r/Homebrewing • u/officer_boat • Sep 04 '26
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?
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u/craftabrew Sep 04 '26
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.
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u/firerat82 Sep 04 '26
How did your yeast die?
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u/officer_boat Sep 04 '26
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.
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u/fux-reddit4603 Sep 04 '26
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
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u/chino_brews Sep 04 '26
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.
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u/lifeinrednblack Pro Sep 05 '26
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
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u/CasualAction Sep 04 '26
Could the yeast just be starting slow? What strain and how old is it?
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u/officer_boat Sep 04 '26
Wyeast 3068, purchased about a week ago.
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u/fux-reddit4603 Sep 04 '26
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
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u/officer_boat Sep 04 '26
It’s been in there 24 hrs with no air lock bubbles or foam head
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u/fux-reddit4603 Sep 04 '26
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
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u/Porterhaus Sep 04 '26
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.
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u/dyqik Sep 04 '26
Keep them in the back of the freezer, not the pantry, and they'll be good for 5 years or so.
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u/officer_boat Sep 05 '26
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.
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u/gmdfunk Sep 04 '26
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?
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u/BattledroidE Sep 04 '26
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.
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u/Halichoeres_bivittat Sep 05 '26
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.
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u/officeboy Sep 04 '26
Local home brew club might have something, or a local brewery might fill a quart jar with yeasty sludge
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u/BeerBrewer4Life Sep 04 '26
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
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u/Niko2257 Sep 04 '26
I actually tried fermenting with bread yeast once when my brew yeast stalled and it worked surprisingly well for an IPA.
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u/officer_boat Sep 05 '26
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!