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Anyone ever try this?

Found an old kit beer while working in the cellar. Few years old, but what the heck. The mix seemed to be okay (concentrate - just add water) so I cooked it up, added water to make the 5 gallons, and pitched the yeast. Yeast had an expiration date of 3 years ago, but, since I live in a very rural area, no way to get a new pack.

A week later, no fermentation. Figure the yeast were shot, but not real surprising, given their age! Decided I had nothing to lose, since the wort wasn't worth anything. So I picthed a package of Flieschmann's bread yeast into the jug!

It's now 24 hours later, and it's fermenting like crazy! Here's my questions:

  1. Will this produce anything closely resembling beer?

  1. If it does, will I get a loaf of beer, or a mug of bread?

Thanks in advance!!!

Reply to
Yabu
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As for the age of the kit, I wouldn't be too concerned. I just brewed a kit that was nearly two years old. The dried malt had gotten all clumpy and solid and the yeast had to be replaced, but it was fine. The beer isn't the greatest thing I've ever had, but it does contain the active ingredient.

As for the yeast, I have no clue. I'd love to know if you get a loaf of beer or a mug of bread, though. :)

Reply to
Joe Murphy

It will certainly contain alcohol, and it will certainly be the breadiest beer you've ever tasted. Definitely rack to a secondary container and let settle for a week or two before bottling/kegging... hopefully it will get rid of some of the harsh yeasty flavors. I wish you luck. Let us know how it turns out.

Reply to
David M. Taylor

Well, it ran through the first ferment pretty well. Smelled like beer all the way through. I just moved it to the secondary fermenter and checked the specific gravity and taste. Have to admit I was pleasantly surprised! SG was was right about where I would expect it to be at this stage. Taste was just a little more bitter than I like, but still wasn't too bad!

A few days for this process, then I'll bottle it. More info to come!

Thanks all who responded!

Reply to
Yabu

The beer should be interesting, to say the least, but here is something a lot of folks don't know about yeast - bread yeast like you used is actually spent yeast from brewers. So you think, hey this should be ok then, but here is the reality....the reason it is bread yest is because (among other things) no longer viable (or stable) as brewers yeast. Be VERY careful about how much is consumed at one time if drinkable, as bakery yeast is unstable as a brewing yeast, and can produce quite a bit of higher alcohols which affects different people different ways. I for one am highly intollerant to higher alcohols and pay for it with a thumper of a headache the next day after drinking a 750 of a belgian with lots of candy sugar (again higher alcohols). Some can drink a lot with no ill effects. In any event the brew should not hurt you, just experiment in moderation to find your tollerance.

Rob

Reply to
Rob Bernys

tollerance.

Where do you get this history from? Seems contrary to what I have heard.

Yeast strains vary between application. It dos not convert in the process of fermenting, it just keeps reproducing the same strain.

__Stephen

Reply to
Stephen Russell

In my case, I didn't have too much success.

I had been out of brewing for a bit, building a house and such. When I finally got around to setting up the brewing room, the "best before" date on an extract kit that I had was 4 years past.

I brewed it up anyway. Fermentation was pretty slow. OG 1.055 (A "real ale"). After 10 days, the gravity reading was 1.022. Way too low. (Target FG was 1.006, I believe.) I figured the dry yeast was perhaps to blame. (The starter I made showed activity, but not like a fresh batch.) I bought another packet of yeast, made the starter and pitched it. A week later the gravity dropped to 1.020, but there was no further activity. Temperatures were fine.

I tossed the batch. I didn't want to go through the bottling process to later discover I had an uncarbonated sweet barley juice. :)

Steve

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