On Apr 2, 12:26*pm, Tim > wrote:
> I saw a remark on the net that said active dry yeast leads to more
> alcohol content, but has a yeasty taste, while brewers yeast doesn't
> have the content, but doesn't have the aftertaste either.
> Any truth to those comments?
>
> Tim

Some yeast will tend to leave a bit more "yeasty taste" than others.
Bread yeast will tend to do this. Generally, this fades over time

But the implication that some yeast "leads to more alcohol content" is
wrong. Yeast digest sugars into alcohol and CO2. A given amount of
sugar will be digested into roughly 55% alcohol (by weight, I
believe). So 20 lbs of sugar will yield about 11 lbs alcohol when
fully fermented. I don't believe there is any significant variation
in this between different yeast varieties.

It is true that some yeast have a higher tolerance for alcohol than
others. Beer or bread yeast may essentially be paralyzed when the
alcohol concentration reaches 6% to 8% alcohol. Wine yeast can
normally tolerate at least 12% to 14% alcohol, and the hardier
varieties (with a little help) will get to 18% or so.

So if you use a low alcohol tolerant yeast, you may have trouble
getting all the sugars converted to alcohol. But the potential
alcohol depends only on the amount of sugars, not on the yeast used.

Doug