🍷 Yeast
Microscopic fungi that turn sugar into alcohol and gas.
Yeasts are microscopic fungi that turn sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Without them there would be no wine: it is yeast that makes wine from grape juice. The main species is Saccharomyces cerevisiae; this species is also grown industrially for baking and brewing.
The food for yeast is the glucose and fructose of grapes. Yeast takes in the sugar and releases alcohol and gas. Scientists generally accepted that yeasts cause alcoholic fermentation only in the 19th century. In winemaking there are wild yeasts, which come from the skins of the berries and from the winery, and selected yeasts, added by the winemaker. Sometimes fermentation slows down or stops too early, and then sugar stays in the wine.
Some yeasts are harmful: Brettanomyces, for example, gives wine medicinal or barnyard smells. Flor, a film of yeast, is needed for sherry. Yeasts work not only in wine. In kumis and kefir they work together with bacteria, which is why these milk drinks can contain a little alcohol. Shubat, a fermented camel milk from Kazakhstan, belongs to the same family of fermented milks.
How it connects to Wine
🍷 Yeast ← works with ← 🍷 Alcoholic fermentation → gives → 🍷 Wine
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- 🥃 Single Malt Scotch Whisky
- What is made from it
- 🥃 Baijiu, 🥃 Aquavit, 🥃 Dongxiang baijiu, 🥃 Chixiang baijiu, 🥃 Fuyuxiang baijiu, 🥃 Fengxiang, 🥃 Jianxiang, 🥃 Mixiang, 🥃 Nongxiang, 🥃 Qingxiang, 🥃 Texiang, 🥃 Zhimaxiang
- Who works with it
- 🍷 Alcoholic fermentation
- What protects
- 🍷 Stuck fermentation
- Part of
- 🍷 Fermentation
- Wine and milk
- 🍶 Kumis, 🥛 Kefir, 🍶 Shubat
Frequently asked questions
What is yeast?
A microscopic fungus that turns sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
What kinds of yeast are there in winemaking?
Wild yeasts from the berries and the winery, and selected yeasts added by the winemaker.
What happens if yeast stops working?
Fermentation stops and some sugar stays in the wine.
What to read next
- 🥃 Baijiu — Baijiu is a Chinese grain spirit made with qu starter: solid-state fermentation, over 12 aroma types; strong aroma (nongxiang) is about 70% of output.
- 🍶 Kumis — A fermented drink made from mare's milk.
- 🥃 Barley and malt in whisky — Malted barley is the base of whisky: malt enzymes convert starch in the mash, and EU whisky is distilled below 94.8% vol. 'Single malt' means malted barley and one distillery.
- 🥃 Whisky — Whisky is a grain spirit: under EU rules it is aged at least three years in oak casks and bottled at 40% ABV (80 proof in the US) or more. Scotch, Irish, bourbon.
- 🥃 Scotch Whisky — Scotch whisky is whisky distilled and matured in Scotland from water and malted barley (plus whole grains of other cereals), at least 3 years in oak, bottled at 40% ABV (80 proof) or more. EU-protected since 1989.
Similar
What it includes
Sources
- Wikidata Q45422
- Gonzalez R., Morales P. Truth in wine yeast. Microbial Biotechnology, 2022 (PMC)
- Genome Survey Sequencing of the Wine Spoilage Yeast Dekkera (Brettanomyces) bruxellensis (PMC)
- FAO. Milk and dairy products in human nutrition, 2013 (kefir, kumys, shubat)
- Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII Part II: wine and sparkling wine (alcoholic fermentation, carbon dioxide from fermentation)