SC - Beer yeast for bread

[Decker, Terry D.]

I've estimated that you need about 1 oz. of fresh ale barm to leaven 2 lbs.
of flour and I would expect it to take 12 to 24 hours to rise.  The leas,
having a lot of dormant yeast, aren't as active as fresh barm and need time
to grow, which is why it took a couple of days for Charles Ragnar to produce
bread.  If you want the yeast to work faster, you probably need to cultivate
it.

If you want to try cultivate the yeast, sterilize a quart cannning jar, lid,
and a large metal spoon, dissolve a couple of tablespoons of barley malt
into two cups of boiling water, empty the canning jar, put the spoon into it
(to dissipate heat) and pour in the boiling water, remove the spoon and
cover the jar loosely with the sterile lid.  Allow to cool below 100 degrees
F.  The idea is to kill off the molds and bacteria which can make your barm
unusable.

Wash off the neck of your beer bottle with hot water.  Open the bottle and
decant your drink, leaving an ounce or so in the bottle.  Swirl it around to
stir up the leas, and decant the leas into the solution in your canning jar.
Loosely cover the jar.  Agitate it mildly every few hours.  Give it a few
days.  Then agitate and decant and ounce or two as needed.  At this point
the barm can be stored in the refrigerator  for several weeks to months.

If the barm is cold,  agitate it and decant what you need, then allow the
decanted solution to come to room temperature before mixing it into your
bread making liquor.

The process is not as simple as using the leas and there is the problem of
infection.  I've lost my last two barm experiments to mold.  Must be El
Nino.

BTW, Your idea of using half a bottle as starter for beer bread is a good
one.  Active yeast should be in suspension in the liquid as well as in the
leas.  I hadn't thought about using Hefeweiss (I believe that's what you
have) as a bread starter, but it would be an interesting experiment.

Bear
 
> Over the weekend, my husband bought a version of Red Hook 
> beer with a German name I don't recall at the moment (hefe something?).  
> It has active yeast in it and I thought all weekend of how to turn it 
> into yeast for bread.  
> 
> Anne
> 
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