difference between brewing and baking yeast?

Question

whats the difference and what would happen if i used a baking yeast for brewing?

Answer 1

I don't believe there really is a lot of difference, seeing that the yeast originally used by bakers came from the brewers. I'm sure there are specialty strains, but the basic critter is still the same. You would not want to use an instant or fast yeast, as that has vitamin C added in and is formulated differently for a faster rise in bread. But regular granulated yeast or cake yeast would work just fine. My grandfather made his own beer and wine, and he used the packets from the shop. My grandmother in turn, used the yeast he filtered off to bake with. So I know there can't be a lot of differences. When I lived in Belgium, as a matter of fact, I used to buy yeast for baking from the local brewery, and it worked great.

Answer 2

As mentioned by CamP, brewers select strains that impart various characteristics to the beer. Although technically you could use baking yeast, the end result would taste like bread and have a fair amount of residual sweetness. The major providers of brewing yeasts are Whitelabs and Wyeast (www.wyeast.com). Yeast for brewing is fairly inexpensive and will provide a much better beer.

Answer 3

the same species of yeast, saccharomyces ceravisiae, is used for bread and beer but different strains have different characteristics. Brewers and vintors choose yeast that give off more alcohol...bakers prefer yeast that release more c02.
brewers can be incredibly anal about their yeast. the exact yeast for a brewery is often a gaurded secret like the coke recipe or 11 herbs and spices thing.
as brewmasters culture or propagate batches of yeast, they watch closly for mutations to the strain that may have implications on the final product. after several generations, the yeast can stray too far from the original, and the brewmaster will start fresh.
bakers spend far less time looking through a microscope
i think if you used bakers yeast your brew would have a very original taste, lots of bubbles and less alcohol.

Answer 4

I'd use a champagne yeast (wine yeast) as my 1st choice and brewers yeast as 2nd choice. The difference is that wine yeast has been bred to withstand higher levels of alcohol. Bakers yeast (for example) will produce alcohol but the yeast will die off before getting much higher than 4%. Champagne yeast could get you as high as 14%

Answer 5

According to what I've read, different strains of yeast are native to different regions of the world. They all do the same thing. Brewers yeast is normally from northern Europe while wine yeast is from southern Europe.