Topic: Yeast & Fermentation

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.

Fermentation is a chemical reaction that takes place when yeast turns sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Obviously, this is a critical part of the entire process. A yeast cell will turn

Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is a secondary fermentation occurring when malolactic (ML) bacteria become active in the presence of malic acid. Bacteria may be present naturally in fresh grape juice or wines. It

Many hobby winemakers believe that fermentation temperature control is beyond their reach — but this isn’t so! Discover how to keep temperatures in the proper range.

This cooling setup keeps wine must within just a few degrees of target temperatures.

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

There are so many microbes that can produce tiny bubbles in new wines that perhaps your question should be, what microbes will not produce tiny bubbles in dry must? Everything from (of

It’s hard to tell exactly what may be the issue because wines that just finish fermenting and are so young often have “funny” smells and do indeed not smell like the finished

There are temperature ranges advisable for fermenting all wine styles, but how does each end of that range affect the aroma, taste, and body of your wine?

I’m a little old school when it comes to malolactic fermentation, but it’s always served me well. There are some winemakers who try to get a jump on malolactic (ML) completion and

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

Fermentation and aging vessels winemakers have to decide between include oak, glass, plastic, and stainless steel. Each has its own pros and cons to be weighed.

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

For those that would like to start getting a better handle on the fermentation temperature of their wines, you’ve found the right spot.

When setting out to make wine from grapes, one of the first major decisions is what you will use as a fermentation container. For most winemaking, you will need a primary fermenter

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

Explore the options for your first fermentation vessel.

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

Home Winemakers, Let’s Take a Vote: Those of you who put your wines through malolactic fermentation only after the alcoholic fermentation is complete, raise your hands. Now those of you who do

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

The failure rate of wine made from kits is very low. Looking back at my database for the last 14 years and eliminating the weirder stuff (you simply would not believe how

Over the past few years I have made larger ­­­and larger batches of wine, and as a result the number of carboys I use has really added up. Each year I try