The Fresh Loaf

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Why is my yeast water sour?

PY's picture
PY

Why is my yeast water sour?

I have started goji berry yeast water using dried goji berries. They're sweet but i cant get around my head why my GBYW is sour?! It smells vinegary n alcohol-y n not rotten smelling...so whats wrong?

dosco's picture
dosco

I don't know much about "yeast water" (I maintain a sourdough starter/culture) but I would guess that if your yeast water smells vinegary then there were some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) introduced into your culture. It's a good thing, the LAB makes the liquid acidic which prevent undesirable bacteria and help the yeast.

 

Sounds like you have something that will work for you. Give it a try.

 

-Dave

 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

It should smell fruity when just fed and go a bit alcohol but still fruity as it eats its way through the food.  The whole idea with YW is that is not sour and can be used to replace commercial yeast in bread when sour is not wanted or needed and to mute the sour in SD breads where folks don't like sour but don't want to pay for commercial yeast either.

Does you bread made from your YW taste sour or, does the YW culture just smell that way to you?  One thing for sure is that you don't ever want to contaminate a YW culture by introducing any flour to it - you introduce the YW to flour to make a levain for bread.

Hopefully, your nise it throwing you off rather than the YW making sour bread. 

PY's picture
PY

I tasted the YW and it is like vinegar sour! Think i'll start again...bummer!

ithilas's picture
ithilas

So, if I made a Yeast Water, it would produce a tangy or sour bread? It would be just like using commercial yeast? Sign me up! My family members will not eat my sourdough bread, because they have sensitive tongues and can still detect the tang of the sourdough. We are Southern and like our sweet and fluffy stuff.

Can anyone point me towards some places to get started with yeast water and produce it?

Also, as far as adapting recipes that call for a packet of active dry or instant yeast, how much yeast water would I have to use? Would I have to adapt times or anything else in a recipe?

I wish there were some English books written on this technique; I am getting the impression that the Asians use this method? I like researching stuff as much as possible before I start.

Thanks so much! I look forward to learning more about this technique!

mikes's picture
mikes

is Acetobacter not Lacto.

PY's picture
PY

So i guess it will have to go down the drain..?

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

and label it vinegar and put it in a back cupboard somewhere.  Dig it out again in 10 years for salad dressing. :)

 

edit:  if it is still producing gas, cover loosely until it stops.  A balloon with a pin prick works well.  I got some great vinegar from my son's wine experiments years ago.  He wanted to dump it but...  you know me. 

2nd edit:   I suspect the yeast water didn't get refreshed soon enough and thus traveling the road to wine --> turning into vinegar.   Try feeding sooner next time or adding a little honey to the berries.  Goji berries are not very sweet.

PY's picture
PY

Love your sense of humor. Will probably use more conventional fruit the next time. But I think I remember feeding it once a day with a couple of drops of honey until Day 4 which I then used some to do a preferment n baked a loaf of bread...it was the sourest bread I've ever eaten!

Russian_Baker's picture
Russian_Baker

Yes , Goji berries  very acidic :-)