Beer Forum

I recently listened to a show with a guest from Lallemand discussing using wine yeast to finish beers. I can't see to figure out which episode that was. Can anybody point me to which show it was?

Are you talking about the 11-23-08 show with Shea Comfort, the Yeast Whisperer?

I'll check that one, but I don't think it's the one. The guy I'm thinking of had a sort of European accent, and I believe worked directly for Lallemand.

Of course, now I'm questioning whether it was even a Session, or if it was a Brew Strong.

gravityhammer wrote:I'll check that one, but I don't think it's the one. The guy I'm thinking of had a sort of European accent, and I believe worked directly for Lallemand.

Shea talks kinda funny... he's fluent in French and I think knows parts of a few other languages too. I think he did conduct a series of experiments for Lallemand, but don't know if he was ever directly employed by them. Even if it isn't the show you are are thinking of, he does talk a lot about using wine yeast, and gives a bunch of good info (except what he says about enzymes being used up in reactions, that was incorrect).

So, as long as we're on yeast, mind if I hijack this a bit? I remember a show from years ago with Jamil talking about cell counts in dry yeast. I cannot for the life of me figure out which one it was. There was an early sunday session with Jamil talking about yeast, but I wasn't hearing the dry yeast discussion I remembered. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

And, on topic, this definitely sounds like the Shea Comfort episode, SW.

He's talked about it numerous times. Yeast (White & Zainasheff 2010) states that dry yeast can contain 7-20 billion cells per gram, but actual viability is going to be some number less than the number of packaged cells, depending on how the yeast was handled/stored, as well as rehydration technique.

Yeah. I wasn't looking for the information so much as [one of the] extensive discussions of it. I've ben trying to convince my brother that using a US-05 isn't a totally crazy idea if you are trying to cut costs. And I remember a long talk about it back in maybe 07 or 08, but can't figure out where it happened.

It's hard to pin down, because the topic has come up so many times, but my interpretation of his opinion is that it's fine, and if saving the few bucks on yeast is what lets you brew, go for it. Rehydration is recommended to keep viability up, starters aren't needed, if you want more cells, buy another packet. I think he also reports getting a touch of 'peach' out of that yeast compared to the liquid equivalents.