Wine yeast in a beer?

[CopperGryphon]

Greetings happy brewers!

While working and tweaking a recipe for a dark beer and doing a bit of research, was wondering what exactly would happen to the beer if I added a wine yeast? I know the scientific facts, e.g. it doesn't eat certain sugars, but what does that mean will happen to the beer?

Some say it makes it "sweeter" and more alcoholic (which is kind of what I'm going for), others say it doesn't ferment properly and doesn't work, others say it makes a funny tasting beer.

I'm planning on using WLP750 and if anyone has used a wine yeast in a beer, please can you let me know what your results are? Thank you!

 

[mkyl428]

I have never done it but there is a local brewery here Prairie Artisan Ales That ferments with a mix of ale yeast, wine yeast, and brettanomyces in a few of their beers.

 

[podz]

Some say it makes it "sweeter" and more alcoholic (which is kind of what I'm going for), others say it doesn't ferment properly and doesn't work, others say it makes a funny tasting beer.

Do some or others have any credibility?

 

[CopperGryphon]

I'm honestly not sure, most of what I found was either someone's blog or a scientific dissertation on what happens >,>

 

[CopperGryphon]

Have you had any of these beers? What did they taste like?

 

[Talgrath]

Generally speaking, wine yeast doesn't do great at fermenting things that aren't fruit; basically wine yeast can't ferment maltotriose and do poorly at fermenting maltose, so the beers you get are underattenuated so it is really sweet but it is also lower in alcohol content. The main reason to use wine yeast would be alcohol tolerance, but you would use wine yeast in addition to a beer yeast that has died due to alcohol; basically to ferment more after using say...a standard American Ale yeast which usually can't survive beyond about 10-12% ABV. My recommendation, if you want sweeter and highly alcoholic beer and you want to use white labs is WPL530 Abbey Ale Yeast; it's alcohol tolerance is only 2% lower than the wine yeast you mention and it tends to give fruity flavors during fermentation.

 

[BierGut]

Try fermenting a gallon using the wine yeast and let us know the results.

 

[CopperGryphon]

I have never done it but there is a local brewery here Prairie Artisan Ales That ferments with a mix of ale yeast, wine yeast, and brettanomyces in a few of their beers.

Have you had any? How did they taste? ^,^

 

[mkyl428]

I have had a couple of they were quit good! Very dry they were saisons & did contain brett so I don't really know what the wine yeast brings to the table... They distribute fairly widely via Shelton Bros, so you may be able to get some of their beers where you live to try for yourself... but here is the rate beer page on one of the beers http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/prairie-artisan-ales-prairie-ale/190190/ and here is their website http://prairieales.com/beers/ for reference....

 

[lewybrewing]

I've played with a couple of wine fermented beers before. Check this out http://www.lewybrewing.com/2012/12/wine-yeast-in-beer-experiment.html and go and listen to the Shay Comfort Brewing Network Session, Lots of information there.

 

[BierGut]

Have you had any? How did they taste? ^,^

The Prairie Artisan Ales Wine Barrel Noir is delicious. Only aged in wine barrels though and didn't use wine yeast directly. Unibrou is another brewery that ages or bottles the beer on lees.

 

[mkyl428]

The Prairie Artisan Ales Wine Barrel Noir is delicious. Only aged in wine barrels though and didn't use wine yeast directly. Unibrou is another brewery that ages or bottles the beer on lees.

Yeah don't use wine yeast in all of their beers directly but the Prairie Ale is fermented with a mix of ale yeast wine yeast and brettanomyces. Their Prairie Gold is fermented with a mix of ale yeast, wine yeast, lactobacillus and 2 strains of brettanomyces.

 

[TheZymurgist]

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2014/09/flemish-red-with-red-wine-yeast-notes.html