What Kind If Yeast For Moonshine?

Types of Yeast to Use in Moonshine – This type of yeast is usually packaged so that one packet is used for 5 gallons of mash. Unless otherwise written on the directions, use one package for 5 gallons of mash. If you are using distillers yeast it is important to first refer to the directions on the package.

What is the best kind of yeast for moonshine?

Turbo Yeast Varieties – Take a look at the below list to get a general idea of the differences and similarities of available distilling yeasts, the best yeast for alcohol distilling and the best yeast for moonshine:

1. 24-Hour Turbo Yeast will make 14% Alcohol by Volume in 1 day, and up to 20% in 5. This yeast has extra yeast nutrients to help the fermentation process happen quickly. Excellent yeast for moonshine sugar wash.
2. 48-Hour Turbo Yeast will make 14% Alcohol by Volume in 2 days, and up to 20% in 5. This yeast is an excellent yeast for simple sugar wash fermentations.
3. Vodka Turbo Yeast has a low congener profile and a great sugar-to-ethanol conversion rate, making it the best yeast for vodka, high purity neutral spirits or moonshine alcohol.
4. Rum Turbo Yeast uses a special profile designed to bring an aromatic and pleasant taste to your spirit, which is great for something like Rum designed to be sweet. Excellent rum yeast to be used with molasses. This is the best yeast for rum.
5. Whiskey Turbo Yeast uses a profile designed to work well with malted barley and grains for maximum yield. This yeast works great for single malt whiskey, bourbon, and even corn liquor.
6. Classic 8 Turbo Yeast requires more sugar and water per wash in order to produce a full 20% ABV wash in rapid time. By far one of my favorites and one of our sellers.
7. Heat Wave Turbo Yeast is perfect when fermenting in areas where fermentation temperatures are hotter than normal. Designed to work in temperatures above the 80 Degrees F recommended for other yeasts.
8. Pure Pot Still Turbo Yeast includes pectic enzyme packet inside which will work very well with fruits, making this yeast perfect for brandies, grappas, and ciders. Pectic enzyme helps with speeding up the extraction of fruit sugars in the fermentation process.
9. Triple Distilled Turbo Yeast is designed to produce an ultra-clean fermentation process.
10. Express Turbo Yeast is the fastest yeast available, giving you a sugar wash ready to ferment in one day with estimated ABV ( alcohol by volume ) of up to 14%. You can wait longer estimated 5 days and get up to 18%

What kind of yeast is used for alcohol?

Role of Yeast in Production of Alcoholic Beverages Introduction Although there is a distinction between beer, wine and liquor as well as other lesser known alcoholic beverages, they share one thing in common. They are the fermentation products of yeasts, mostly Saccharomyces cerevisiae or in the case of beers, usually S.

1. Carlsburgiensis,
2. Yeasts, as you recall, are not mycelial.
3. They are unicellular fungi that reproduce asexually by budding or fission.
4. The reaction by which alcoholic beverages are produced is generally referred to as fermentation and may be summarized as: Yeast + Glucose Alcohol (Ethanol) + CO2 This reaction is also important in baking bread, but the desired product is then the carbon dioxide rather than alcohol.

The production of alcohol occurs best in the absence of oxygen. However, from the yeast’s point of view, alcohol and carbon dioxide are waste products, and as the yeast continues to grow and metabolize in the sugar solution, the accumulation of alcohol will become toxic when it reaches a concentration between 14-18%, thereby killing the yeast cells.

This is the reason why the percentage of alcohol in wine and beer can only be approximately 16%. In order to produce beverages (liquor) with higher concentrations of alcohol, the fermented products must be distilled. What’s the Difference Between Beer and Wine? Generally, beverages derived from fermented fruit juice is wine.

However, commercially speaking, “wine” is fermented grape juice from Vitis vinifera, Other wines are specifically referred to by the name of the fruit of the juices from which they are fermented. For example, elderberry wine, peach wine, etc. Beer on the other hand is usually derived from fermentation of malt derived from the digestion of germinated barley grains, in western cultures, but other grains may be utilized in other cultures.

There is also a difference between processes by which wines and beers are fermented. There is a perception, perhaps just my own, as to the people that drink beer and the ones that drink wine. Beer drinkers seem to be “blue-collar.” When you get together with friends after you played a softball game or touch football game, there is usually lots of beer.

When you go to professional baseball and football games, beer is the beverage most often purchased, not wine. Wine, on the other hand, is a beverage consumed in expensive restaurants, at formal dinners, social affairs, etc. People that drink only wine seem to be the “white-collar people.

• However, if we compare beer and wine making processes, you might have just the opposite impression.
• Beer making is almost a science.
• Compared to wine making, it is rather complex and there’s a purpose for everything that is done in making beer and the beer makers know just about everything that goes into beer.

Wine making, on the other hand, is relatively simple. It’s truly a natural drink and its origin probably preceded beer making. Anyone can do it. The yeast responsible for fermenting the sugars in the fruits are usually present in the grape skins, and fermentation will occur whenever there is a break in the skin (take a deep breath the next time you go hiking and pass a bunch of guava fruits that have fallen to the ground).

• So when human production of wine began, it involved collecting fruits, crushing them and allowing them to ferment, a much simpler process than making beer.
• History of Beer Making The making of beer has become a popular hobby and many people now brew beer in their homes.
• The necessary ingredients and a recipe for beer making, as well as a variety of beer recipes, can be found in the following page,

Note, the link for the beer recipe is “framed” so you must click on the links within to go to the general beer making recipe and the beer recipes, respectively. In addition, knowing the modern process of beer making will help you appreciate how beer making has evolved in the many thousands of years since its origin.

Some historians believed that beer may have existed before the dawn of civilization while the human species was still made up of numerous nomadic tribes. However, most believed that it came about early in various civilizations. The manufacturing of beer is more complex than wine and it has been mastered by many cultures in different ways.

The ancient Mesopotamians and Sumerians were brewing as early as 10,000 BC. However, clay tablets, with a recipe for beer, from approximately the year 6,000 B.C., in Babylonia, is the first documented evidence of beer making. This recipe utilized underbaked bread made from germinated barley.

Being underbaked, the bread serves as a live yeast culture and when the bread was cut into small pieces and placed in a large jug with water, malt would be produced. The preinoculated malt when left out will ferment to give you beer. Although crude, the “common” people considered this beverage ready to drink.

However, someone with “breeding” would usually filter this mixture before drinking. Dates, herbs and honey were sometimes added for flavoring. Note that early beer did not include hops in their recipe, which would not be included until centuries later.

• Although the recipes for their beer was also far different than todays bottled varieties, it is still recognizable as beer.
• In ancient China rice was used to make a rice beer and in pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, corn was used instead of barley and, without knowing it, added their own enzyme to break down the starch by first chewing the corn before placing it in the fermentation tank.

The saliva from their mouths served as the enzyme in the process of starch conversion to sugar and gave their beer its improved and distinct flavor. In rural areas of Russia, kvass was made by adding pieces of stale, black bread to malt, flour, sugar and water, and allowing this mixture to ferment.

• This resulted in a concoction that was only 1-2% alcohol, but the Russians have maintained production of kvass for several hundred years.
• It is interesting to note that historically, beer production, in many cultures, was considered to be woman’s work, along with the production of other edible product such as butter and cheese.

In fact, the origin of beer in many cultures is attributed to women. The Babylonians to Siris and in Rome beer was dedicated to Ceres who was the Goddess of the Corn and their name for beer was cerevisia, which is the derivation for the specific epithet for brewer’s yeast S.

• Cerevisiae,
• Since women were considered closer to the corn goddess, they were made the priestesses of these goddesses as well as the brewers in various cultures.
• In all cases beer was considered a heavenly gift.
• The Norse believed their beer was the drink of Vahalla, their heaven for those who died in battle and in China beer was simply a gift from heaven.

In Western culture, during the Middle Ages, brewing was a household art in which every girl was instructed, along with baking, since both involved the same ingredients and mysteries. Beer was considered “liquid bread” and a meal would consist of beer, bread and cheese.

The role of women and beer would continue until the Middle Ages, when monasteries began to make beer, and brewing then became a male dominated process. It was also at this time that hops was introduced into the process of beer making, which served as a flavoring, but more importantly, a preservative, which gave beer a longer shelf life.

Although early beer was not necessarily very tasteful, one reason why beer was adopted as the beverage of choice, in many early cultures, was because water was often of poor quality and contaminated. The Roman armies carried beer with them as they journeyed to conquer distant lands in order to avoid becoming ill in foreign lands.

• When an area was conquered, Roman yeast was introduced by using the wort from previous batches of beer to ensure that they would have a decent drink.
• Skipping ahead in time, Bohemia, historical region and former kingdom of present-day western Czech Republic, had established state breweries, in 1256, in the town of Budweis, and by 1384, Pilsen’s breweries were under the control of Charles IV (Holy Emperor of Rome, 1316-78).

Beer also had impact on languages. In Germany, if the local beer went bad, beer would be imported from another town and sold at cost in the basement of city hall – the ratskeller : Literally council basement. Today, a ratskeller is a restaurant or tavern, usually below street level, that features the serving of beer.

1. A custom of medieval marriages, in England, had the bride’s family brew a special “bride’s ale”, for the bride.
2. The bride’s ale eventually became the present bridal.
3. Even the word ale is derived from the medieval hael, meaning “good health.” Government also used beer as a means of collecting taxes.
4. Since beer was made at home, it was impossible to impose a tax directly.

However, taxes were levied on the ingredients that were required to produce beer as well as on alehouses. Churches were exempt from this tax since on the grounds that they consumed their own products, but churches often required the community to buy their beers.

• Because of the resentment of this practice in England, this was but one of the factors that led to the overthrow of the Roman Catholic Church.
• However, it would not be until after the Reformation and the weakening of the church that brewing became the responsibility of commercial brewers who could be taxed for the beer they brewed.

By the time that the New World was invaded by Europeans, beer was already present. Columbus drank corn beer offered to him by Native American Indians. It is said that the dwindling supply of beer, aboard the Mayflower, in 1620, was what led to the selection of Plymouth as the end of the voyage for the Pilgrim.

• Beer was considered such a necessity by some of the early settlers, such as George Washington and William Penn, that they started their own breweries.
• The English initially imported beer from England, but by 1629 began their own local breweries.
• The Dutch, on the other hand, started their own breweries, immediately.

These early beers were all ales and it would be until 1840, when German immigrants started breweries that lager beer would be introduced. Among some of the people that started these German breweries were Frederick Pabst, Bernard Stroh, Joseph Schlitz, Adolph Coors, Henry Weinhard and Theodore Hamms.

Their lager beers soon displaced the ales, in popularity. By the mid 1600’s, breweries were well established in the New World. Beer even contributed to higher education for women, in 1861, when Matthew Vassar invested his fortune, earned in beer, in establishing Vassar College. With the exception of Prohibition, during the 20th.

Century beer has been largely mass-produced and automated. There were approximately 4,137 breweries in the United States in 1876 producing quality beer. This number fell to 1,100, in 1919, the year before Prohibition. After Prohibition was repealed, only 700 breweries reopened.

By the 1970’s fewer than 40 breweries remained. Most of these beers were very uniform and bland. The United States had by this time developed a reputation for having the world’s worst beer. There were reasons behind this. After WWII, in order to appeal to women, milder tasting beers were developed. Thus, the origin of “light” beer.

However, such beers only sold modestly well. It would not be until 1972 that cigarette maker, Philip Morris, would change the face of American beer as well as advertising. Philip Morris acquired Meister Brau and its Lite label that year and renamed it Miller Lite.

1. Using a sophisticated and massive advertising campaign, using well known former athletes, Miller moved from seventh to second place among U.S. brewers.
2. They were the ones that came out with the slogan: “all you ever wanted in a beer, and less.” Thus, business came to realize that promotion of the product and not necessarily product quality that determines the success of a product.

The Science of Beer Making Today, beer is consumed in vast amounts in this country, and beer making is largely automated as in all mass produced products. Despite the sophisticated machinery that is used in brewing beer, it’s still essentially the same procedures that has been used for hundreds of years.

We will see a video on the making of beer on Thursday that will demonstrate the process that we have just covered. However, beer making has become very sophisticated because of the advances in knowledge that has resulted from advances in science. Prior to, and even during the 1800’s, there were many who knew how beer could be made, but none knew of the science behind each step.

It was not until the 19th. century that it was realized that during germination, of cereal grains, that enzymes were released that would not break down not only the barley starch and protein into simple sugars and amino acids, but would also do the same for other carbohydrates, such as potato, corn and wheat.

This realization cheapened the cost of making beer since germinated barley is a greater investment than the utilization of potato, corn and wheat. It would not be until the 19th. Century that it would be known that yeasts were the organisms that actually were responsible for the fermentation process. Although the process of fermentation had been used for thousands of years, it was thought to be a magical rather than a material process.

As a result, many rituals and superstitions developed to direct and control fermentation. By the 17th. Century, it was known that yeast was present during fermentation, but its role was controversial. There were two opposing views on this subject. One view was that yeast was required for the fermentation process, while the other argued that the process was purely chemical.

It was not until Louis Pasteur’s work, in the 1850’s and 1860’s, was this argument resolved. Pasteur was asked by the distillers of Lille, where the manufacture of of alcohol, from beet sugar, was an important local industry, to determine the problem of lactic acid production in their alcohol. Upon examination of the fermentation product under the microscope, Pasteur was able to observe the usual yeast cells, but also noted that there were a large number of smaller rod- and sphere-shaped cells.

When Pasteur placed a small amount of this material in a sugar solution, a vigorous lactic acid fermentation occurred along with the formation of a grayish deposit in the solution which proved to be the rod- and sphere-shaped cells. Successive transfers of these cells always resulted in production of lactic acid fermentation and an increase in the number of cells.

• Pasteur argued that the cells were a new “yeast” that specifically converted sugar to lactic acid during its growth.
• It would be years later before it was understood that the new “yeast” were actually bacteria.
• Using a similar method, Pasteur studied a number of organisms and their fermentative processes.

He was able to show that the different fermentation products produced were invariably accompanied by specific microorganisms. This discovery, however, had further significance. Just as the different microorganisms caused different fermentation products from sugar, so did different diseases arise as a result of different microorganisms, and that these microorganisms did not arise spontaneously, as once believed, but that each microorganism was derived from pre-existing cells of the same type.

• This also led to the concept that by destroying the microorganisms in food products and beverages or by preventing their appearance in sterile products, spoilage could be prevented.
• This concept led to the heat treatment of food products and beverages that we now know as pasteurization.
• In the beginning of beer making, beer was an alcoholic beverage with the flavor of malt and grain.

It was flat, slightly sweet and would spoil quickly. It would not be until the 8th. Century, that brewers in central Europe found that the addition of Hops flowers preserved the beer and gave it the slightly bitter taste that made it more palatable. However, Hops was not the only bitter additive used.

Various cultures used other bitters; tannins from Oak and Ash trees were used in Scandinavia; cinnamon in southern Europe and in America sweet fennel, licorice or sassafras was used. Nevertheless, by the end of the 15th. Century, it was Hops that became the standard bitter and preservative added to beer.

Only in England was there resistance to the use of Hops, but they, too, accepted it by the end of the 16th. Century. With the genetic manipulation of yeasts, numerous varietal strains have been bred. This, along with modifications in the brewing process have led to different types of beers.

• Lager, Beers made with yeast that settle on the bottom ( Saccharomyces carlsbergensis ) of the container used. Thus, all the yeast and other material settles on the bottom which results in a clear beer. Most American beers are lagers.
  • Pilsner, A colorless lager beer originally brewed in the city of Pilsen. Water used for this style of beer tend to be harder, with a higher calcium and magnesium content than water used for lager. The color of pilsner is also lighter than that of lager beer.
• Ale, Beers made with yeast that floats ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) to the top of the brewing vats, resulting in a cloudier beer. They tend to have a higher alcohol content than lagers.
  • Stout, A very dark, almost black ale. The dark color and roasted flavor is derived from the roasted barley, and/or roasted malt. Beer historians consider it to be the descendant of the Porter ale.
  • Porter, A very dark ale. The darker color and special flavor comes from toasting the malt before brewing. This usually results in a stronger taste and higher alcohol content. Considered by beer historians to have evolved into the Stout ale.

History of Wine As in the case of beer, the place and time of origin of wine is uncertain. Because of the number of different types of wine that are produced, we will restrict our discussion to grape wine. The species of grapes used in most wines is Vitis vinifera and is known to have been “domesticated” before 4,000 B.C.

• Wine made before this time probably would have used wild grapes.
• Unlike beer, women were not associated with wine.
• In ancient Greece, Dionysus gave wine to man and his Roman counterpart, Bacchus, was the God of Wine.
• In Hebrew folklore, it was Adam who planted the first grapevine.
• Around 600 B.C., wine grape cultivation spread from the Mediterranean region to France and later to Spain, Portugal and Algeria.

Until recently Europe and North Africa were the world’s leader in quality and quantity of wines produced. Now the United States, Argentina and Russia rank among the top 10 wine producing countries of the world. In the United States, the quality of wine produced were poor to begin with because the New England area, which was the part of North America that was settled first, was not favorable for growing European grapes.

However, there were other areas where growth would be better. Although not part of the United States at this time, California began cultivating grapes around 1769 and by the middle of the 19th. Century, California had a small but respectable wine industry. Making Wine Wine is made today much the same way that it was centuries ago.

However, unlike beer, there is still a great deal that cannot be controlled in the production of wine. You will see this as we discuss the process. The grapes from which the wine is to be made is first separated from the stem ( stemmed ) and then crushed in order to release the juice.

The combination of the skin, juice and seeds is called the must, Grapes may be crushed by various means, from stomping on them with bare feet to the use of sophisticated electric presses. If the desired product is a white wine, the free juice is transferred to a fermentation tank and the peels and stems are removed and pressed again.

The juice of the second press can be added to the original juice or used to make another lower grade wine. If red wine is the desired product, the skins of the grape go into the fermentation tank with the juice. The red color of this wine is from the red pigment in the epidermis of the grape skin.

Various vessels may be used as the fermentation tank. The most inexpensive and commonly used vessel is a 32 gallon, plastic garbage can. Once the juice is in the fermentation tank, preferred strains of yeast are often added, but are not needed. The skin of the grapes already have adequate yeasts on them that this step could be omitted.

This is one of the uncontrolled quality of wines. Since the yeasts that grow on the grapes vary in different vineyard, especially if they are in different countries, the quality of the finished wine will also vary (this is probably the basis for the claim that one country’s wine is superior to another).

The addition of the preferred yeast gives some measure of control to the end product. Sulfur dioxide is normally introduced into the juice at this time to kill bacterial growth that may spoil the taste of the final product. Fermentation is allowed to continue for about eight to ten days, after which the initial wine is drawn off of the skin, if it is still present.

Any liquid obtained from the skins that remained during the fermentation is considered to be of a poor quality and is used in poorer quality wines or for vinegar. After the initial fermentation, the liquid is allowed to ferment for 20 days to about a month.

• During this second fermentation, the dead yeast cells as well as other particulate matter settle to the bottom.
• When this process is complete, the wine is separated from the sediment and transferred to an aging tank.
• As the aging process continues, more sedimentation occurs, and the wine is often transferred across a series of tanks during aging.

This process is known as racking, If the final tank is a wooden cask, this also adds another uncontrolled quantity into the final product. Because wooden cask cannot be cleaned, they provide a unique character to the wine some of which are said to make the wine “superior.” However, the use of stainless steel vats have removed this uncertainty.

The aging of wine is variable. For white wines, usually one year to eighteen months, but red wines can age for as long as five years. At stages during aging, the wine is sampled and judged by a wine master. The fate of the wine is dependent upon the decision of the wine master. The wine may be bottled after aging is complete or used only as a blend to make an inferior wine.

The bottled wine, again, based on the decision of the wine master, may be aged longer in the bottles or sold immediately after bottling. Thus, is the variability of the finished wine product. White wines can benefit from aging for up to five years, after which they will tend to deteriorate.

1. Red wines, on the other hand, can continue to improve for thirty or even up to forty years.
2. The above wines are “still” wines because they are fermented in open tanks and contain no gaseous carbon dioxide.
3. If fermentation stops before the sugars have all been metabolized by the yeast, the finish product is a sweet wine.

If all the sugars have been metabolized, the wine is said to be dry, As in the case of beer, the percent alcohol content will be 14-18%. However, in fruit wines, the percentage is lower because the amount of sugars in other fruits are generally lower.

• Even with the addition of sugar, fruit wines are generally 5 to 7% alcohol.
• A detailed recipe for red and white wines can be downloaded from the Viticulture and Enology Department at the University of California at Davis,
• They have a nice web page on making wine at home, with wine making recipes in pdf files.

Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines In order to obtain carbonation, extra sugar is added to yeast while the yeast is still actively fermenting and then tightly cap. The build up of carbon dioxide will carbonate the beverage to give you the bubbly effect.

This is somewhat tricky since if too much fermentation occurs, the tightly sealed bottle can explode from the built up pressure. What about really cheap champagne? The price of the champagne does not necessarily mean that quality is lacking. Some champagnes are cheap because they are mass produced in large vats rather than handled as individual bottles.

Kombucha A beverage that is non-alcoholic that came to the attention about ten years ago is commonly known as Kombucha, but has many common names. It is also known as the “Tea Fungus”, “Manchurian Mushroom”, and “Fungus Japonicus”, just to name a few.

• Acetobacter xylinum
• Acetobacter xylinoides
• Saccharomycodes ludwigii
• Schizosaccharomyces pombe
• Saccaromyces cerevisiae

The first two are bacteria and the last three are yeasts. When put together, they have an interesting appearance. They have the color and consistency of a fillet of sole and looks somewhat like “fish cake”. However, do not try to eat it, apparently when consumed in this matter, it is somewhat toxic ! The Kombucha fungus is pictured below:

Physical appearance of Kombucha “Fungus”

The first record of its appearance was in 221 B.C., during the Tsing Dynasty, in China. Thus, like the alcoholic beverages, it is also an old beverage. It was used as a herbal remedy and currently is popular for that reason. The tea that is made from Kombucha is said to a remedy for many ailments, arthritis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer, AIDs, and many many more.

• Boil 40 fluid ounces of water in metal container, with a lid.
• After boiling, add one third to one half cup of sugar.
• Add two regular size tea bag or an equivalent amount of tea to water.
• Allow tea to steep for 10 to 15 minutes and then remove tea bag.
• Cover tea and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Pour tea into a 64 fluid ounce glass container.
• Pour 8 to 12 fluid ounces of previously made tea or a piece of Kombucha fungus into container.
• Cover tea with unbleached filter paper held in place with a rubber band.
• Allow to incubate for about a week before drinking. You should see the beginning of a new Kombucha fungus growing at the top of the tea at this time.

Guenther’s Web site, in Germany, also gives a variation of the above recipe, but has pictures. If you have difficulty visualizing what is done in the above recipe, you may want to visit that site. Mycological Terms There are a large number of brewing and wine making terms.

1. I have only included a few, below.
2. If you are interested in looking up more terms, I have included links to glossary for brewing and winemaking,
3. Beer : Any alcoholic beverage produced by the fermentation of sugars obtained from grain.
4. In western culture, barley is the grain generally used.
5. Ethanol : Alcohol that is the metabolic product of yeast in the wine and beer making.

Specifically, it is produced by the yeast during fermentation. Fermentation : The process by which yeast converts sugars into alcohol and CO 2, Hops : Flower of hops added as ingredient to beer that gives it a bitter taste. However, it also serves as a preservative that gives it a longer shelf life.

Ombucha : A tea that is brewed with several species of bacteria and yeast and said to be of medicinal value. Also known as Manchurian Mushroom Tea, Fungus Japonicus and Tea Fungus. Wine : Usually fermentation of grape juice, but may also be other fruit juices as well, e.g., elderberry, peach, apple, etc.

Yeast : In wine and beer making, the “ingredient” that converts the simple sugars into ethanol. The most common species used are Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. carlsburgiensis. However, other species are also used. Questions to Think About

1. In the strict sense, how would you distinguish beer and wine?
2. In either case, why is it that you cannot produce a beverage that is more than 18% alcohol? That being the case, how is hard liquor, which has a much higher alcohol content, produced?
3. Early beer was flat, not very palatable and also spoiled quickly. Yet, people continued to drink it. Other than for the obvious reason, what was another reason for continuing to drink beer?
4. It was a long time before the early spoilage of beer was remedied. How did brewers finally keep beer from quickly spoiling?
5. Various cultures developed beer making, independently. Although the process by which they made beer was similar, one obvious difference was in the grain that was used for malting. Name some cultures that used grains other than barley for making beer.
6. Which is older, beer or wine? Why do you believe this to be the case?
7. Why is production of a standard quality wine more difficult to achieve than a standard quality beer?
8. What is the composition of the Kombucha “fungus”, in terms of the organisms involved?
9. There are various reasons for drinking Kombucha. Is there any evidence to believe that this usage is justified? Why or why not?

Back to Botany 135 Syllabus

What yeast is used in distilling?

All About Distillers Yeast and Turbo Yeast What is Yeast? Yeast is a single cell organism which multiplies vigorously in the presence of oxygen and then after consuming all the oxygen will convert fermentable sugars into alcohol. Without yeast we could not produce alcoholic beverages or ethanol fuel.

1. Distillers Yeast Distillers yeast is a particular species of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) that has a particularly strong ability to metabolize sugar and produce alcohol as a by-product.
2. Distillers yeast also has a major impact on the flavor of your final spirit.
3. The flavor and aroma of whiskey, rum and moonshine (or lack of such in the case of vodka) are highly influenced by the distillers yeast in the fermentation process and thus choosing the proper yeast has a significant impact of the quality of your distilled spirit.

All distillers yeast is definitely not the same. Distillers Yeast Strains Within the species of Saccharomyces cerevisiae there are many different strains that will have significantly different performance characteristics and produce diverse flavor congeners.

Think of it in the context of humans. We are all a part of the same species (Homo sapiens) but we have great diversity in our species. Each of us is different in many ways. Likewise each strain of distilling yeast is different. For example the distillers yeast strain used in Alcotec 48 products has the capability of fermenting up to a very high alcohol percentage (20+%) while producing very low volatiles.

In contrast ordinary bread yeast strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have the ability to produce maximum CO 2 in order to cause dough to rise, but they typically die off at far lower levels of alcohol while producing high levels of volatiles (bad flavor congeners and other chemical compounds).

• The manufacturer of Alcotec also uses strains that produce specific flavor profiles for their whiskey, rum and fruit turbo varieties.
• The generic bulk packs of distillers yeast that some retailers sell could actually be any one of a variety of strains but usually is of the type used for making ethanol fuel (a strain with high alcohol tolerance but with little regard for taste).

All yeast should be used promptly once the package is opened as exposure to air will kill the yeast cells within a few weeks of exposure. Turbo Yeast Turbo yeast is a specific blend and quantity of distillers yeast combined with highly complex, chemically defined, macro and micro nutrients designed to maximize the speed and quality of fermentation.

1. Turbo yeast will perform dramatically better than distillers yeast by itself.
2. Yeast has specific nutritional needs to thrive and perform to its maximum potential.
3. Lack of these nutrients stresses the yeast cells causing them to produce less alcohol and more volatiles.
4. Refined sugar contains only sucrose and none of the nitrogen and vitamin nutrients required to support yeast activity.

Grain and fruit both contain some of these nutrients but not all. The development of yeast nutrition is an advanced science. Hambleton Bard Ltd, the manufacturer of Alcotec turbo yeasts, uses its lab to constantly refine the technology of getting the most out of distillers yeast.

This is not easily duplicated at the distiller or retailer level. Private store mixture turbo yeasts rarely have undergone the development and testing necessary to produce a top quality turbo yeast formula. Large scale distilleries have long understood how to use yeast plus nutrition to achieve desired results.

The availability of Alcotec turbo yeast now gives the hobby and small scale distiller the ability to produce results that often exceed the big distilleries. Turbo Yeast Varieties Turbo yeast is very convenient for hobby and other small batch distillers.

Alcotec 48 – Temperature tolerant high alcohol formulation capable of fermenting a sugar wash to 14% in 48 hours or 20% in 5-6 days. Alcotec 24 – Temperature tolerant yeast capable of 14% in just 24 hours. Alcotec Whiskey Turbo – Single culture whiskey strain plus nutrition plus glucoamylase. Alcotec Rum Turbo – Yeast strain to best promote fine rum flavors plus glucoamylase. Alcotec Vodka Turbo – Very pure fermenting yeast strain plus glucoamylase. Alcotec Fruit Turbo – Yeast strain that retains fruit flavor qualities plus pectinase. Alcotec 200 – Extremely high temperature tolerant yeast strain with ability to be stacked (use of multiple packets) to ferment batches up to 200 liters (53 gallons). Alcotec ReStart – Used to restart stuck fermentations. Has the ability to be added to a ferment that already has 7-8% alcohol present.

You’ll find more detailed descriptions of these products and more in the product section of this web site. Enzymes Used with Turbo Yeast Glucoamylase (often called amyloglucosidase) enzyme is used in some formulations to break long chain sugars into short chain sugars to aid the yeast in its ability to turn these into alcohol.

Glucoamylase is typically used in ferments containing grain but also can be beneficial in breaking down dextrins in ferments containing molasses. Grain ferments also require treatment with Amylase enzyme prior to fermentation. Amylase works at a higher temperature than yeast can survive therefore it is always sold separately and is never contained in any turbo yeast package.

Alcotec Fruit Turbo contains Pectinase enzyme which breaks fruit down to aid in its fermentation. Turbo Yeast Packaging In order to maintain its long shelf life turbo yeast packaging needs to be packaged in a relatively thick laminated film with a layer of foil.

1. The package film must be both a moisture and oxygen barrier and of sufficient strength and weight to resist pin holes that would penetrate the barrier.
2. You will recognize quality packaging by both its feel and a heat formed seal around all four edges.
3. If you see a turbo yeast product packaged in what looks more like a potato chip bag then it is possible that packaging will not protect the yeast for its full shelf life.

If a manufacturer is willing to cut corners in the quality of their packaging to save a few pennies you can imagine what corners they may have cut in the quality of their formula or the quality of the yeast and other contents. Turbo Yeast and the Distilling Community The internet is filled with postings from people who can attest to getting great results using turbo yeast and yet there are many others who claim to have had bad results.

How is it that people using the same products get differing results? The answer is likely stressed yeast. When yeast is stressed it produces excessive amounts of chemical compounds and flavors that just don’t taste very good. Any yeast used can be stressed to create taste and smell problems but the question is rarely asked about any yeast other than turbo yeast.

Turbo yeasts also get unfairly dumped into one single category as if all were the same or if all brands were the same. The real culprit is less likely to be the turbo yeast (although there are some cheap poor quality brands out there) and more likely to be the procedures and practices of the individual distillers.

Sulphur – It is well known that Sulphur gives a flavor and smell of rotten eggs. This is definitely not a characteristic one seeks in fine handcrafted spirits. Sulphur naturally gets removed from the mash or wash by CO 2, The more vigorous your fermentation is the less sulphur will be present when the fermentation has ended. Sluggish fermentations are often caused by temperature issues. Pitching the turbo yeast before the wash has cooled to the temperature specified on the package or pitching after it has cooled too much both can cause a sluggish start to the fermentation. It is very important to maintain the proper fermentation temperature steady throughout the fermentation. Copper is also great for removing Sulphur. Stills made from all stainless steel have no ability to remove sulphur. Fusel Alcohols – These are the things that cause those wicked hangovers even when you thought that you had not had that much to drink. Again keeping your ferment as close as possible to the recommended temperature will keep these to a minimum. Fusel alcohols can and should be removed during the distillation process by simply cutting the tails. At the end of a run when the distillate starts to become bitter simply stop collecting or collect those tails in a separate container. Tails make a great cleaning solvent but should not be drunk. Phenols – Phenols produce a plastic or medicinal taste. To avoid these start off by not using chlorinated water. You should also make sure all the fermentation equipment is clean and preferably sterilized and use an air lock during fermentation. Wild yeast and bacterial contamination will contribute to phenol production. Acetaldehyde – Has the smell of green apples and also contributes to bad hangovers. Acetaldehyde exists in high concentrations when a mash is not allowed to finish fermentation. Using turbo yeast which typically ferments faster than plain distillers yeast helps reduce the fermentation time needed. Acetaldehyde can also be produced when a wash or mash is aerated in the late stages of the fermentation or if it is allowed to sit for a long period of time (more than a week) after all fermentation is finished. Acetaldehyde has a low boiling point so by properly separating the foreshots and heads you can avoid much of the acetaldehydes in your distillate. Knowing how and when to properly make your cuts is a big part of distilling great spirits.

So in reality turbo yeast is rarely the cause of flavor problems and should instead be seen as what it is – a giant step forward in fermentation technology. Basic Conditions that All Distillers Yeast Needs to Thrive

Adequate Feed Stock – Ultimately the percentage of alcohol that any strain of distillers yeast can produce (within the limits of the particular strain) is determined by the available fermentable sugars in the wash or mash. Both grains and fruits should be treated with enzymes to release their sugars. While it is impossible because of the many variables involved to provide a rule of thumb on how much alcohol a particular quantity of grain or fruit can potentially produce such is not the case with refined sugar. One pound of sugar added to one gallon of water has the potential of 7% alcohol ABV. Correct and Even Temperature – The correct temperature range for the yeast strain you are using should be printed on the package as is always the case with Alcotec turbo yeasts. It is important to keep the temperature within that range to keep the yeast cells from dying and to prevent them from becoming stressed. Proper pH – The pH of your wash or mash should be between 4.0 and 4.5 prior to fermentation. You can adjust the pH using by using citric acid or fresh lemons. Oxygen – Oxygen is an important component to the beginning of the fermentation process as its presence is required for the yeast to reproduce. When the yeast has consumed the oxygen it will cease to reproduce and begin to create alcohol. You can aerate your wash or mash by stirring it vigorously. Nutrients – Yeast is a living organism and as such requires nutrients to survive. Distillers yeast simply cannot survive on sugar alone. If you were doing a mash of malted grain and were seeking less than 10% alcohol there would be enough nutrients to keep the yeast alive. But if you are like most hobby distillers and want more alcohol from each run you must add nutrients. This is where turbo yeast makes it easy on you as all necessary nutrients in the proper quantities are already included in the package.

Use of Turbo Yeast for Batch Quantities of Differing Size Most turbo yeast is prepackaged for a batch size of 6.6 U.S. gallons (25 Liters). It can be stretched to a batch up to 8 gallons but the fermentation will take longer and result in a proportionally lower alcohol potential.

• Conversely using a whole package in a somewhat smaller batch (say 5 gallons) should result in a quicker fermentation but the alcohol percentage cannot exceed the potential of the yeast strain being used.
• If attempting to use a partial package always reseal the package immediately squeezing out any air from the package and then keep refrigerated.

Use remaining contents within 3 to 4 weeks. History of Turbo Yeast It has not been documented just when mankind learned that nutritional supplementation improved the performance of distillers yeast. However Gert Strand of Sweden is frequently credited with producing the first true turbo yeast sometime in the 1980’s.

However by 1996 competitors had surpassed this product’s quality and he began selling turbo’s manufactured by others. Much of his turbo yeast now comes from Hambleton Bard Ltd, the makers of the Alcotec line of turbo yeasts which have become the dominant brand in most of the world. Prior to now the distribution of Alcotec turbo yeasts has been limited in the USA but is now available for purchase online at very competitive prices from VGR Distributing on this website.

: All About Distillers Yeast and Turbo Yeast

What is the best yeast for alcohol fermentation?

Yeast – Interestingly enough, the process to ferment the corn or other grain necessary for the production of bioethanol is similar to that of making beer or wine or, perhaps even more closely related, liquor. Corn will be grown and then harvested, mashed in and boiled and steeped, and then yeast will be added.

• It does not take much yeast to ferment a large quantity of corn mash, which will then ferment to make ethanol and carbon dioxide, an oxygenated fuel.
• Then, the end product will be distilled down to its purest form to serve as an alternative, clean burning fuel.
• As to which yeast is best, the primary yeast used to produce alcohol in general is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which has hundreds of substrains, and has been around for millions of years by all accounts.S.

cerevisiae produces wine as well as ales, and it ferments at warmer temperatures with the yeast flocculating, or clumping, at the top of the fermentation vessel. The other go-to yeast for fermentation is Saccharomyces pastorianus, which has historically produced lagers, and ferments at colder temperatures and flocculates at the bottom of the vessel.

What is the highest alcohol tolerant yeast?

Highest Alcohol Tolerant Yeast – As such, the highest alcohol tolerance yeast is going to be wine yeast. Wine yeast is known for having a strong attraction to high sugar beverages, and you can rely on them to continue producing alcohol all the way up to even 25%.

Which yeast produce high ethanol?

1. Introduction – The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is undeniably the best studied and one of the most widely used eukaryotes in a wide variety of industrial processes such as ethanol production, Currently, the annual production of alcohol worldwide is over 100 billion liters, with S.

cerevisiae being the predominantly used industrial microorganism for ethanol production, The yeast S. cerevisiae is the organism of choice for the industrial production of ethanol and, as such, represents the largest industrial biotechnological utilization of yeast. The yeast S. cerevisiae has many desirable industrial properties such as rapid growth, efficient glucose anaerobic metabolism, high ethanol productivity, great yield, and high tolerance to different environmental stress factors, such as high ethanol concentration, low pH, and low oxygen level,

The use of existing or adapted industrial yeast strains in biotechnological and industrial fermentations is intensive; however, there is still much room for improvement since current industrial processes rarely exploit new natural strains, The improvement in the production of first-generation ethanol is a process that involves the selection of yeasts with high fermentation speeds and dominance, long-lasting lifespans during the harvest, good fermentation capacity, elevated sugar-to-ethanol conversion rates, low output of glycerol, low foam levels, tolerance to high concentrations of substrate and ethanol, resistance to acidity and high temperatures, genetic stability, flocculence, good fermentation efficiency, high productivity, elevated cell growth speeds, elevated ethanol output, and substrate consumption speeds,

Improving second generation production includes isolating or developing microorganisms that ferment, in addition to glucose, pentose sugars that are abundant in lignocellulose hydrolysates, xylose, and L-arabinose, as well as microorganisms that can ferment different hydrolyzed sugars simultaneously and microorganisms that are resistant to inhibitors and stressful conditions such as increased ethanol concentration and temperature,

The yeast S. cerevisiae has been widely studied and engineered for lignocellulosic valorization for second generation ethanol production and high-value chemicals, Despite of the efficient adaptation of the various S. cerevisiae strains used in these processes, there is still a great potential for either optimizing existing strains or exploiting the immense natural reservoir of environmental isolates,

However, there are a number of challenges common to yeasts during sugar fermentation due to increased temperature and ethanol levels.S. cerevisiae has limited tolerance to ethanol, and the maximum concentration that allows growth is 10% (p : v). Although S. cerevisiae yeasts are mesophilic (growth from 25°C to 30°C), often the temperatures in the distilleries reach 38°C,

Performing fermentation at higher temperatures using thermotolerant yeast could not only achieve a higher ethanol production with faster polysaccharide hydrolysis rates and shorter SSF (simultaneous saccharification and fermentation) times but could also reduce the cost of cooling and the rate of contamination,

Does normal yeast work for alcohol?

Every so often we run across someone who is making wine with bread yeast. Yes, I’m talking about the plain ole’ yeast you pick up in the baking section of your local grocery store. And every time I hear of someone using bread yeast, the question that always screams in my head is, “why?” There are so many advantages to using wine yeast and so many disadvantages to using bread yeast that I can’t imagine why anyone would want to use it.

The only conclusion I can come up with is that there is a strong misunderstanding about what yeast really are and what they do. Yeast is what turns sugar into alcohol. Yeast cells are living organisms that consume and digest the sugars. As a result, they excrete alcohol and CO2 gas. Along with these two compounds also comes various trace amounts of enzymes, oils, acid, etc.

These are the things that give different alcohols their different characters. The point is all yeast are not the same. How one strain responds to the sugars varies from the next. There are literally thousands of different strains that have been identified or developed as hybrids, all with varying characteristics that make them suitable or not-so-suitable for performing a particular task, whether it be fermenting wine or raising bread. Another reason making wine with bread yeast is not a good idea is that bread yeast do not clear out very readily or settle very firmly, either. They typically will form a low layer of hazy wine in the bottom of the fermenter that will never completely clear out.

Even more importantly, bread yeast produce alcohol that is plagued with a lot of off-flavors. The bread yeast becomes so stressed and has to work so hard that off-flavored enzymes and fatty acids are produced along with the alcohol. There are several other issues with using bread yeast to make your wine, but these are the big ones: the alcohol, the clearing, and the flavor.

There are many, many different strains of wine yeast, These yeasts are bred over time to produce something of a ‘super’ wine yeast. Each one becoming the ultimate choice for tackling the particular type or style of wine. Some wine yeast ferment to total dryness better than others.

Some have better alcohol tolerance than others. Some put off fruitier aromas than others. Some pack more firmly to the bottom of the fermenter than others. Some wine yeast even have flavor qualities that make them ideal for fermenting one type of fruit over another. The list goes on and on. And it goes without say, they all do it better than bread yeast.

On our website, we have a wine yeast profile charts listed for each line of wine yeast we carry: Red Sta r, Lalvin and Vintner’s Harvest Wine Yeast. You can view these profile charts from a link on the product page for each of these wine yeasts. The last thing I’d like to point out is that buying actual wine yeast to make your wine is not expensive.

• Currently, you can purchase wine yeast for as little as $2.00.
• I haven’t priced bread yeast recently, but there can’t be that much difference in price.
• So if you value your time and effort at all go with the wine yeast.
• Don’t try making your wine with bread yeast.
• Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E.C.

Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.

Do you need special yeast for alcohol?

So, What Alcohol Can You Make Without Added Yeast? – Most spirits, as well as wines, can be made without the use of added yeast. Most homebrewers choose to do it the easy way by adding processed yeast because it can be rather difficult without it. The type of alcohol you can make with most success without yeast is probably wine.

The reason for this is that the berries or fruits used in wine can ferment naturally. This process is known as “wild fermentation”. Before people figured out that it was actually yeast that was responsible for the creation of alcohol, people had no idea that they were using natural yeast to turn grapes into alcohol.

It wasn’t until later that we found out that the microorganisms that are yeast, occurred naturally on the outside of grapes used in old times to make wine. If you are a beer brewer, fear not, there are ways to make beer without adding the original yeast variants.

Can you distill with bread yeast?

Shipping Update: Shipping Daily M-F. Orders Placed After 10 AM Ship the Next Business Day. This blog provides information for educational purposes only. Read our complete summary for more info. January 24, 2014 Last updated April 25, 2023 We get a lot of questions about yeast.

Everyone seems to want to know how much yeast is needed for making 5 or 10 gallons of mash. For those that have read The Best Yeasts for Distilling, it’s obvious we are very fond of bread yeast. We have found over the years that bread yeast can easily produce as much alcohol as other yeasts if used correctly.

The question we hear a lot is ” How much yeast do I need for the _ recipe?” The answer is ” It Depends,” Every type of yeast is slightly different. In general, yeast can be categorized into three different groups: champagne & beer yeast, distillers yeast, and bread yeast.

Use the following guidelines for measuring the quantity of yeast that is added to a mash. Before we get started, a reminder: Distilling alcohol is illegal without a federal fuel alcohol or distilled spirit plant permit as well as relevant state permits. Our distillation equipment is designed for legal uses only and the information in this article is for educational purposes only.

Please read our complete legal summary for more information on the legalities of distillation.

Does moonshine use yeast?

The Role of Yeast in a Moonshine Mash – Yeast plays an important role in the production of moonshine. In fact, you could say yeast is the star of the fermentation stage of moonshining. This is because yeast is what actually turns the fermentable sugars in your into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

What yeast grows on methanol?

Abstract – Methylotrophic yeasts, which are able to utilize methanol as the sole carbon and energy source, have been intensively studied in terms of physiological function and practical applications. When these yeasts grow on methanol, the genes encoding enzymes and proteins involved in methanol metabolism are strongly induced.

Simultaneously, peroxisomes, organelles that contain the key enzymes for methanol metabolism, massively proliferate. These characteristics have made methylotrophic yeasts efficient hosts for heterologous protein production using strong and methanol-inducible gene promoters and also model organisms for the study of peroxisome dynamics.

Much attention has been paid to the interaction between methylotrophic microorganisms and plants. In this chapter, we describe how methylotrophic yeasts proliferate and survive on plant leaves, focusing on their physiological functions and lifestyle in the phyllosphere.

What is the difference between distillers yeast and regular yeast?

Distillers Yeast vs. Bakers Yeast vs. Brewers Yeast: How to Choose – Just like all things craft, there’s more than one way to make a high-quality product. Distillers yeast isn’t the only kind of yeast out there, and different types of yeast offer different characteristics that you may want to take advantage of. Brewers yeast, or wine yeast, tends to add more flavor vs. distillers yeast, and this makes a lot of sense. Beer and wine are enjoyed without the extra separation steps that distilled spirits go through, so the yeast used needs to be able to make a good quality product without adding anything unwanted to the system. Bakers yeast is somewhat similar in that it is selected to provide flavor and not for surviving with higher ABV or fast conversion of alcohol. This means that comparing distillers yeast vs. bakers yeast (or any other kind of yeast) can present the distiller with a tough choice. The yeast selected for the flavor it adds generally doesn’t create as high an ABV, but the higher ABV yeasts can be very neutral or even off-putting in flavor. Ultimately, it’s up to the artist to select a color scheme and the distiller to select a preferred variety of yeast. There are pluses and minuses to each type of yeast, so the best yeast for distilling is really the one that works the best for you and your process. Distillers yeast may be perfect for a neutral spirit like vodka, while other kinds of yeast may be better for brandy or whiskey, Whether you prefer distillers yeast vs. bakers yeast or any other variety, making the spirit that you want to make means doing your research and knowing the right conditions and nutrition needed to get the most out of your ferment. That will help you make the best possible product. > Need help choosing the right equipment for your distillery? Contact the team at StillDragon today,

What kind of yeast is used in whiskey?

Yeast is one of the three ingredients used to make Scotch whisky, yet its flavour-creating abilities have been underrated for decades. Gavin D. Smith explores how distillers are now playing with uncommon strains to generate exciting new flavours. Depths of possibility: Different yeast strains are opening up a world of flavour in whisky-making (Photo: Jim Beam) There is an old saying in the business that you can’t make good whisky without good wash.

In other words, what happens during mashing and fermentation is crucial to creating quality spirit. Along with malted barley and water, yeast is the only other ingredient allowed in the production of single malt whisky, and its role is to convert the sugars created during mashing into alcohol, at the same time producing carbon dioxide and heat.

Yeast is a single-celled fungus with many species, but the one relevant to whisky production is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, of which there are many individual strains. For some years now, the Scotch whisky industry has not seemed terribly interested in yeast as a potential flavour contributor to its spirit, seeking only to achieve maximum alcohol yield in the most efficient manner, though more yeast-related work may be going on behind the scenes than we imagine.

The old practice of mixing brewers’ and distillers’ yeast died out almost everywhere some years ago, and today a few standardised strains of distillers’ yeast keep most whisky-makers happy. Of the established distilleries, Benromach at Forres is thought to be the only one still employing brewers’ yeast.

According to distillery manager Keith Cruickshank: ‘We use winter ale-dried yeast from AB Vickers in Burton upon Trent. We mix a small amount of it with the popular Kerry M and MX distillers’ varieties, and it gives us more fruitiness, more apple and pear notes, in the wash. Bubbling away: Yeast produces flavour congeners as well as alcohol during fermentation However, as a new generation of independent whisky-makers appears, focused on the importance of flavour differentiation rather than yield maximisation, yeast is one of the items that is being put under the microscope – quite literally – to explore how the use of different strains can potentially have an influence on ultimate spirit character.

The movement is also supported by some of the established producers, as highlighted by Glenmorangie’s recent release of Allta, a whisky distilled using wild yeast discovered in malting barley fields close to the distillery. Glenmorangie head of maturing whisky stocks Brendan McCarron says: ‘With Private Edition bottlings we’ve always been innovative, and for this one, Bill Lumsden decided we should have our own bespoke barley strain.

Taking inspiration from winemakers sourcing yeast from grape skins, we scraped ears of malting barley and sent that off to yeast specialist Lallemand to identify the various flora and fauna present. ‘It picked out three yeasts that had alcohol-yielding potential and narrowed it down to one. ‘Wild’ yeast: Glenmorangie Allta was developed using a strain found growing on barley Someone else with a keen interest in yeast in relation to whisky-making is Victoria Muir-Taylor, who rejoices in the title of knowledge transfer partnership associate distiller at the yet-to-be-built Port of Leith distillery in Edinburgh, Muir-Taylor is a graduate of Heriot-Watt University’s’ International Centre for Brewing & Distilling, where she is currently carrying out her research.

She says: ‘It’s a two-year project, and we’re working with strains of brewers’ as well as distillers’ yeast, and exploring mixing strains together to create a bespoke version – or versions – for Leith distillery. We currently have samples from 13 yeast strains and we are hoping to brew and distil more than 20 yeast strains.

We will continue this work in the lab we’re going to be creating in the new distillery. We also want to be open with our findings and share them with the rest of the industry.’ One working distillery where yeast is taken equally seriously is Dornoch in Sutherland, established in 2016 and presided over by brothers Phil and Simon Thompson.

1. According to Simon: ‘Yeast can produce more than 200 flavour by-products, some of which are yield-expensive and some yield-cheap.
2. Modern distillers’ yeasts are all very similar, but there’s vast potential beyond them.
3. We use brewers’ yeast, and we’ve tried more than 30 different varieties so far.
4. Most recently, we’ve been using spent brewers’ yeast, which has previously been used in beer-making.

We currently use Cromarty brewery spent yeast – both its “house” yeast and some from its speciality beers. ‘We started propagating our own yeast – keeping back some wort and propagating it from that – but using brewers’ yeast saves lots of time propagating our own, and the Cromarty yeast provides some of our favourite flavours.’ Yeast trials: Victoria Muir-Taylor is conducting a two year-long study into various strains with Heriot-Watt University Thompson says: ‘We’ve never had distillers’ yeast in the building, and modern distillers’ yeast is not like it used to be. What we do is done at the expense of yield. We get a wide range of fermentation times, though we always work with a minimum seven days of fermentation.

1. Primary fermentation is over after 48 hours, but after that you get bacterial and wild yeast influences.
2. We have open-top fermenters to encourage that.’ He adds: ‘We’re looking for high levels of complexity, extreme fruit flavours, and especially extreme tropical fruit flavours – we’re always chasing them down.

We’re looking for specific esters that create it. ‘You get huge stewed strawberry and raspberry flavours in a 1960s Springbank. You need folic acid to obtain those flavours, so we work to create folic acid by extra-long fermentation. If we wait long enough, we get those characteristics.’ Distillers in North America and Japan take their yeasts very seriously.

• Four Roses distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, uses five yeast strains and two mash bills to create 10 different spirits.
• Various combinations of these are then used to create the different expressions of Four Roses.
• From the mid-1960s onwards, some 3,500 different strains of yeast were developed, with around one-tenth of them still being retained by the distillery.

Meanwhile, Wild Turkey’s yeast strain has been in use since 1954, and a number of ‘copies’ are locked away in secure vaults in various undisclosed locations. Maker’s Mark has a closely-guarded ‘heirloom’ house strain that dates back some 150 years, while Jim Beam’s yeast is an 82-year-old secret wild strain, which the eponymous distiller allegedly used to take home every weekend for safe keeping. American approach: Four Roses uses five different yeast strains in its fermentations The new wave of US craft distillers is keen to be innovative with yeast, and Corsair, for example, used Belgian yeast in its Hopmonster American hopped malt whiskey. Japanese whisky producer Nikka employs 10 different yeast strains, according to chief blender Tadashi Sakuma, who explains that, whereas in Scotland distillers have been able to exchange malts from the many distilleries in operation, ‘in Japan, we do not have this culture of exchange nor the number of distilleries that would make that possible’.

He adds: ‘Therefore, we have been developing ways to produce various different types of whisky in-house, including the development of our own yeast strains.’ Port of Leith’s Muir-Taylor reckons: ‘The Scotch whisky industry has been somewhat conservative and maintained a traditional stance when it comes to whisky fermentation.

But that’s not to say it hasn’t thought about or researched it. Quite the contrary. I think it is just a bit more reserved about disclosing it.’ It may only be a single-celled fungus, but perhaps yeast is about to become the next big beast in Scotch whisky flavour diversification.

What kind of yeast to use for single malt?

$23.50 – SafSpirit M-1 is the most famous yeast for producing Scotch and SINGLE LMALT whiskies. As well as alcohol, it creates important higher alcohols such as fusel oils during fermentation, which are suitable for storing whisky in wooden casks. The yeast has a good tolerance to alcohol (15% ABV).

Saccharomyces cerevisiae produces higher alcohols, suitable for storage in wooden casks alcohol tolerance: 15% ABV optimal fermentation temperature: 20-32°C dosage: 50-80 g/hl Certified Gluten free and Non GMO

Fermentis have selected specific dry yeasts to meet the requirements of industrial whisky producers worldwide as well as industrial alcohol makers. Their Safspirit range of dry yeast are dedicated to the specific market of craft distilling. Certifited Gluten free and Non GMO Pitching rate: 80gm per hectolitre Fermenting temperature range 20-32C (Safspirit MALT is now labelled as Safspirit M-1 Available in 500gm vacuum sealed (original packing) 100gm vacuum sealed (repacked)

Can you put too much yeast in moonshine mash?

Re: too much yeast? – Post by pothead » Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:56 pm gerpud wrote: I was wondering if too much yeast in a mash can be a problem? I had problem with not enough yeast (I use 5 grams packs). I tried to aerate for 24 h with a air pump, and it ends up with an impressively fast fermentation.

homedistiller.org says it double every 3 hours with enough oxygen, so I should have more than 1000g of yeast right now! It says too that it can affect flavor, but no problems when polishing. Does any body have experimented that? Is there any other possible problems? If it does not create problems, I recommend this procedure.

It can ferment 4kg of sugar/18 L in less than 4 days! But I still waiting to see the final result after distillation. I have used 21 grams in a 5 gallon batch. Too much can cause stress to the yeast, and affect flavor, and give ya some wicked heartburn.

Does adding more yeast make alcohol stronger?

Adding sugar for high alcohol content – Many high alcohol wine recipes require A LOT of sugar, upwards of 2 to 3 pounds per gallon. This is in addition to the sugar the fruits and berries you use provide naturally. Be careful when adding sugar during fermentation as it can prove quite difficult As you know by now, sugar is what the yeast uses and turns into alcohol.

• As said earlier, you can’t simply dump sugar into your batch and expect enormous alcohol percentages.
• There is a good reason most wines have somewhat low alcohol content.
• Making high alcohol wine is not only difficult, but also more expensive.
• You need a lot of sugar and extra ingredients to not ruin your wine.

Making high alcohol wine is a delicate process, here are some bullet points when making high alcohol wine:

Add the extra sugar gradually. Dumping all your sugar at once can outright ruin your batch since your yeast becomes “overloaded” and might die out. Use a hydrometer or similar to monitor the sugar content of your batch during fermentation. Track both sugar and alcohol levels to see if you are on the right trackChange the temperature compared to normal wine brewing. When making high alcohol wine its recommended fermenting at a higher temperature. Keep your wine at 74-78F rather than the normal 70-72F.Adding extra yeast will help your wine reach the high alcohol levels. As mentioned earlier, your yeast can die if it gets overloaded by too much sugar. Adding extra yeast will help your fermenting process and turn more sugar into alcohol.

Experimenting with alcohol percentages is something many homebrewers want to do, but it does take a bit more finesse and time than usual brewing. If you are just starting, diving straight into brewing high alcohol wine is probably something you should save for when you are a bit more seasoned in the craft.

1. If you want to get into winemaking a good recommendation is to buy a beginner kit,
2. Many beginner kits have all the equipment and ingredients you need, all you have to do is follow the instructions provided.
3. To sum up, sugar does increase the alcohol content, but only when used in the fermenting process.

The process of making your own homemade high alcohol beverages is not easy, and you should understand how to correctly handle the process before diving into it. Start off slow if you are a beginner, and get to know your equipment and how the science behind it all works.

Can yeast survive ethanol?

New approach to boosting biofuel production Yeast are commonly used to transform corn and other plant materials into biofuels such as ethanol. However, large concentrations of ethanol can be toxic to yeast, which has limited the production capacity of many yeast strains used in industry.

1. Toxicity is probably the single most important problem in cost-effective biofuels production,” says Gregory Stephanopoulos, the Willard Henry Dow Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT.
2. Now Stephanopoulos and colleagues at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have identified a new way to boost yeast tolerance to ethanol by simply altering the composition of the medium in which the yeast are grown.

They report the findings, which they believe could have a significant impact on industrial biofuel production, in today’s issue of the journal Science, Ethanol and other alcohols can disrupt yeast cell membranes, eventually killing the cells. The MIT team found that adding potassium and hydroxide ions to the medium in which yeast grow can help cells compensate for that membrane damage.

By making these changes, the researchers were able to boost yeast’s ethanol production by about 80 percent. They also showed that this approach works with commercial yeast strains and other types of alcohols, including propanol and butanol, which are even more toxic to yeast. “The more we understand about why a molecule is toxic, and methods that will make these organisms more tolerant, the more people will get ideas about how to attack other, more severe problems of toxicity,” says Stephanopoulos, one of the senior authors of the Science paper.

“This work goes a long way to squeezing the last drop of ethanol from sugar,” adds Gerald Fink, an MIT professor of biology, member of the Whitehead Institute, and the paper’s other senior author. Postdoc Felix Lam is the paper’s lead author, and graduate student Adel Ghaderi also contributed to the study.

Reinforcing cell defenses The research team began this project searching for a gene or group of genes that could be manipulated to make yeast more tolerant to ethanol, but this approach did not yield much success. However, when the researchers began to experiment with altering the medium in which yeast grow, they found some dramatic results.

By augmenting the yeast’s environment with potassium chloride, and increasing the pH with potassium hydroxide, the researchers were able to dramatically boost ethanol production. They also found that these changes did not affect the biochemical pathway used by the yeast to produce ethanol: Yeast continued to produce ethanol at the same per-cell rate as long as they remained viable.

Instead, the changes influenced their electrochemical membrane gradients — differences in ion concentrations inside and outside the membrane, which produce energy that the cell can harness to control the flow of various molecules into and out of the cell. Ethanol increases the porosity of the cell membrane, making it very difficult for cells to maintain their electrochemical gradients.

Increasing the potassium concentration and pH outside the cells helps them to strengthen the gradients and survive longer; the longer they survive, the more ethanol they make. “By reinforcing these gradients, we’re energizing yeast to allow them to withstand harsher conditions and continue production.

What’s also exciting to us is that this could apply beyond ethanol to more advanced biofuel alcohols that upset cell membranes in the same way,” Lam says. The researchers found that they could also prolong survival, but not as much, by engineering the yeast cells to express more potassium and proton pumps, which are located in the cell membrane and pump potassium in and protons out.

Industrial relevance Before yeast begin their work producing ethanol, the starting material, usually corn, must be broken down into glucose. A significant feature of the new MIT study is that the researchers did their experiments at very high concentrations of glucose.

• While many studies have examined ways to boost ethanol tolerance at low glucose levels, the MIT team used concentrations of about 300 grams per liter, similar to what would be found in an industrial biofuel fermenter.
• If you really want to be relevant, you’ve got to go to these levels.
• Otherwise, what you learn at low ethanol levels is not likely to translate to industrial production,” Stephanopoulos says.

Lonnie Ingram, director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels at the University of Florida, describes the MIT team’s discovery as “remarkable and unexpected.” “Few would have anticipated these results, which show that increasing electrochemical gradients across membranes provide a dramatic increase in alcohol tolerance,” Ingram says.

• This discovery will have direct applications in commercial processes for alcohol production from high concentrations of sugar.” In more recent experiments, the MIT researchers have used this method to bump ethanol productivity even higher than reported in the Science paper.
• They are also working on using this approach to boost the ethanol yield from various industrial feedstocks that, because of starting compounds inherently toxic to yeast, now have low yields.

The research was funded by the MIT Energy Initiative and the Department of Energy. : New approach to boosting biofuel production

What yeast for 20 ABV?

Alcohol Tolerance – Alcohol is toxic to all microorganisms, and this includes yeast. The alcohol tolerance of a given yeast strain determines how much alcohol it can produce before it reaches toxic levels and kills the yeast cells. Yeast has adapted to tolerate higher percentages of alcohol than most other microbes, and some strains tolerate alcohol better than others.

This is a result of the selection pressure imposed on the yeast used for different beverages. For example, wine yeasts can tolerate a high percentage (around 15% ABV). Beer yeasts are generally less tolerant, with some examples tolerating 8% ABV but some others up to 18% ABV. Baker’s yeast can be highly resistant to heat but cannot resist high alcohol concentrations (between 6-8 % ABV).

Distillers Yeast and turbo yeast can tolerate up to 18% and 21% ABV respectively. The higher the alcohol tolerance (and sugar tolerance) of the yeast, the more sugar you can add to your wash before fermentation in order to have a higher alcohol yield during distillation.

How much alcohol can yeast tolerate?

Selecting Yeast in Beer Brewing and Wine Making – Humankind has benefited from fermentation products, but from the yeast’s point of view, alcohol and carbon dioxide are just waste products. As yeast continues to grow and metabolize sugar, the accumulation of alcohol becomes toxic and eventually kills the cells (Gray 1941).

• Most yeast strains can tolerate an alcohol concentration of 10–15% before being killed.
• This is why the percentage of alcohol in wines and beers is typically in this concentration range.
• However, like humans, different strains of yeast can tolerate different amounts of alcohol.
• Therefore, brewers and wine makers can select different strains of yeast to produce different alcohol contents in their fermented beverages, which range from 5 percent to 21 percent of alcohol by volume.

For beverages with higher concentrations of alcohol (like liquors), the fermented products must be distilled.

What is ethanol tolerant yeast?

The Oxford Companion to Beer Definition of ethanol-tolerant yeast strains The Oxford Companion to Beer definition of Ethanol-Tolerant Yeast Strains are important in brewing beer. When a brewer considers what yeast strain he will use to ferment his beer, there are many qualities he may look for, but the yeast’s ability to finish the fermentation is among the most important.

1. All brewing yeasts create ethanol as a by-product of their fermentation of sugars.
2. Once alcohol concentration in the fermenting beer reaches a certain point, however, fermentation will cease.
3. The ability of yeast to continue fermentation in the presence of high alcohol concentrations is referred to as “ethanol tolerance” and is highly dependent on the yeast strain itself.

Large breweries often produce high-gravity beers for dilution later in the process. See, Many craft brewers produce highly alcoholic specialty beers on a regular basis. In both cases, a common problem when fermenting high gravity wort is that the fermentation often stops short of the brewer’s target for alcohol and finished gravity.

1. For centuries, brewers yeast has been passed down from fermentation to fermentation by harvesting and repitching the yeast sediment.
2. At 3%–5% alcohol by volume (ABV), brewer’s yeast is more tolerant of ethanol than most competing microorganisms.
3. In fact, many microbiologists believe that ethanol production evolved as a type of defense mechanism for yeast.

But only certain strains will withstand ethanol concentrations above 8%, with some particularly hardy strains able to handle up to 15% in normal fermentations. In recent centuries Belgian brewers in particular have tended to produce a large number of strong beers, and many Belgian yeast strains are quite alcohol tolerant.

Some yeasts can ferment past the 8% level, but need coaxing to do so. The addition of nutrients, a high concentration of pitching yeast, rousing, and warmer temperatures will tend to result in greater alcohol tolerance. Some craft brewers have produced beers with ABVs around 20% by slowly dosing additional yeast and additional sugars into fermenting beers; however, many of these beers turn out to be strong but unpalatable.

When brewers select yeast strains offered for sale by commercial laboratories, the normal ethanol tolerance of every strain will usually be listed as part of the yeast’s profile. It has been suggested that high ethanol concentrations affect the porosity of the yeast plasma membrane.

• The yeast cell is then unable to transport nitrogen and sugar into the yeast cell despite their presence in the wort.
• Without the uptake of these nutrients, the yeast cell “shuts down” fermentation.
• Ethanol-tolerant yeast strains may have a plasma membrane makeup that gives them a particular ability to survive high ethanol concentrations.

Chris White : The Oxford Companion to Beer Definition of ethanol-tolerant yeast strains

What yeast is best for making mash?

– When your selecting a yeast for your mash there are several factors that are important to consider including: Final alcohol content expected in mash, Ferment temperature and the product you are fermenting weather it be sugar, grain or fruit. By selecting the proper yeast you will ensure you get a complete fermentation and a great tasting final product.

Ale Yeast – Danstar Nottingham ferments well between 57 F to 70 F. This strain is great when your making wash at lower temperatures such as in your basement or in the winter time. I’ve had some fantastic results when making my whiskey mash recipe, The alcohol tolerance of most Ale Yeast’s are between 8% – 10% Wine Yeast – Lavlin EC-1118 is available in most home brew shops and is typically used to ferment wines but works great for sugar shines with high starting ABV. It ferments well between 50 F and 86F and has a high alcohol tolerance of 18%, EC – 1118 is also great to use when making a fruit wash. Turbo Yeast – I’ve used a number of different Turbo Yeast in the past and have had good results. The nice thing about Turbo Yeast is that it ferments faster then other strains and has a very high alcohol tolerance generally between 20 -23%. I’d suggest only use half the nutrients included in the package. If your making a whiskey or rum Turbo Yeast isn’t the best choice. I’d only recommend using Turbo Yeast for vodka because during distillation you strip all the flavor out of your product. Generic Distillers Yeast – Generic distillers yeasts such as Super Start will give you good results and when you compare the cost it’s a no brainier. You can buy this stuff by the pound at your local brew shop. The Best Yeasts For Distilling, Bread Yeast – If your making a rum or corn whiskey mash recipe Bread yeast is one of the best yeast for the job. Not to mention it’s easy to get your hands on. Just head down to your local grocery store to pick some up. Bread yeast will leave a great flavor in your final product. To learn more about using Bread yeast in Rum, Whiskey, Bourbon or Moonshine Mash recipes read our article Bourbon, Whiskey, Vodka and Moonshine – How Much Yeast ?. Yeast Nutrients – You can find these at any home brew shop or online, As mentioned earlier Nutrients give yeast the food to multiply and speed up fermentation they also keep the Yeast healthy. Nutrients are often not required with grain and fruit recipes because there are already significant nutrients present in the Mash. They are generally required in high gravity sugar washes because of the lack of nutrients white sugar recipes. Keep in mind that to much nutrients may contribute to off flavors in your final product. To determine how much sugar to add to a sugar wash when making moonshine Read our Easy Sugar Wash Recipe – For making Moonshine

What yeast is best for malt liquor?

Yeasts – Much like making bread, yeast used for brewing produces alcohol from sugars. Why isn’t bread alcoholic? It is, at first, while the dough is rising, but the baking in the oven makes the alcohol evaporate. Yeasts for brewing are divided into two large categories, top-fermenting, and bottom-fermenting, or ale and lager yeasts, respectively.

• The ale yeasts work best at temperatures from 10 o C – 25 o C.
• As per their name, they rise to the surface, for a creamy head.
• Ale yeasts make ales, porters, stouts, wheat beers, and others.
• These beers have a high ester content, which can give a “fruity” flavor.
• Lager yeasts grow best at 7 o C – 15 o C, settle to the bottom, and produce beers including Pilsners, Bocks, Dortmunders, and American malt liquors.

Different kinds of yeast strains are used for many different reasons, including tolerance to alcohol, temperature range, and tendency to flocculate. Yeast tolerant to alcohol make a higher percentage of alcohol in the fermentation process before stopping.

What is the best yeast for whiskey making?

Which Type of Distillery Yeast Do Bourbon Distillers Use? – All bourbons use one yeast species known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, this species exists in many different strains. Each strain is unique, and yeasts will produce various bourbon distillations.

A distillery may use many different yeast strains and combinations for its bourbon. Many bourbon producers have their proprietary yeast strain, and each of those distilleries treats that information as a closely guarded secret. Everyone who tours these facilities must keep their hands visible, lest someone swipe a sample of the yeast strain.

Distilleries must keep their yeast strains in cryogenic freezers at negative 80 degrees Celsius, so storage is no small feat. These careful producers store their yeast strains in multiple locations, lest one suffer a power failure or burn down. Other bourbon distilleries purchase their yeasts from mass producers who supply yeast products to multiple companies.

What yeast does Jack Daniels use?

Distillation – The distiller’s beer (wash) is distilled in continuous copper stills, four with a 1.9m (76″) diameter and two smaller ones with a 1.4m (54″) diameter. Both types are 13.7 metre (45ft) tall and they are operated in pairs with the flow from one large and one small combined. The wash enters each still at 11-12% alc./vol. about two thirds of the way up, and it passes through 19 progressive trays where steam separates the alcohol. The alcohol rises up the column while the waste liquid (stripped of any alcohol content) falls to the bottom where it is removed to be fed to local Lynchburg cattle. One of the clever quirks of these stills is the thumper (or doubler) connected to each column. The alcohol vapour leaving the top of the still is piped down to what is best described as a copper pot still. The vapour bubbles up though spirit in this still with the heat from the vapour also vaporising some of the spirit in the still as it does so.

1. This second distillation guarantees the vapour entering the condensers is plus or minus half a percent of the target distillation point of 70% alc./vol.
2. 140 proof).
3. Without this, due to differences in the strength of the wash entering the column still, the distillate would vary up to 5% alc./vol.
4. / 10 proof).

Unusually, this thumper still is powered only by the heat of the vapour from the column still. Most other American whiskey distilleries operating similar devices also use steam to boost the alcohol levels entering the condensers. The spirit leaves the condensers at the rate of 50 to 60 gallons a minute per still and they operate constantly day and night, only being shut down for cleaning and maintenance.

1. Over the years the distilling technology employed at Jack Daniel’s has changed considerably.
2. Prior to prohibition pot stills where used and columns were only introduced after prohibition.
3. Jeff Arnett, the seventh master distiller at Jack Daniel’s says they follow Jack’s guiding words, “everyday you make it, make it the best you can’.

So as technologies have gotten better around distillation to make a more consistent product, we’ve certainly taken advantage of that and we feel that Jack would have as well.”