Gert Strand Whiskey Yeast

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 1:10 am

Has anyone used the Whiskey Yeast AG that Gert Strand makes? I know Ian Smiley highly reccomends it in his book for making corn whiskey, and Gert claims it's used in commercial distilleries as well. Just wondering how it's worked for people.

http://www.brewhaus.com/Whisky-Yeast.htm

Post by **Grayson_Stewart** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 4:20 am

I've never tried it but I did read the link you gave. I would have trouble being confident in a product that gives contradistory statements in their advertisement.

""If one ferments over 8.5% alcohol, using something other than a real whiskey yeast, the mash produces far too large an amount of fusel and byproducts. It ruins the quality of the whiskey.""

conflicts with

"" AG is added to the yeast. In distilleries, Amyloglucosidase (AG) is added to convert the non-fermentable sugars in the mash to the fermentable sugars. This is best done during fermentation. It's not so easy during the mashing as AG shall be used in max 40C (104F) and will be destroyed in warmer mash. To duplicate the fermentation of a distillery, AG must be added. It is mixed with the yeast. It also increases the alcohol yield so the yeast pays for itself.

With our whiskey yeast you can ferment over 8.5% without lowering the quality of the whiskey."

Seems to me you could do this with bakers yeast and some Bean-O. I've never fermented out a low alcohol mash and tried to run it. I've always been to greedy and went for the homerun ball with higher alcohol mashes so I don't have experience to draw from there.

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:33 am

I agree Grayson, that page is confusing and not written well at all and overhypes the product. I think that's partially because Gert Strand (http://www.whiskeyyeast.com/)is a Swedish company (they wrote the page, Brewhaus just resells it), and there's a bit of a language issue. Maybe what they're trying to say is that their yeast strain is suited better to higher ferments, baker's yeasts aren't, and (separate thought) they mix AG in the yeast because it's easier to use it in the ferment rather during mashing because you don't have to worry about the temp going over 104F. But hell if I know for sure.

Hopefully someone has tried it and can tell us more.

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:51 am

I use the Gert Whiskey yeast all the time for corn mash. I've been getting about 10% but I do use some sugar too. I am pleased with the product.

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:10 am

Thanks Remus. Do you make a starter before you pitch it, or just chuck it in? How long does a 5 gal. wash take to ferment out?

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 9:28 am

I'd be suspicious of anybody's claim that their yeast is used in commercial distilleries. Any distillery (or brewer, for that matter) worth a damn has proprietary yeast cultures. They don't buy it from a catalog!

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 5:52 pm

Virginia Gentleman wrote:Thanks Remus. Do you make a starter before you pitch it, or just chuck it in? How long does a 5 gal. wash take to ferment out?

I've just chucked it in when the mash temperature is down to about 30 degrees C. or lower. In Smiley's book he says distill within 96 hrs of pitching the yeast with an all grain mash (no sugar) with a 'thin mash' like we've been making it seems to take about a week to run it's coarse. This is about a 50 litre wash.

We just strained out a 50 litre wash today, it reached it's full potential SG between 1.060 and 1.070= 9-10% av in 7 days. This was with only one package of GS whiskey yeast, however during the first 24 hours or so we thoughly airated the wash to encourage the yeast to multiply (make daughter cells). This wash won't be distilled till next weekend so we will be sticking it the fridge till next weekend by then it will be settled out and a nice clear wine will be siphoned into the keg (boiler).

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 11:51 pm

Great info Remus, thanks. I'm making sour mash (O.G. 9-10%), 10 gal. at a time (5 gal. buckets) so sounds like we're on the same page. Actually using Northstar Nottingham dry ale yeast on this one.

Chemist, true dat. Big on the hype. We'll see.

sot · Post by **sot** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 12:35 am

Have only used 2 of his products so far, Turbo Pure 24hr and Turbo Clear but they both lived up to the hype.

ricki · Post by **ricki** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 8:50 am

The Chemist wrote:I'd be suspicious of anybody's claim that their yeast is used in commercial distilleries. Any distillery (or brewer, for that matter) worth a damn has proprietary yeast cultures. They don't buy it from a catalog!

Sorry chemist, don't agree with you. I was a pro. brewer for years and for many small breweries maintaining your own cultures is expensive and time consuming, esp. when all your man-power is consumed with keeping up with demand. To reduce the risk of contamination, mutation, cross-contamination (when using multiple strains for different styles), it was worth the cost to pay someone else, a specialist, to supply us with a pure strain of known viability. Any good brewer/distiller would know how to handle their yeast once they got it and monitor it to know when to get a new batch. Don't get me wrong, all brewers/distillers would love to maintain their own, but it's not always cost-effective until you get to a certain production size.

ricki · Post by **ricki** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 12:38 pm

great for the homebrewer--easier to jerry rig things and not as much risk but on the commercial scale some of the equipment: centrifuge, incubator, a sterile environment, acid washing equipment, -70 freezer, plus lots of odds and ends for media, plates, etc,. Quite a bit of initial capital and a salary for somebody to do it all. Compounded if you use more than one yeast strain.
Like I said, great for the homebrewer, but a whole different ball game on the professional scale.

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 1:24 pm

Makes good sense, ricki. And just to clarify, I think they are claiming that commercial distilleries will be buying the yeast to compare to their own, which is total conjecture and hype. But they do indeed make a good product.

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Mon Aug 22, 2005 1:24 am

ricki wrote:I was a pro. brewer for years and for many small breweries maintaining your own cultures is expensive and time consuming, esp. when all your man-power is consumed with keeping up with demand.

Hey ricki, just curious you worked for a brewer not a distiller, right? Did you start your own or work for someone else's?

ricki · Post by **ricki** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:41 am

Worked for a couple different guys--still working on starting my own!

Virginia Gentleman · Post by **Virginia Gentleman** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 1:28 pm

Good deal, let us know how that goes!

ricki · Post by **ricki** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:15 am

Will DO!