Brewing with Saccharomyces boulardii

At this point, I have made many one gallon batches of beer, cider and mead using S.Boulardii as my yeast. Cider is by far the easiest. Simply empty a capsule of Florastor or Boulardii Max into a jug of preservative free pure apple juice then stick on your air-lock. If you really want to be cheap and not get a bubbler, you can just put some aluminum foil over the top and crush it onto the threads so it stays covered but not sealed.

The best tasting results from my experience have been in brewing a West Coast style brut IPA. It's all I brew now. Mostly pale malt with a bit of wheat, dry hopped with a variety of aromatic hops imparting flavours of citrus and other fruit. It is normal for beers of this type to be finished and served unfiltered, which goes well with the goal of consuming this as a probiotic beverage.

I believe hefeweizen style would also be a good choice for this yeast. Though, I have not tried this yet. Some have said my IPA reminds them of to Shock Top.

I have some experience brewing with s. boulardii. I started by making a mead with it, one gallon at a time. I found fermentation was starting very slowly at first and I was concerned that contaminent microbes were taking dominance. It turns out my city water needs to be boiled for at-least half an hour to eliminate the chloramines enough for brewing. Having done that, the yeast is consistently brewing 12 hours after pitching. I pasteurize the honey by pouring gently into the water as it cools after boiling without mixing. The density and viscosity of the honey prevents it from diffusing to the top and you get to keep the aromatic flavours. I use 750g of honey for a gallon. The result is a ~8% ABV beverage with a flavour similar to cider but without the acidic tartness.

When trying to brew an all-grain blond ale with this yeast, I find it usually coming out tasting like a white beer and also having the same cloudiness. Would probably be a good choice for that style. Since it is my intention consume this as a probiotic beverage, I am happy with the cloudiness, as it assures me the live yeast is present in my glass. It seems it needs a few weeks to age out the aroma. Before that, the hops gives off a bit of a smell that is not what I'd call "floral".

I have ordered some Saccharomyces boulardii and plan to do a test brew this weekend. Going to do 5l/1gallon brew with only pale malt ~1040 OG. Will add a small amount of Perle or saaz depending what is in the freezer.

I will report back in a week or 2, with the recipe and results.

Reporting back... [21 Mar 2016]

Apologies it has been a while, I got it going eventually, and I am not convinced that it fermented to completion, sorry took no readings; I will pop a bottle and take some gravity readings. I have bottled it up and tried some yesterday. It was not hideous, there was a faint sulphur tinge to it, but it tasted OK. I would not say great.

I did not get Banana esters off it, but my kitchen has not been that warm ~ 18C.

It was very cloudy and had not dropped out as I am assuming that s.boulardii has not been selected for this trait. Also, I am not totally convinced it had finished fermenting; it seemed pretty slow.

I'll stick a couple of the bottles in the fridge and see if it drops clear or not.

If I was doing this again what would I change...

• I used about 10 capsules in the starter, I would up this closer to 40;
• OR I would collect the flocculated sediment and reuse this, thereby selecting for flocculation;
• I would probably mix it with some ale yeast, to ensure completion in a faster timeframe;

Await further updates....

[06 Apr 2016]

It is refusing to drop clear, the flavour is not the most appealing in the world. Sightly harsh and astringent.