Red Star Red Star Premier Blanc Champagne Yeast (Pack of 10)

I received this about a week ago, September 3rd I believe. Today is September 10th. I paid the extra $1 (normal shipping was free) to have it arrive in half the time, so far it appears to have been worth it. I have taken a curiosity in wine-making and figured it can't hurt to try as it's very inexpensive. With these packets and local ingredients, it costs me about $6 a gallon, which is about 3.8 Litres. Going with a name brand would cost me about $30 to $60 for the same amount of alcohol. I'm making grape wine and apple cider. I've had it fermenting for about 3 days now and they're both still bubbling. I'm using a balloon with holes to let the gases escape. I have smaller holes than intended for the grape wine, as such I can smell more of the apple cider than the wine. The cider smells really, really good. I took normal apple juice from a store (only had vitamin c and concentrate, I believe) and added the sugar & yeast. So far it's working pretty well. I have yet to get a hydrometer so I can know my alcohol percentage. I hear though that, depending on what you're making, adding 1 cup of sugar to a gallon will give about 6 to 9% alcohol. I used almost 1 and 1/2 cups, so mine may be around 9 to 12% I'm guessing. Right now, my cider smells like champagne. Normally I hear about homebrewed alcohol being disgusting. I thought $6 a gallon might not be too bad, but so far it's smelling better than I expected. I will update when it stops fermenting and I get to do a taste test. Edit 9/10/2013 It's been about 12 hours (more or less) since I wrote my review above. My brew has been going on for about 3 or 4 days now and I decided to just do a taste test anyhow. They taste WAY better than I thought. I thought it wasn't going to taste good, but I was surprised. Even though I am not much of a wine or champagne drinker (my cider tastes more like apple champagne I think), the taste seems just as good as the stuff you see on a shelf in the supermarket. I probably have about another 3 to 5 days I'm guessing before it's ready. Instructions I've found states it can take one to two weeks, it's almost one week. Edit 11/02/2013 I have made a 3rd attempt at making some wine after my first two batches failed by my mistake. I left the jug brewing in my closet and almost forgot about it. I believe it's been sitting (fermenting) for about 5 weeks. This time I used up to half of a packet and 2 cups of sugar, it's still bubbling. I tried a little bit, thinking it would taste horrible. That was not the case, as it tastes pretty great.

This is some very active yeast. I set out to get the highest alcohol yield. Possible. "Why" is not important. Ahem... I used a kilo of sugar per gallon of water all totaling 6 gallons. I added the yeast and some nutrient and let it sit in my closet for about 2 weeks and then decided to try it. It wasn't bad. I'd used molasses so it was Pretty sweet. I live out in the country and don't make it to the store more than once every week or two so the sudden Infusion of liquor was appreciated. I just didn't count on it actually being liquor. Long story short I learned that this yeast is for wine and spirits for a good reason. The sugar that was left behind masked what turned put to be about 20 percent alcohol. So doing some very simple math here.... that 6 gallon container at 20 percent distills down to 3 gallons of vodka. I figured this all out when I woke up in my chair the next morning with a splitting headache. So! Great for making moonshine or your run of the mill undistilled sugar/fruit wine. Don't expect too much in terms of flavor as it's pretty dry. I think I will use this next time I make mead.

I have ordered this yeast twice and it works great. With my first batch I did not take any special precautions to store the yeast - just left the packets at room temperature and they remained viable over the year or so that it took me to use them all. As far as I could detect, the last packet of yeast was as good as the first. I use them to ferment various fruits and vegetables into alcohol which I then convert to vinegar. My latest project is a black garlic vinegar which I started with this yeast about 5 days ago and it is still fizzing like a freshly opened bottle of Coke. I can’t comment on the flavor other than to note that the champagne yeast has not produced any unpleasant or off-putting flavors in my vinegars. I am sure there is a distinct flavor, but since I have not used any other yeasts for my vinegar I can’t differentiate or identify the flavor impact. I do not use enough of this yeast to purchase more cost effective bulk quantities and so I assume I am probably not getting a bargain price, but the long term storability of the individual packets makes them worth the price to me.

I've been making honey mead for several years, and this is the brand of yeast I like best. It does a great job fermenting, without going crazy and foaming out of the container. I use a 1-gallon wine bottle and and an air lock, and in about a month I've got the starts to some great mead. Bread yeast doesn't work as well, and some other brands of wine or champagne yeast don't tolerate the alcohol content as well. I store the extra packets in the freezer and they're fresh and ready when I start a new batch.

I've used it for apple cider many times and it always performs well. Give a nice crisp, dry finish. But be careful, if you wait too long, it gets very dry.

I use this to make the kind of wine that will keep a fellow warm while sleeping under a bridge. ("Proper service" requires a brown paper bag) It will fire off and ferment even juice loaded with preservatives if you use enough ; e.g. I use 1/2 packet to turn a gallon jug of Hawaiian Punch into a poor-man's Merlot. It will eat up every bit of sugar and turn it into alcohol, so thieve a bit of your wine every now and them as it is fermenting to make sure there is still enough sugar in it to keep going. This yeast does NOT die off - if kept well fed with sugar - until the juice is well over 20% alcohol! CAUTION: Do NOT cough or sneeze at same time you are laughing when drinking something fully fermented with this yeast, or you will require clean undies. UPDATE October 2015: Works MUCH better with Kool-Aid than Hawaiian Punch, not near as many preservatives in the mix-with-sugar Kool-Aid packets. Stay away from any of the BLUE colored Kool-Aid mixes, eg: "The Great Bleudini" flavor. Just trust me on that. GREAT, STRONG YEASTIE BEASTIES. Home-made MD 20/20, don't even THINK of driving a car after a glass of it. "Wheee!!!"

Take any good 100% juice that is preservative free or organic and make it better in a week or two. Recommended candidates are Apple, Grape both red and white, Cherry, Peach, Raspberry You get the idea. The nice thing is the juice comes with a the secondary fermenter. Store extra yeast packets in the freezer. Let them slowly come to room temperature before use. Its Easy. You will need A packet of magic juice enhancer - Red Star Champagne Yeast 2 Quart bottle of 100% juice that is preservative free or organic. A primary fermenter I use a cleaned and sanitized 1 gallon milk or water jug. Using the larger container minimizes the chances of a blow off mess. Its disposable so no need to clean after use. A drilled rubber stopper or bung that fits the jug A three peace air lock A Secondary fermenter. The rinsed and saved bottle the juice came in sanitize before reusing. A drilled rubber stopper or bung that fits the juice bottle The same air lock. A length of clear 3/8" vinyl tubing A dark place. Patients. 1. Rehydrate yeast. See packet instructions - 1/2 cup warm water. Watch for a few little bubbles to form. 2. pour juice in to the cleaned and sanitized 1 gallon jug airrating as you go Only at the beginning introducing oxygen is a good thing from now on should be avoided. 3. pitch yeast - pour it in the juice gently shake to mix. 4. plug the jog with the cleaned and sanitized bung and filled airlock. You can use water in the air lock but I prefer to use vodka as it prevents growth of unwanted little beasties. If the air pressure changes or when the jug is moved some gets sucked in to the jug using vodka will help to prevalent an infection of undesirable little beasties ruining your fun. 5. put in a dark place. 6. After a several hours or the next day check the airlock for bubbles and foam in the jug. Do not open or remove the bung or air lock to look inside. 7. wait a week or two. 8. siphon with the cleaned and sanitized tubing to the cleaned and sanitized secondary fermenter. The bottle the juice came in. Don't suck on the tube. Fill the tube with clean water. Pinch the tube closed a few inches from the outlet end. Insert the other end into the juice holding the other end lower let the water drain out in to a pot or other container. As soon juice starts to flow out pinch to stop the flow put the end in the juice bottle and let the juice flow holding both ends of the tube just below the surface. you want to minimize airration and leave any solids that may have settled out on the bottom or be floating on top from being transferred. 9. Taste!! Yum?! You could drink it now but. 10. plug with the stopper and refilled airlock. 11. put back in a dark place. 12. Wait a week or Two more. 13. chill 14. drink 15. Enjoy This was fun and easy so do it again. To carbonate. By now the little yeasties have used up all the sugars and need some more sugar to eat. Make a small wort/syrup by heating about 1/4 a cup of water to at least 165 degrees but not boiling ad 2 to 3 Tbsp's of sugar stir until thoroughly dissolved. Cover and cool to room temperature. Then fill a cleaned and sanitized 2 liter soda bottle with the syrup and juice and tightly cap. Gently shake to mix. Place upright in a dark place until rock hard about 2 to 3 days. place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to quickly chill and send the yeasties to sleep. Move to the refrigerator to completely chill up right letting the yeasties settle out. Enjoy!! Hey, you just made wine!!!!!!!! This is a basic walk through of the steps. Experiment and see what works for you. The addition of yeast nutrient and yeast energizer can improve the process. Adding extra sugar can also boost alcohol levels. The most important thing is sanitation. I use Five Star Star-San, PBW and 1-step. IMPORTANT Read the instructions! Bleach and soap can leave a residue.

I've only been making wines and ciders for about two years but this is my go to wine yeast. I've used Lalvin EC-1118 and the fermentation was fast, strong, and thorough but I also got tons of fusels that I don't get with this Red Star under the same conditions. I've used it mainly for ciders and apfelweins but I've experimented with cherry, strawberry, cranberry, and other fruit juices to wonderful results. I've even used it for coffee wine and the result was marvelous. However, while this is my go to yeast for wine, I have taken to Safale S04 for ciders. This one will get me something strong and decent tasting quickly but Safale leaves this really nice and complementary tart, fruitiness that is stripped away with both champagne yeasts I've used. It's great for apfelwein, especially one that has time to mature in the bottle, but I only occasionally go for a cider with this these days. For everything else, though, this is it.

This is the best yeast I’ve used so far but the only concern this time by the seller is they sent me packets which are nearing expiry in less than 2 months. Red Star yeast have a shelf life of 2 years.

Llegóa nates d elo esperado. No he tenido la oportunidad de usarlo aún.

Superb yeast for grape wine. First cut open the pack and leave for five minutes so that sleeping yeast can breath oxygen. Then sprinkle the yeast on lukewarm sterile water in a plastic bowl where glucose D powder is added. After 5 minutes slowly mix using plastic spoon. Waite for 20 minutes. If you don't see the fermentation activity add pinch of diammonium phosphate , zinc , magnesium or multi vitamin tablet. After 10 minutes add to the grape must or juice.

Very good yeast for making Grape wine and all types of fruit wine, I made Grape wine, ginger beer, banana wine from this yeast. I have an excellent results for 5 litres.

received on time, pack of 10 with an expiry date 01 2023