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RE: Wine Yeast



Sylvia asks about wine yeast:

For all aquatic purposes, all of those yeast you saw at the store will
be fine. Montrachet does have high attenuation, that is, it tolerates
high alcohol well. You will find that your setup will run longer, not
only because you can now add more sugar, but because the wine yeast is a
little slower. And while some baking soda in the initial mix helps, it
won't help to keep adding it. In fact, nutrient and baking soda will
encourage more vigorous fermentation, which isn't what you want, as the
yeast will consume the sugar that much faster. I found with my DIY setup
that I had too much co2 (or at least more than I need) initially, but it
didnt last very long.

Remember that the new yeast will not make your setup run any longer
unless you add more sugar than you have been. As well, be careful and
watch the first batch or two when you mix it up, as it may have a more
vigorous action than you are used to, and could make a mess.

I used to use a DIY yeast/sugar co2 setup, and tried all sorts of things
to keep it running longer, including adding sugars that take longer to
ferment and so on, and the only thing I found (aside from using wine
yeast and more sugar) was to insulate the yeast reactor and keep it as
cool as possible. This makes for as long and even a ferment as you are
going to get.

I did contemplate making some sort of system that could drip more sugar
water into it and so on, but never made one. I took one of my co2 tanks
from my brewing setup, and am ever so glad I did. I hated maintaining
yeast reactors.

Jonathan