Author: Brian Hall

It’s commonly said that brewers make wort while yeast make beer, and as any brewer knows, there are various types of yeast available that produce different characteristics. With beer commonly referred to as “liquid bread,” perhaps it’s unsurprising that the yeast strain associated with ales, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is the same that’s used in baking.

In both brewing and baking, yeast metabolizes available sugars, producing both alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2), the latter of which causes dough to rise prior to baking. However, despite their similarities, people are advised to avoid using bakers yeast to ferment beer because it can lead undesirable off-flavors. The reason brewers yeasts work so well is that they’ve been cultivated for hundreds of years to produce the specific characteristics expected in beer.

I love baking and eating bread nearly as much as I love brewing and drinking beer. In my nearly 20 years of homebrewing, I’ve experimented with some weird stuff including making beer with a sourdough starter, but I’ve never tried fermenting with baker’s yeast largely because of recommendations not to. Of course, when someone tells me not to do something, the experimenter in me says I should try it out.

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between an beers fermented with wither Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast or Safale US-05 American Ale Yeast.

| METHODS |

The recipe for this xBmt was inspired by Tiny Bottom Pale Ale, which I felt was simple enough to allow any differences caused by the yeast to be apparent.

Liquid Loaf

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 36.6 IBUs 9.1 SRM 1.054 1.012 5.6 % Actuals 1.054 1.009 5.9 % Fermentables Name Amount % Lamonta American-style Pale Malt (Mecca Grade) 8.5 lbs 77.27 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 15L 12 oz 6.82 Vanora Vienna-style Malt (Mecca Grade) 12 oz 6.82 Victory Malt 10 oz 5.68 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 6 oz 3.41 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Magnum 16 g 60 min Boil Pellet 11.6 Perle 14 g 25 min Boil Pellet 8.6 Fuggles 14 g 10 min Boil Pellet 4.4 Fuggles 15 g 2 min Boil Pellet 4.4 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Safale US-05 OR Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast 77% 59°F - 75°F Notes Water Profile: Ca 126 | Mg 0 | Na 0 | SO4 118 | Cl 135 Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

With the brewing water collected and adjusted it to my desired profile, I lit the flame under the kettle then milled the grain.

When the water was adequately heated, I stirred in the grist then checked to make sure it hit my target mash temperature.

Following a 60 minute mash rest, I sparged to collect the expected pre-boil volume of sweet wort then brought it to a rolling boil.

After the 60 minute boil, I quickly chilled the wort before taking a hydrometer measurement showing it was at the target OG.

The wort was evenly split between two sanitized carboys that were placed next to each other in my garage that maintains 64-66°F/18-19°C.

At this point, I rehydrated 2 packs each of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast and Safale US-05 in 75 mL of tepid water for 10 minutes before pitching.

I left the beers alone for 10 days before taking hydrometer measurements showing the beer fermented with baker’s yeast attenuated a bit more than the one fermented with brewer’s yeast.

The beers were racked to separate kegs that were placed in my keezer, burst carbonated, then left to condition for a week before I began serving them to tasters.

| RESULTS |

A total of 20 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the beer fermented with Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast and 1 sample of the beer fermented with Safale US-05 American Ale yeast in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the unique sample. While 11 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to accurately identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, 12 (p=0.013) did, indicating participants in this xBmt were able to reliably distinguish a Pale Ale fermented with baker’s yeast from one fermented with Safale US-05 brewer’s yeast.

The 12 participants who made the accurate selection on the triangle test were instructed to complete a brief preference survey comparing only the beers that were different. A total of 4 tasters reported preferring the beer fermented with baker’s yeast, 7 liked the brewer’s yeast beer more, and 1 had no preference despite noticing a difference.

My Impressions: I performed a number of semi-blind triangle tests and was consistently able to identify the odd-beer-out each time. To my palate, the beer fermented with Safale US-05 was a bit muddled with lacking enthusiasm while the one fermented with baker’s yeast tasted more like a poorly executed Belgian ale– I actually entered it as a Trappist Single in a competition and it scored in the low 30’s. Ha!



| DISCUSSION |

It’s well-known that various strains of yeast produce unique characteristics when used to ferment beer, despite being of the same species. Through centuries of cultivation and selective breeding, numerous types of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aka brewer’s yeast, exist that allow for brewing of myriad styles ranging from banana-forward Hefeweizen to clean Pale Ale. While the yeast used in baking is also S. cerevisiae and can ferment beer, it’s commonly said that using it for such can lead to undesirable off-flavors. The fact tasters in this xBmt were able to reliably distinguish beers fermented with either Fleischmann’s Active Dry baker’s yeast or the popular Safale US-05 American Ale yeast suggests each strain imparted unique characteristics.

The data collected for this xBmt doesn’t allow us to comment on what exactly it was about the beers that made them noticeably different, but based on the conversations I had with tasters who’d completed the survey, the baker’s yeast beer seemed to have a phenolic note that was absent in the one fermented with Safale US-05. Interestingly, 1/3 of the participants who were correct on the triangle test preferred the beer fermented with bread yeast.

Given the abundance and variety of quality brewer’s yeast these days, as well as my personal disliking of the beer fermented with baker’s yeast in this xBmt, I won’t be changing my fermentation practices any time soon. However, in the event of an apocalypse, I’d definitely reserve some Fleischmann’s for liquid sustenance, though I’d probably stick to more phenol-forward Belgian ale in that scenario.

If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!

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