# What is the difference between brewers yeast and active dry yeast?



## Ratzilla

I was wonder what is the difference between brewers yeast and any other yeast you can get at the grocery store. I know its better to use brewers yeast but i don't know why.


----------



## BernardSmith

Hi Ratzilla - and welcome. Not a chemist, but cultured yeasts are cultured for specific purposes. Bread yeast is the same species as wine (and beer yeast) but bread yeast is cultivated to produce CO2 in the presence of sugars. Wine yeasts are raised to produce alcohol. Bread yeast produces alcohol just as wine yeast produces CO2 but each are produced for what they are designed for. Think - chickens - all chickens have muscles and all chickens (at least the hens) produce eggs, but those that lay eggs are raised in ways that focus on their egg production and those that are raised for their meat are raised so that their meat production by far outweighs (pun intended) their egg production. Wine yeasts enhance and disguise specific flavors found in simple sugars whereas beer yeasts enhance and inhibit certain flavors that are found in the fermentation of sugars produced by the effects of enzymes on grains. Bread yeasts , as I say can and do produce alcohol but the yeasts are cultivated for their ability to produce enough CO2 in the presence of sugars and gluten to make good bread in hours. .


----------



## DoctorCAD

Brewers yeast that you can buy at a grocery store is a nutritional suppliment that is made from DEAD yeast cells. It will not ferment anything.


----------



## PhilDarby

without reading what the other peeps have said a dried yeast comes as a dry powder, yeast comes in several forms, the most active is in the form of a liquid, which is very readily added and very active the down side is, that as it is already liquid its shelf life is very short as because it is active it is growing, once It has out grown its environment it dies fast, as opposed to a dried yeast which, can be stored for long periods of time and once active gets more active, and there in is the difference. dried = longer storage, liquid more active = shorter shelf life.

Apart from marmite, which is a yeast supplement any active yeast should grow in the right environment.

As a general rule home brewers want/need dried yeast, which preserves for a long time and becomes active when needed and is the correct choice.

Yeast which is moist and active survives best under fridge type conditions as it slows down yeast activity, hence longer life, dried yeast survives best under cool to moderate room temps in a dark environment (ie) a coolish cupboard, in a container, which is well wrapped and which prevents moisture from reaching the yeast.

In short dried yeast survives for much longer periods, active yeast which is moist and which must be kept in a fridge, only survives for about 7 days or so and in the uk, active moist yeast, is more predominant in bread making on a commercial scale, as opposed to home wine making.


----------



## Brub58

DoctorCAD said:


> Brewers yeast that you can buy at a grocery store is a nutritional suppliment that is made from DEAD yeast cells. It will not ferment anything.



If that were true it would explain a lot about some of the bread I've made in the past, but it's 100% wrong.

The main difference is that bread yeast hasn't been selected for it's alcohol tolerance or the flavour it adds to the wine. But it will work fine to about 12 or 14%. Google Joe's ancient orange mead (JOAM).


----------



## DoctorCAD

Brub58 said:


> If that were true it would explain a lot about some of the bread I've made in the past, but it's 100% wrong.
> 
> The main difference is that bread yeast hasn't been selected for it's alcohol tolerance or the flavour it adds to the wine. But it will work fine to about 12 or 14%. Google Joe's ancient orange mead (JOAM).


 

Sorry, but I am correct...Brewers yeast that is bought at a grocery store is DEAD...DEAD...DEAD. It will NEVER ferment anything. It is a supplement that some people consider a "superfood". I consider it a money maker for the marketing team at the brewers yeast factory!

Now, if you are talking about yeast intended for brewing (and it is NEVER called brewers yeast) then that's a different story.


----------



## BernardSmith

DoctorCAD said:


> Sorry, but I am correct...Brewers yeast that is bought at a grocery store is DEAD...DEAD...DEAD. It will NEVER ferment anything. It is a supplement that some people consider a "superfood". I consider it a money maker for the marketing team at the brewers yeast factory!
> 
> Now, if you are talking about yeast intended for brewing (and it is NEVER called brewers yeast) then that's a different story.



I wonder if what you are calling "brewer's yeast" is something I know as "nutritional yeast" - and that is quite dead, and that is something my health store keeps on unrefridgerated shelves and which I use to flavor popcorn. Brewer's yeast is the live culture.


----------



## heatherd

Ratzilla said:


> I was wonder what is the difference between brewers yeast and any other yeast you can get at the grocery store. I know its better to use brewers yeast but i don't know why.



Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement, and is sold at a health food store.

Bread yeast is for making bread, and is sold at a grocery store.

Wine yeast is for making wine, and comes in lots of strains. It is optimized to ferment wine to as much as 18% alcohol, while emphasizing different flavors in the wine. Some are dry and some are liquid.

Beer yeast is another group of yeasts, optimized for brewing beer.

It's confusing because you brew with several of them, but the ones you brew with aren't brewer's (nutritional) yeast.

Hope that helps.


----------



## RevA

In some countries you can buy brewers yeast in groccery store that is actually beer brewing yeast. Often it is just nutritional yeast that is miss labled. Just check what its for and where you find it, if it's in the health foods section it probably won't ferment anything...


----------



## Brub58

heatherd said:


> Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement, and is sold at a health food store.
> 
> Bread yeast is for making bread, and is sold at a grocery store.
> 
> Hope that helps.



My apologies. I misread brewers for bread. I've never heard of brewers yeast. If I want dead yeast I buy vegemite.


----------



## richmke

Basically, it is taste and alcohol tolerance.

If you look at all the wine yeasts that are available, they are optimized for different types of grapes. they enhance the flavor of that type of grape. Same with beer yeasts.

Wine yeasts are also intended for higher levels of alcohol. Some bread and beer yeast may give up on high sugar juice before it is all fermented.

I wonder how a sourdough bread yeast would go with wine grapes?


----------



## RevA

Mead with sourdough can be very tasty. No idea how it would work with wine grapes.


----------



## BernardSmith

Interesting thought, richmke. I suspect that sourdough involves not just the presence of yeast but a process whereby some of the sugars in the flour are transformed into lactic acid by lactobacilli. So you are in fact encouraging the growth of souring bacteria to ferment the dough. (And that may be the reason why sourdough breads can take many more hours to rise than simple yeasted breads). Not sure that adding souring bacilli to a grape wine would make it a pleasant drink.. but to a cider or a mead... That is a very different story.


----------

