Topic: Yeast

Wild fermentations can often bring a level of complexity to a wine not always found using commercial Saccharomyces strains. But the tradeoff for that complexity is higher risk. What if you could introduce the good microbes of a wild fermentation to your wine without the risk? There are techniques, along with new isolated non-Saccharomyces yeasts, that can do just that.

Rehydrating dried yeast is a simple and straightforward process, and one that I find to be essential when using dried yeast for winemaking purposes.  The simple answer to your question is no,

The great thing about Campden tablets (a convenient form of dosing in sulfur dioxide for home winemakers) is that they will inhibit the yeast and bacteria you do not want (which are

Learn about the lees that we find in wine and how we can use them to our advantage.

Many of us in winemaking were trained to trust Saccharomyces yeast and not leave our wines to chance with wild strains. But winds of change are in the air and yeast companies are now turning to many non-Saccharomyces yeasts for certain purposes.

I’m glad that you are attuned to your yeast and realize that some strains are “killer factor positive” and one is “sensitive.” I really wish that the yeast industry had come up

You can definitely use wine yeast for baking bread. Bread yeast and wine yeast are both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and both work the same way, by eating sugar and converting it into ethanol

The warming climate and the rise of mean temperatures during the growth season of grapes, which has been evident in these two last decades, has caused the rise in sugar content and

You want to know what my standard, go-to, never-fail, keeps-most-wines-happy yeast is? It’s called Prise de Mousse, EC1118, Davis 796 or Premier Cuvee. Why all the names? I guess so a lot

Aging on fine lees has traditionally been reserved for Muscadets, white Burgundy wines, and classic champenoise-style wines, but that doesn’t mean you can’t utilize this with other wines. Learn the hows and whys of aging your wine on lees.

Careful attention must be paid to fermentation to achieve great wine. We gathered experts from four different yeast laboratories to glean advice on selecting yeast strains, co-inoculation, optimal fermentation conditions, and more.

There are a few effects on a wine if you add more yeast. Number one, the fermentation might start a little faster and go to completion faster because there are simply more

Good for you for branching out. Apple cider has astronomically increased in popularity in the United States in the past few years and I see an increasing number of wineries trying their

Grape juice is a pretty tough environment if you’re a yeast cell. The pH is low, there’s high osmotic stress (stress from the environmental conditions being such that the flow of water

Not every winemaker makes wine with commercially-cultivated yeast strains. In fact, lots of commercial winemakers let their wines ferment with wild yeast from the grapes and in the winery. Here we have

For more than 10 years I have been a home winemaker and for almost that long I have also brewed beer. Before that, I was general manager at a company that sells

You want to add extra body and mouthfeel to your wines, or perhaps enhance those buttery or yeasty aromas and flavors in your barrel-fermented Chardonnay? Or maybe even round out those sharp

Just like I would not let a buddy of mine do any Brettanomyces beer-brewing experiments in my winery, so should you not do Kombucha and wine together in your kitchen (or garage)

Start with the grapes. Whether you make wine at home from fresh grapes, juice, or frozen must, there are many influences over the quality and character of your wine. Grape variety itself

If you are of the opinion that yeast selection does not matter and that the only role of yeast is to convert sugar into ethyl alcohol (ethanol), you may have been missing

Ask 5 winemakers and you may get 6 opinions about co-inocculation. But what does the science say?

Wild or native yeasts, according to a general definition, occur naturally in the air or on surfaces. While the word, ‘wild’ might give the romantic impression that winemaking’s native yeasts come from

An introduction to sur lie aging and why you may want to consider it for your next batch.

All home winemakers wish — and strive — for fermentations that go smoothly and completely to the desired finish, usually dry wine. When things go wrong, a frequent problem is a stuck

Yeast are fairly simple, single-celled organisms. But their diversity, functionality, and ability to adapt is why humans, and especially winemakers love these fungi so much. Bob Peak takes us through several strains that winemakers should know are available.