning right away that absolutely any yeast can be used to prepare the mash, but the output result can vary significantly. It all depends on the goals set before the drink and the type of mash.
The following types of yeast are used in moonshine brewing:
- Natural origin. Many berries and fruits contain naturally occurring yeasts, such as apples, mulberries and grapes. Additional addition of artificial yeast is not required at all.
- Baker’s yeast is the cheapest option. The optimal solution for sugar mash.
- Brewer’s yeast – allows you to get a larger amount of alcohol-containing product from mash than baker’s.
- Alcoholic yeast are special strains designed to produce the highest amount of alcohol. It is they who cost the most money, moreover, their range is simply mesmerizing.
Many even eminent whiskey producers claim that they use ordinary baker’s yeast to prepare their products, but the market for spirit (hereinafter referred to as Turbo) yeast is so rich that every moonshiner considers it his duty to try as much as possible.
And I was no exception.
Fermentation rate and other features of Turbo Yeast
First, Turbo Yeast works much faster. They process sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide in the same way as regular strains, but there is one important feature – the presence of special additives.
There are sugars in any mash that cannot be processed by yeast.
Turbo yeast, on the other hand, contains substances that decompose these sugars into components, and then they are already processed into the alcohol we need, hence the increased proportion of the alcohol-containing product at the output.
Some Turbo Yeast allow you to reduce the fermentation process to three days
An increased fermentation rate is often accompanied by a copious release of foam from the mash. Probably, every moonshiner at least once faced a situation when foam flowed abundantly from the water seal, filling the room with not the most pleasant aroma.
This is especially true for berry brews. Turbo yeast have “antifoam” in their composition and allow you to forget about such problems.
And another important nuance is resistance to alcohol. Despite the fact that yeast produces ethanol, they are quite sensitive to it, and if it is in excess, they quickly die.
Turbo yeast is more resistant to this phenomenon, which makes it possible to obtain an increased proportion of the alcohol-containing product at the output.
narrow focus
Alcoholic yeast also has its own so-called orientation. For example, there is yeast for fruit brews, for malt brews, and so on. This is due to the esters that are released as by-products during fermentation.
According to their focus, the following types of turbo yeast can be distinguished:
- Sugar. For example, Turbo Yeast – 380 rubles;
- Fruit. For example, DoubleDragon Fruit Turbo – 410 rubles;
- Malt. For example, TY Whiskey – 590 rubles.
Turbo yeast for fruit brews release soluble fruit esters during operation, which give the future product a rich fruity aroma.
Many inexperienced moonshiners think that these are flavors, but they are not. Turbo yeast only enhances the natural aroma of fruits and berries.
The main condition is to ensure a stable temperature regime for Brahe
It’s the same with malt yeast. However, do not forget that grain mashes are prone to infection with aggressive fungi, which can lead not to fermentation, but to souring.
Therefore, manufacturers add certain additives (microelements and vitamins) to Turbo yeast for malt brews, which allow fungi to multiply as quickly as possible.
Thoughts on the best yeast
I do not want to single out any brand, since I liked almost all the Turbo Yeast that I used.
They justify their cost and allow you to get the best mash, and then everything depends on the quality of the distillation.
But, what is important to say, it does not always make sense to use special alcoholic yeast for mash. Sometimes ordinary baker’s yeast will be more than enough, for example, if the final goal is to make vodka, tincture or liquor.
Most often I use fruit yeast or yeast for malt brews. I can’t say about the increased proportion of alcohol, since it is not possible to verify this empirically, but they do convey a certain aroma.
With the help of alcohol yeast, the fermentation process is also greatly accelerated, which my impatient hobby colleagues will appreciate. And what kind of yeast do you use?