Fast & FREE Shipping!

This blog provides information for educational purposes only. Read our complete summary for more info.

April 29, 2013
Last updated

The Best Yeast for Distilling and Brewing

Owner of Clawhammer Supply

Distillers and Brewers Yeast Review

We get a lot of questions about yeast. Folks want to know "which yeasts are the best" for fermenting a mash.

These days, homebrew shops offer an incredibly robust selection of yeasts. However, not everyone has easy access to a homebrew shop, and ordering yeast online can be dicey because temperature fluctuations may cause damage. Therefore, this article focuses on very basic yeasts which everyone should have access to, plus a few more that are temp tolerant. We've tested a total of 4 yeasts and the results are below.

Before we get started, a reminder: Distilling alcohol is illegal without a federal fuel alcohol or distilled spirit plant permit as well as relevant state permits. Our distillation equipment is designed for legal uses only and the information in this article is for educational purposes only. Please read our complete legal summary for more information on the legalities of distillation.

To make things easy, we made a 2 gallon mash using 3 pounds of pure cane sugar and 2 pints of unsulfured molasses (with a potential alcohol of 12.9%). We then split the mash into 4 glass carboy's and added a different yeast to each container.

One of the following yeast strains was pitched in each of the carboys:

  • bread yeast
  • champagne yeast
  • super start distillers yeast
  • turbo yeast

We let the batches ferment for almost 3 weeks (to make sure we had maxed out the potential of each yeast), then we conducted a taste test. We didn't carbonate or distill or otherwise modify the fermented liquids. We just taste tested as is. First, these wouldn't make for very good beers. Second, we could have distilled them, as this is more or less a rum mash recipe, but we only have a fuel alcohol permit, so we couldn't have drank the final product anyway. Remember, distilling alcohol at home for consumption is illegal. Don't do it.

Our assumption was that the bread yeast had not met its alcohol potential and would be sweeter than the rest of the samples due to excess sugar. We also assumed that the turbo yeast might taste and smell a bit funky, because that's what a lot of people report about it. We also have some experience with turbo's ourselves and have noted these characteristics. We thought the champagne yeast would be dry, and weren't sure how the super start would taste among the rest of the samples. We hadn't taken a final specific gravity reading before the taste test, so the alcohol content of the samples was not known to us as we were sampling them.

As it turns out, our assumptions were dead on, with one surprising exception. Here's what we noted:

Turbo Yeast

We tested Liquor Quick's Turbo Pure X-Press (dehydrated), which is rated to produce up to 18% alcohol. According to the manufacturer, this yeast was created to produce "a very clean wash with minimal congeners." We disagree with the first part of that statement.

The wash was anything but clean. It smelled and tasted absolutely awful, most likely due to excess nutrients that weren't used by the yeast. In defense of Liquor Quick, perhaps if we had added more sugar and the yeast were able to work longer (using more of the nutrients) the wash would not have tasted so bad.

We actually agree with the second part of the above mentioned statement. The wash contained very few congeners. Congeners is a fancy term for all of the tasty ingredients found in the mash. The more congeners, the more mash flavor, the less congeners, the more devoid of taste the wash and final product will have. There was hardly any trace of the cane and molasses flavors. However, remnants of the nutrients were still very present and the wash tasted and smelled terrible.

In summary, we only recommend turbo yeast for making fuel for lawnmowers.

Champagne Yeast

We tested Red Star's Pasteur Champagne Yeast (dehydrated). The champagne wash sample was extremely dry. Molasses and cane flavors from the wash were almost completely gone. A very slight bitter taste from the molasses was all that remained, which is definitely not the best part of the molasses flavor. The yeast itself also imparted little to no flavor to the wash, making this sample extremely clean. If a commercial distiller is striving to make a neutral grain spirit, such as vodka, we think champagne yeast would work very well. However, it is now apparent to us that a commercial distiller would probably not use this yeast for flavorful spirits such as corn whiskey, full bodied, authentic rums, etc..

Super Start Distillers Yeast

We tested Crosby & Baker's Super Start Distillers Yeast, now known simply as Distillers Yeast (UPC: CB 9904A*). This stuff is available by the pound and is given no description by the maker. Over the years this is the yeast we've become accustomed to using, partly because it's sold by the pound (and It takes a long time to use an entire pound of yeast) and partly because we experienced what we felt were good results. Our assumption was that this yeast was going to blow the competition away. However, we were wrong.

The Super Start wash tasted almost exactly like the champagne yeast wash. They were actually a bit difficult to tell apart. The only difference was that the champagne yeast had a slightly cleaner taste and smell. Yeasty smells and flavors were a bit more prevalent in the SS sample. In our opinion, because these samples didn't taste anything like cane or molasses, these yeasts are probably better suited for commercial distillers making high alcohol, neutral grain spirits than they are for making sippin' whiskeys. Because the champagne yeast had a cleaner taste than the Super Start, we'd venture to say that it'd be the better choice between the two.

Accordingly, due to the results of this experiment, we now no longer exclusively recommend Super Start as our yeast of choice. 

Bread Yeast

The surprise of the day was bread yest. We tested Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast. Our initial assumption was correct: the bread yeast tasted slightly sweeter than the others. Much more of the cane sugar and molasses flavors were present. Overall, this was actually the best tasting wash, which we kind of half expected. We assumed that the bread yeast sample tasted better because the yeast had hardly done anything and hadn't produced much alcohol. However, we were dead wrong.

The ABV of this sample was on par with the rest of the samples (see below). This means that bread yeast had managed to produce as much alcohol as the rest of the yeasts, but had done so without stripping out as much of the natural mash flavors. This wash tasted great and we see no reason to recommend against using bread yeast. 

Alcohol Yield 

We determined potential alcohol using a beer hydrometer. We also did some calculations by hand to back up hydrometer readings (and to prove how smart we are). Also, our brix refractometer was missing on test day, which is the other reason for the hand calculations.

Our beer hydrometer displayed a starting gravity of 1.10, corresponding to a potential alcohol of 13%. Between the molasses and the cane sugar, we ended up adding a total of 969 grams of sugar to a total of 3785 grams of water, for a brix of 25.6 and a potential alcohol of 12.8%. Because the result of both calculations is so close we're very confident that the potential alcohol was somewhere around 12.9%.

The final gravity measurements of wash samples were almost identical. The samples were all within a half percent of 12.5% starting alcohol, with champagne being slightly higher than the rest. In other words, each yeast essentially maxed out its alcohol production potential by eating more or less all of the sugar present in the wash.

These results convey absolutely nothing meaningful about the alcohol production potential of champagne, turbo yeast, and Super Start yeast. It's obvious that these yeasts should be able to produce 12.5% ABV or higher. If we wanted to compare the alcohol yield potential of these yeasts we'd need to bump up the sugar content of the wash and give the yeast samples more to work with.

However, the experiment sheds some interesting light on the alcohol production potential of bread yest. We assumed that bread yeast would have stalled out well before consuming all of the sugar in the mash. We can now say with confidence that bread yeast (at least the brand we used) is able to produce 12.5% starting ABV, and maybe even higher. This is surprising news to us, as our previous (limited) experience with bread yeast suggested a much lower potential ABV.

Additional Yeast Resources

For those that have not read our article "Making Moonshine - Fermentation and Yeast" check that out as we go into more detail about the fermentation process. It's for educational purposes only, but is very interesting. We strongly suggest purchasing a copy of the book "Yeast" from Amazon.com. This books is 300 pages long and was written by professional brewers and scientists. It's an awesome resource on the topic of yeast. We've been reading this book and have learned a ton of stuff about yeast. Yeast is just as important as the other ingredients (corn, barley, sugar) in beer and fine spirits, and without yeast, the world as we know it would likely be devoid of alcohol.

Get this book to learn how a commercial distiller would improve the quality of their whiskey. Also, checkout our article "Bourbon, Whiskey, Vodka and Moonshine - How Much Yeast?" for more information on how much yeast to use on a batch of mash. 

Clawhammer Supply is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

 

 

Kyle Brown is the owner of Clawhammer Supply, a small scale distillation and brewing equipment company which he founded in 2009. His passion is teaching people about the many uses of distillation equipment as well as how to make beer at home. When he isn't brewing beer or writing about it, you can find him at his local gym or on the running trail.

  • This is supposed to be the comments section, not the questions section. Geez.

    Posted by Ray on December 01, 2013
  • Can u use dry bread as a yeast for ur shine

    Posted by jaimen on November 28, 2013
  • how much bread yeast do i use for the honeyshine recipe, and do i have to use a nutrients and how much..

    Posted by adam ness on November 24, 2013
  • How much yeast do I use for 8cups of corn 3 galons of water and 3 pounds of sugar I’ve made it bfor but I think I’m using way to much yeast it seems the less yeast I use the higher the proof but I would like to know the rite amount please ! None of the reciepies ever tell the amount of yeast to use so please please tell me. Thanks so much

    Posted by jeff young on November 21, 2013
  • WHERES THE ANSWERS,WHATS THE PURPOSE OF ASKING THESE VERY GOOD QUESTIONS IF YOU GET NO REPLY?

    Posted by tom plunkette on November 13, 2013
  • Recipe for Banana Moonshine?

    Posted by Rob on November 05, 2013
  • I want to start distilling and I have no clue how to make the mash. I am buying a 4 gallon pot and need to know how much of each ingredient I should put in for 4 gallons. I have the worm and all, literally just need a mash recipe. Thanks

    Posted by S. Miller on October 24, 2013
  • your recipe for honey shine does not give the amount of yeast used in the 5 gallon mash

    Posted by mark on October 07, 2013
  • was wondering how many packs of red star bread yeast to add to 5 gallons of moonshine wash…Thanks for any info you can help out with

    Posted by chris on August 28, 2013
  • Want to know what yeast is best to ferment rice For example i want to make 20 gal mash how much rice,water, yeast,and sugar do I use

    Posted by Jerry on August 13, 2013
  • ok for 10 gal corn mash how much bread yeast do you use,also on 10 gal rum how much.
    thanks

    Posted by brad on August 01, 2013
  • on sugar shine you tell of how much water and sugar to use and the temp everything should be and then you just say add yeast…how much yeast??
    im about to start but this is the only information i know have..thanks for your help

    Posted by ron vest on July 31, 2013
  • Hey, how much bread yeast for 8 gallon wash?

    Posted by John on July 23, 2013
  • you use 60g bakers yeast to 30l batch of corn mash. reply forderec

    Posted by alan langley on June 29, 2013
  • What is the amount of yeast needed for 5 gallons of liquor

    Posted by Lewis Carlton on June 22, 2013
  • I use the the same bread yeast tested. And make sweetfeed shine in 5 gal. copper still. I use 4 packs in 5 gal. Im not positive on if that is over kill or under kill. but proof is always 140-150 at the start of the run. and the mash smells good and tastes kinda sweet. and the product tastes kinda like wild turkey 101 when i substitute 2 pound of white sugar with 2 pound brown. But this is great to know I was about to try some turbo yeast I may stick with bread yeast. Thanks to all who do what they do. Keep the tradition alive !

    Posted by C.M. on June 02, 2013
  • Tried using 8kg Turbo alcohol yeast but I am not getting any fermentation gassing or head forming am I doing something wrong?

    Posted by Mike Shirley on June 02, 2013
  • I’m just starting to learn the art of distilling. I really like your web page. Many of the questions that are asked, are similar to my own. It would be nice to see your answers, not just the questions.

    Posted by bob zdarsky on May 18, 2013
  • …also, can you guys comment on ester profiles of the yeasts? and did the baker yeast “flocculate”?

    Posted by bd on May 06, 2013
  • Hey, thanks for al the work you guys do. About ABV, it would be neat to see where each yeast will max out. I mean, can the bread yeast really make as high ABV as the others? In this test, are the samples just running out of materials at the same time, producing the similar ABV?

    Posted by bd on May 02, 2013


Leave a comment

Please note, the design of our website does not allow us to respond directly to blog comments. Please email us directly regarding questions about products. We don't answer questions about recipes, procedures, etc. However, feel free to leave a comment or respond to comments made by others!

Enter your email address below and we'll send you a free eBook on how to get started with brewing or distilling!
>