Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsInconsistent results
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2019
I am not a fermentation expert and understand that many factors influence yeast activity. I've used this one for two batches, both a sugar wash. In one case I inverted the sugar prior to pitching the yeast, and that batch started fast and is going like gangbusters (air lock burps about once a second). In the other case, the temperature, nutrients, and initial sugar concentration were the same but I didn't invert the sugar. That one is bubbling at less than 1/10 the rate and worried it will never go to completion.
In both cases, foam production is negligible, which is nice. The yeast seems to generate fine bubbles, which I guess would be expected for a champagne yeast. I am not pushing the envelope for alcohol percentage -- I expect to get about 12% from my "good" batch -- so I can't comment on how well it does in that respect.
Based on my experience, I would advise others using a sugar wash with this yeast to do an inversion. It's easy and described in many on-line sources. But I realize that this might not be the reason for the difference and would be interested to hear what others think.
