hi, my folks are making some chokecherry wine, their second year doing
so. against my advise they pitched fleischmanns bread yeast before i
could arrive with the wine yeast. so, i rehydrated two packets of
cotes de blanc red star and pitched a packet into each batch. can
anyone predict what effect this will have? I am hoping that at the
very least it will help with floculation and complete fermentation.
they have about 3 or 3.5 pounds of sugar per gallon of water. oh,
also, they pitched the yeast approximately in one batch on the 21st and
the other on the 25th. thanks for any help.
patrick

Hi Patrick

Can anyone predict what effect this will have? No.
Many wine yeasts have a killer factor that exceeds that of most wild
yeasts (and presumably also bread yeast) - hence it is likely the wine
yeast will out-compete the bread yeast and things will by hunkydory. My
knowledge lies more with chemistry than microbiology however I would
have thought that if the wine yeast didn't manage to gain the upper
hand it would be wiped out and the effect would be the same as if you
didn't add it at all (you could possibly add it later then when and if
the bread yeast dies out). I would doubt that both yeasts could
co-exist.

Either way though I think you pitching the wine yeast was a good move.

If anyone can correct me on this it would be appreciated,

Good luck!

Michael