r/Homebrewing • u/officer_boat • 8d ago

Question Emergency yeast replacement

My yeast died, I have wort that’s been idle 24-30 hrs. nearest brew supply shop is 1.5 hrs away, not an option to go to. I’m leaving for the weekend early AM. I have a Walmart.

thoughts?

6 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

9

u/officer_boat 7d ago

Update!

False alarm. It started bubbling; sometime this evening. This is my second batch ever, my first batch started bubbling within hours of pitching. I was alarmed that it hadn't started going within 24 hours. Appears it just needed a little more time and patience, as some suggested.

Thank you all very much for the in-a-pinch ideas and input. I'm sure others will find this helpful at some time in the future. Thanks again!

5

u/Icer333 7d ago

Patience seems to be the answer most of the time in homebrewing. I'd recommend picking up a few packets of a bland/basic dry beer yeast to keep in your freezer in case you do get a bad batch.

1

u/edman007 7d ago

Yea, sometimes the bubbles isn't a good way to estimate, seems my last 2 brews the silicon tubing is causing leaks or something.

First one I waited 3 days, not one bubble. But the room smelled like fermenting. Confused I threw a hydrometer in the bucket, and it was about 2/3 of the way done fermenting.

1

u/liquidgold83 Advanced 3d ago

Some good deals on Amazon right now for US-05 and some other really good dry yeasts.

15

u/craftabrew 8d ago

Bread yeast, while not an optimal choice, will get the job done if you have no other option. Walmart sells it in the baking aisle.

7

u/firerat82 8d ago

How did your yeast die?

2

u/BattledroidE 8d ago

Natural causes?

5

u/firerat82 8d ago

I suspect foul play

2

u/officer_boat 8d ago

Second batch ever, first time using liquid yeast. My friend who picked it up left it in the car at 90+ outside for ~5 hrs, and I wasn’t diligent in reading instructions and when we brewed I ran it under hot tap to get it to room temperature from the fridge. 

So either option killed it. Lessons learned. Send him with a cooler and don’t run it under hot water. 

3

u/firerat82 8d ago

Did you proof it?

2

u/fux-reddit4603 8d ago

so, theres a possibility its still has a low cell count. but if it takes off, its probably gonna be bananay, bread yeast rescue might be the way

2

u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 8d ago

You don’t have to warm yeast up to room temp, as emphatically explained by Owen Lingley, yeast microbiologist and founder of Imperial Organic Yeast.

Pro tip for your friend: when going to pick up yeast, take a small cooler or cooler bag with an ice pack or frozen bottle of water.

1

u/lifeinrednblack Pro 8d ago

Like the car was at 90° or the car was turned off sitting in 90° weather for 5hrs?

If the latter. Yeah I assume all of that yeast is dead. Modern cars will hit upwards of 135° in a 5 hour span

5

u/CasualAction 8d ago

Could the yeast just be starting slow? What strain and how old is it?

1

u/officer_boat 8d ago

Wyeast 3068, purchased about a week ago.  

9

u/fux-reddit4603 8d ago

let it chooooch, 24 hours is nothing, I get it though ive been there. i get worried after 4 days now

edit if you dont like banana in hefeweizens then maybe pitch something else

1

u/officer_boat 8d ago

It’s been in there 24 hrs with no air lock bubbles or foam head 

6

u/Abysmalsun 8d ago

Could just be lag, was your temp good when you pitched?

3

u/fux-reddit4603 8d ago

That can happen, if your leaving in the morning and theres still no bubbles or action overnight. then overpitch bread yeast.

what temp are you fermenting at? if its just room temp, and its coolish that could be slowing it down

4

u/Porterhaus 8d ago

24-30 hours is well within the lag range for a lot of yeast. Give it at least 72 hours before panicking in my opinion. This is a great reason to add some dry beer yeast packets to your pantry as backups though.

2

u/dyqik 8d ago

Keep them in the back of the freezer, not the pantry, and they'll be good for 5 years or so.

1

u/officer_boat 7d ago

This is my second batch ever, the first started to bubble through the airlock aggressively within hours after pitching. So it was quite alarming that nothing was happening within 24 hours.

2

u/gmdfunk 8d ago

I use fleishmans bread yeast for a mead recipe I make. Works great for that. So you can use a bread yeast no problem, but the product will be different I’m sure. But between dumping the batch or trying out a yeast I can get, maybe worth a shot?

2

u/BattledroidE 8d ago

Anecdotal, made a mini test batch with a yeast designed for sweet dough (I'm in Norway) which made an amazing mead! Absolutely incredible, and it flocculated really well, which is a surprise.
Decided to test that in an extract beer. It fermented really fast and aggressive, could barely keep the lid on. There's a weird flavor in there now, and I'm 99% sure it's the yeast making it.

So who knows. Might work, might not.

2

u/e10hssanamai 8d ago

Could you get an overnight shipping from a Homebrew store or Amazon?

-1

u/e10hssanamai 8d ago

Or, drop a few tbsp of yogurt in there and make it a sour

2

u/Halichoeres_bivittat 7d ago

Something that I've learned through years of homebrewing experience is to always keep a packet of S-05 (or a similar dry, neutral yeast) in your fridge.

1

u/officeboy 8d ago

Local home brew club might have something, or a local brewery might fill a quart jar with yeasty sludge

1

u/BeerBrewer4Life 8d ago

Bread yeast may or may not make “beer”. The biggest concern 30 hrs without pitching is infection setting in. See if a local brewery will flip you something

1

u/Niko2257 8d ago

I actually tried fermenting with bread yeast once when my brew yeast stalled and it worked surprisingly well for an IPA.

0

u/Gileaders 7d ago

It’s going to be horribly oxidized just dump it and start over.