Brewers Yeast

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Countryboy
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Brewers Yeast

Unread post by Countryboy »

Yesterday, August 5th, was National Mead Day.

A few weeks ago, I was approached at a farmers market by a local meadery about coming to the meadery and bringing my observation hive and selling honey.

They were giving people tours of the place, and they mentioned that they were just throwing away the old yeast. They said they usually have about 20 gallons of the liquid yeast sludge at the bottom of every 500 gallon batch. I mentioned that beekeepers would use yeast in patties because of the high protein content. They offered to let me have the yeast if I wanted it.

Is this worthwhile? I tried doing some searches but answers were vague. It sounded like I needed to deactivate the yeast by heating it to 120 or 140 degrees. After that it could be used to make pollen patties.

Do you just pour the slurry through cheesecloth to filter out the yeast sludge? Or just cook all the water and alcohol out of it and deactivate it all at once?

Does anyone have any experience with the yeast sludge from the bottom of a brewery tank to make patties?
B. Farmer Honey
Central Ohio
Allen Dick
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Re: Brewers Yeast

Unread post by Allen Dick »

I suspect there may be more than just yeast in that sludge so that would be worth investigating first off. I'm not sure (meaning I don't know) how commercial brewer's yeast is produced.

My understanding is that the brewer's yeast that we use in beekeeping is somehow purified and dried. I also know that some of the brewer's yeast for sale in animal feed stores and health food stores and places like that contains some of the brewing feedstock like corn remnants and is unsuitable for bees.

Sorry I can't help you further, but I do recall the one method of drying was called spray drying and involved spraying the sludge through nozzles into a high temperature chamber and it was the favorite type of brewer's yeast at the time but the process was discontinued and the brewer's yeast we use now is from beer making.

Each batch purchased by Global Patties is accompanied by a certificate of Purity and also a bacteriological report as I recall.

I would be very careful about feeding anything to the bees that I was not absolutely certain about.

I recall one time many years ago a candy factory was selling off powdered sugar that was used to roll candies. It contained bits of candy and who knows what and beekeepers used it. Also their vats needed cleaning out at the end of the year and corn syrup was available for free. We used it and I really don't know if it did any good or any harm because it is so very hard to tell with things like that. Unless you have something to compare it to, there's no way of knowing.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
51° 33'39.64"N 113°18'52.45"W
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/Allen%27s%20Beehives.kmz
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Countryboy
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Re: Brewers Yeast

Unread post by Countryboy »

I suspect there may be more than just yeast in that sludge so that would be worth investigating first off. I'm not sure (meaning I don't know) how commercial brewer's yeast is produced.

My understanding is that the brewer's yeast that we use in beekeeping is somehow purified and dried. I also know that some of the brewer's yeast for sale in animal feed stores and health food stores and places like that contains some of the brewing feedstock like corn remnants and is unsuitable for bees.
The fermentation tank contains water, honey, and yeast. When it is done fermenting, the mead is drained off, leaving the yeast sludge.

From what I have been able to find, you need to deactivate the yeast by heating it up (or boiling it) and then rinsing the yeast to get the alcohol and mead residue off it. Then I believe it is suitable for use.

There is no corn remnants used in making mead. A whiskey distillery would probably have some corn mash mixed in though.
B. Farmer Honey
Central Ohio
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