Drinking while brewing

General Homebrew Discussion
1

after a few home brews, i thought it would be a great time start a new brew. i am a beginner to the home brew hobby. every thing was going great until it was time to add the pellet hops in. heres what i did, in the last few min of my boil i was to add in my hops so i grabbed the package, cut the top off and dumped it in. just as it all poured into the boiling wort i noticed the i had the wrong package. i had dumped in the yeast.

:frowning: . i did end up putting the hops in and finished the boil. i chilled it in a ice bath trying to figure out if there is some way to fix my brew.

i figured that i killed the yeast in the boil and at 3am there was no way to get any brewers yeast. but i did find some bakers yeast in the cubard. i used it and is formenting for the past 2 days.

did i ruin my beer? is it going to taste bad?

2

we will find out in 2-3 weeks:D  im sure bakers yeast doesnt have some of the traits that brewing yeasts do, but in the end they are all yeast.  so im sure the sugars are becoming alchohol.

3

should this happen again, you should remember that there is no problem with leaving that wort safely tucked away under an air lock for 24ish hours until you ARE able to get yeast.

However, brewers yeast and bakers yeast are the same species of yeast. While the provenance of the bakers yeast is likely not as perfectly kept as a particular strain of yeast for brewing it’ll be fine.

4

My father in law used to make wine. He used bread yeast but he never, ever drank. Not a sip. He just made it for everyone else to “enjoy”. It tasted like bread (among other things not resembling wine).

5

This is why some folks wait until wort is in the fermenter before sampling the product. :wink:

6

I had one (albeit an 8% DIPA) during my first brew yesterday. I considered a second, but started to feel as if I wasn’t as sharp as I would normally be! When there’s 5 gallons at stake, I may limit myself to the one beer.

7

I will make myself a “hot scotchy” with the first runnings but I generally refrain from imbibing until clean up.

8

A cautionary tale !  Poor yeast didn’t know what hit 'em.

9

not to hijack, but what is this hot scotchy you speak of?

10

sweet wort with scotch or some other flavorful brown liquor added.

11

i must try this.  maybe tonight.  do you think its kind of alchoholic of me to brew just to drink this? HAHA

12

As I tell my homebrew classes:

It is good karma to sip a beer while brewing.
It is bad practice to have too many beers while brewing.

13

I think inspired is a better word.

14

you are right, i dont go to meetings;)

15

I make enough mistakes when I’m sober.  I don’t drink anything more than coffee or water until the yeast is tucked in.

That being said, I also start brewing at 5:00AM or so and that seems a bit early for a beer, most days.  8)

Paul

16

Ruined is probably a stretch, but based on the fermentations I’ve done with bread yeast, I wouldn’t get your hopes up as far as flavor. Another potential concern would be contamination, since standards for microbial levels in baker’s yeast are relatively high. I’d give it at least a full month in the fermenter, assuming you’re bottling. Having a bacterial fermentation kick off in the bottles would be a Bad Thing.

17

I think this is blatant alcohol abuse  :o

18

For safety’s sake, I might have one beer–but only after I’m well into the boil.  I like to keep the drinking to a minimum when I’m around flame and boiling wort.

19

It all boils down to the individual in question. Obviously it’s a stupid idea to get rip roaring drunk (just about anytime for that matter) but I don’t personally have any issues knocking down a pint or three while brewing. Just doesn’t have any negative impact on me, personally. In fact, if it’s been a long day a couple of pints can help me push through.

20

i will kegging this brew. any more advice for me?