Brewers Yeast in your PSK?

[Fiddleback]

I've learned to make soap in the wild. I can make glue too. I can find fibers that I can make chordage from too.

But I think there is something missing. Something VERY useful, and easy to make. ETHANOL. Its a fuel, and antiseptic, and a drinkable spirit. It can be made from any plant sugar, so just about anywhere you land has the raw materials.

So do any of you carry brewers yeast in your BOB. Or, even better, is there a way to collect it in the wild?

 

[mycroftt]

Wild yeasts can be collected in the wild (think about the dusty "bloom" on plums) but the fermented beverage might be of lesser quality than a laboratory-grown strain. To maximize the quality of your brew you need to keep it as close to sterile as possible before pitching your yeast and then you need to limit the exposure to oxygen while it ferments. You won't get more than about 15% alcohol by volume by fermentation under the "best " circumstances - you'll have to distill it to concentrate it enough to use it as a fuel or antiseptic.

 

[billym]

I've learned to make soap in the wild. I can make glue too. I can find fibers that I can make chordage from too.

But I think there is something missing. Something VERY useful, and easy to make. ETHANOL. Its a fuel, and antiseptic, and a drinkable spirit. It can be made from any plant sugar, so just about anywhere you land has the raw materials.

So do any of you carry brewers yeast in your BOB. Or, even better, is there a way to collect it in the wild?

Brewing beer is not that simple. You either need A LOT of yeast or a very sterile invironment. The end result will likely have less than 8% alcohol and be infected. Besides the fact that beer also needs a sugar source that would serve you better as food. The best use for the yeast would be a food supplement high in B complex vitamins.

Wild yeasts are everywhere but most do not make potable beverages just sour beer.

Now if you are talking about TEOTWAWKI then brewing beer would be very important, so will be distilling.

 

[Fiddleback]

Maybe I misspoke. Why brew beer. I love beer, but your reasons are good for not brewing beer. I would brew the purest alcohol I could in that situation.



Found this, 2 dollar still:
http://www.happymountain.net/moonshine still.html

 

[mycroftt]

You're talking about a two-step process. First you ferment the sugar water and get a low-alcohol brew (call it beer or wine or mash - whatever). Then you have to distill it to boil the alcohol out of the water solution and recondense it. Distilling can be risky with dangerous byproducts. It's all definitely do-able but it is a fairly involved process.

 

[Return of the J.D.]

Nice idea, but long before I put yeast in a kit, I'd include seeds for crops (non-hybrid seeds that would grow without a lot of care in my local environment), blacksmithing tools, low-tech reference books, and the like. Long before I really NEEDED alcohol, I'd be seriously wishing I had those other second-priority items, it seems to me.

Yeast commonly does exist in most places--if you doubt it, just leave an open pitcher of grape juice, or a jug of no-preservatives apple cider, on your kitchen counter for a few days.

One factor against keeping commercial yeast in a kit: most yeasts die in a period of several months, anyway, especially without refrigeration. Hard to keep it viable in a kit situation.

If you did decide this were a worthwhile idea, you might visit a winemakers' supply store, and see if some kind of yeast that's bred to survive high-alcohol-content situations might do what you want better than brewer's yeast. Brewer's yeast isn't as tolerant of high alcohol concentrations as, say, champagne or sherry yeast, I think. Also, wine yeasts (especially champagne) tend to form easy-to-handle sediments at the bottom of your fermentation container--as opposed to brewer's yeasts and baker's yeasts, which tend to form layers on the top, or to form loose sediments that easily drift up into the liquid and are hard to clear out.

 

[billym]

Nice idea, but long before I put yeast in a kit, I'd include seeds for crops (non-hybrid seeds that would grow without a lot of care in my local environment).
.

Seeds are a good idea; maybe even beans and seeds for sprouts to start and then move to slower growing crops for long term.

 

[akennedy73]

Brewing beer is not that simple. You either need A LOT of yeast or a very sterile invironment. The end result will likely have less than 8% alcohol and be infected.

Beer brewing is also not that complicated - people were brewing beer long before they understood that microbes even existed.

In the past, our ancestors kept yeast cultures with the use of wood. Dough would be mixed in wooden bowls inoculated with the desired yeast. Vikings had a highly-treasured wooden stick that they used to stir the malted barley sugar-water (called wort) - they didn't know the wooden stick had yeast imbedded in it but they knew the stick was necessary to create beer.

The selection of appropriate yeast strains from the wild is simply a matter of experimentation. Once the appropriate strain is located a piece of wood will serve to store the culture. It's worked for centuries. Modern sterile culture techniques are just that - modern.

If you do want to carry yeast in your BOB get freeze-dried champagne yeast - it will last the longest (being freeze-dried) and will have the highest tolerance to alcohol (champagne yeast will turn more sugar into alcohol because it's able to tolerate a higher level of its own waste-product, alcohol).

 

[billym]

Beer brewing is also not that complicated - people were brewing beer long before they understood that microbes even existed.

In the past, our ancestors kept yeast cultures with the use of wood. Dough would be mixed in wooden bowls inoculated with the desired yeast. Vikings had a highly-treasured wooden stick that they used to stir the malted barley sugar-water (called wort) - they didn't know the wooden stick had yeast imbedded in it but they knew the stick was necessary to create beer.

The selection of appropriate yeast strains from the wild is simply a matter of experimentation. Once the appropriate strain is located a piece of wood will serve to store the culture. It's worked for centuries. Modern sterile culture techniques are just that - modern.

If you do want to carry yeast in your BOB get freeze-dried champagne yeast - it will last the longest (being freeze-dried) and will have the highest tolerance to alcohol (champagne yeast will turn more sugar into alcohol because it's able to tolerate a higher level of its own waste-product, alcohol).

That does not mean the beer was not sour and spoiled. I once participated on a panel at the American Homebrewers Association's national conference about the flavor profile of early beers. Most were burnt tasting from scorching grain during the malting process, were cloudy due to numerous microflora (no specific yeast strain) and sour due to wild yeast and bacterias. Your "bush" beer would hardly resemble beer as you know it. Ever try Chica in South America; basically chewed up corn that is mixed with water and fermented. Not much like modern beer and a lot closer to ancient brews.

Brewing is only 1/3 of the process of making beer. There is also growing / obtaining grain and making malt. No grain no malt no malt no beer at least not beer as we know it.

Bill
National level Beer judge in the BJCP (retired).

 

[ajcz]

packet of bakers yeast and 3.5 cups shugar and 14 cups water and let it sit 2 weeks in a dark less than 80 degree and in prime conditions you get 10% or less mostlikly about 7 or 8 but it would be a waste of sugars or food that you could eat

 

[aarya]

Why not experiment with something similar to what the mongolians use?
http://www.soundtransformations.btinternet.co.uk/themakingofAirag.htm
Airag is made from mares milk, but i would think that milk from cows or goats might work aswell?
And it could work well to distill other types of slightly alcoholic beverages too, if one wanted a stronger alcohol-content.
I saw a documentary about this once, where they stated that, the first distillation-process made a product that was around 20-30% alcohol. If one wanted something stronger, you could distill it again, reaching upwards to 50-60% alcohol content.

Also, kefir is slightly alcoholic, so maybe it could be possible to carry some dried kefir-grains?
Something to ponder.

(And sorry for my obsession with milk-products. I`m Norwegian.. We live for the stuff.)

 

[billym]

packet of bakers yeast and 3.5 cups shugar and 14 cups water and let it sit 2 weeks in a dark less than 80 degree and in prime conditions you get 10% or less mostlikly about 7 or 8 but it would be a waste of sugars or food that you could eat

Ain't exactly beer but it will get you drunk.

 

[ajcz]

its best for distilling or well thats what i use it for

 

[Fiddleback]

Thanks for the responses guys. It is certainly a long term kinda idea. Seeds is good too. Long term, i mean.

 

[Any Cal.]

I believe you could make sourdough beer. Dump some starter in a bucket of flour and water. The clear liquid on top is alcohol. It would take a while. You can make a starter by boiling potatoes and leaving the water out for a few days, then start adding flour for it to feed on later.