How to Activate Bread Yeast for Making Wine at Home

Experiment when you make your next batch of wine by using bread yeast.

You need grapes, sugar, water, yeast and a fermenting container to make wine. Wine is made by crushing fruit, adding sugar water and yeast, and allowing the mixture to ferment. You can experiment with different fruits to change your wine's flavor, but the easiest recipe swap to make involves yeast. Instead of working with wine yeast, try incorporating bread yeast into your wine batch. Most brewers say it imparts a bitter taste, but you might think otherwise. The most important aspect of working with bread yeast is activating it before adding it to your wine.

Things You'll Need

• Saucepan
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. bread yeast
• Kitchen thermometer

Instructions

1. Pour 1 cup water in a saucepan, and place it on a burner set to medium heat. If you are making 5 gallons of wine, you will need 5 cups water.

2. Dissolve 2 tbsp. sugar in the water. The sugar will serve as food for the yeast when it is added. The Joy of Baking says, "the yeast will break it down into its simpler form."

3. Add 1 tsp. bread yeast to the sugar water when it reaches 104 to 109 degrees F, and then turn the burner off.

4. Rest the mixture until it foams (approximately 10 minutes), and then stir it to suspend the yeast. The suspended yeast will settle at the bottom of the mixture.

5. Add the yeast mixture to the unfermented fruit juice, and stir well. Proceed with your wine recipe.

Tips & Warnings

• If the water is too hot, the yeast will die, too cold and it won't ferment correctly.

References

• Chest of Books: The Making of the Wine--The Must Itself
• Quality Wine and Ale Supply: Wine Making Recipes
• How to Make Wine in No Time
• Brew Supplies: 1 Gallon Recipes

Resources

• Cooks: Grape Wine
• Joy of Baking: Yeast