On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 11:01:24 +0100, "Mike Lyle" wrote:
What _was_ the point of the toast-floating method? It always struck
me as absurd.

Hmm, good point, I dont know, but I'm thinking,,,

bakers yeast is not as brewing-friendly as the yeasts that we have
access to these days.
Perhaps it would otherwise just drop to the bottom too quickly and sit
there, thus the only active bit would be the top layer with little in
suspension in the wine ?
Yeast needs air to multiply and bulk up, perhaps it was a method of
geting it moist but in good contact with the air to get it working
well ?

The other question is : why was bakers yeast used anyway ?
I know it was readily available in the corner shop, and not everyone
had a friend in a brewery. But brewers yeast could have been passed
round just like the ginger-beer plants (remember those ! ) and the
bees-yeast cultures.

I'm still thinking ,,,,