Vegemite

[Canardly]

I trust that due to our Antipodean cousin's having to consider the removal of Vegemite from sale, in some areas, as it is being used for illicit alcohol production, this will not impact on Marmite being used for display purposes in this parish?

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I thought you were going to ask how to produce alcohol from it.

Anyone know?

[frankly frankie]

Squeeze it 'till it drips?   

[mcshroom]

I'd guess mix it up with warm, sugary water and leave it for a while to ferment using the vegimite yeast

[Kim]

Shouldn't this thread be in Phototalk? 

[hellymedic]

I should imagine it's used just like yeast in a mash or wort.
I am no brewer though.
I don't know why they don't KILL THE YEAST DEDD with heat, rather than cutting off the supply.

[Kim]

I don't know why they don't KILL THE YEAST DEDD with heat, rather than cutting off the supply.

It might improve the taste?

[Salvatore]

Many years ago (August 1984) I met a construction worker who had just come back from North Africa, specifically from a country where the sale and/or consumption of alcohol was frowned upon. Very severely frowned upon, in fact. He said that sales of Marmite were huge among the expat community, not because they ate lots of toast, but because it was used for the illicit production of hooch. I wasn't sure whether I believed him, but it seems there might have been some substance to his tale.

[ian]

Well, surely you can make booze by letting anything ferment? I'm somewhat surprised (as in I don't believe it) that there's live yeast left in Vegemite. Bread yeast is readily available and as any lover of the lambics knows, anything sugary enough will ferment pretty much spontaneously and has to taste better than anything based on Vegemite.

[Tim Hall]

I thought you were going to ask how to produce alcohol from it.

Anyone know?

I'd say you can't.  Here's one explanation why not.

[Marco Stefano]

Likely to be a nutrient source only. At uni I did some work on mutant yeasts; my supervisor had many tubs of microbiological media on his office shelves from the usual suppliers like Merck, Difco & Oxoid - plus a large jar of Marmite. 

Certainly cheaper than yeast extract agar, but possibly not as carefully controlled in production. I never found out (possibly fortuitously) what it smelt like autoclaved...