June 7, 2007 - 12:07pm
Hello From St Louis MO
Hey All
Stumbled onto this site yesterday and have read lots of great information already.
I have not baked my own bread but have always had a desire. I brew my own beer, "Liquid Bread", so I don't know why I've waited so long. In brewing, there are beers (generally English style ales) that have flavor characteristics such as "bready" and "toast" and I've use Biscuit Malt in some beers, but, it sounds like having a starter culture that is "beery" is not a good thing!!
Looking forward to reading more information and trying some of the great recipes I've already seen here.
Mike
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Selfmade beer, bread, wine, good food, cheese, all seem to be somehow related. Hope to see more comments soon. Maybe you're the one to show us a Beery starter and what can be done with brewers yeast. :) --Mini Oven
Howdy from Chicago, Mike.
Check out the Lessons page for help getting started and remember that even when someone makes a mistake baking bread the end result is usually quite edible.
Thanks for the welcome!
Beer yeast does not allow bread to rise very well and bread yeast makes a very cidery tasing beer, but I'd be willing to try some beer yeast combinations to see what happens. I'll need to read more about making bread before I try this, since beer yeast likes simple sugars and does not handle starch very well.
Mike
I'm on the other side, in Kansas City. What happens when you put beer yeast in bread? Just something i've wondered about.
jeffrey
jeffery
When you add beer yeast, the rise is not very good. It seems that time is a good thing on rise, but, beer yeast tends to make a very dense loaf without the rise. My initial suspicion is that bread yeast has more "wild" yeast and beer yeast is too specialized for brewing beer and too "pure" generally a single strain, and brewers fight to keep that a single strain. That's only a guess on my part, but I have slanted beer yeast and I know what I'm looking for when I build a culture up.
Mike
Yes that is a contrast, brewing trying to keep just one strain. Here i am always introducing new yeast (on pourpous sometimes), itno my sourdough.
Which yeast works best, the kind that floats, or the kind that sinks?
jeffrey
Jeffery
There are top cropping yeasts and bottom cropping yeasts. Generally, ale yeasts tend to be top cropping and lager yeasts tend to be bottom cropping. Sometimes you'll hear the term top fermenting and bottom fermenting, which is not correct. To ferment, yeast has to be in contact with the wort and when fermentation is mostly finished, it will "crop" to the top or the bottom and can be used for the next brew. I don't see that one is better than the other. It's a function of the yeast strain, and therefor the beer style, to top or bottom crop. Whether one is better for use in bread would only be answered by testing. Now, there's an idea!
Mike
Someday i'll have to make some beer
I steamed cherries for juice June 10th and the next day I stirred in some of my sourdough starter, just the little bit that stuck to my fork and put a balloon on it. Foam has been gradually building and today it blew up the balloon even though I put pin holes in it. Lots of pink foam in the jug... but I can't tell if it is on top or bottom. Reused yeast in beer process? Would it work to put my cherry yeast now into bread? How long do you leave the yeast in the beer at room temperature? --Mini Oven
Mini
I don't think that you'll discover if a yeast is top or bottom in a sourdough starter. In beer, you are working in a liquid and for bread you are working with something much thicker. I'm too new to know if your sourdough is ready or not -- best left for someone on this forum with experience. Beer is rarely fermented at room temperature -- it causes too many funky flavors and alcohols to be developed. Ale yeasts like temperatures of 60-68, ideally 68 for most strains. Lager yeast like to ferment cold, 48-52 degrees. As you may guess, lager fermentations will take much longer than an ale and provides a much "cleaner" final product. While Macro-brewers will not reuse yeast, most Micros and brewpubs will, some for up to 20-30 or more generations.
Mike
and I think you're right. All I know is that it's too foamy and I set it into the sink to drip. I stir it up often and all kinds of funky stuff sneaks through my balloon but I think I should lower the temp and put my little mess into a pan and stick it in the cellar. The steam juice extraction killed a lot of "other" beasties so I still seem to have it under control. Won't be wine for a while yet. Then I'm off to pick more cherries! -- Mini Oven