Wine Making Yeast

Wine is just grape juice until the sugar in it comes in touch with yeast and then the magic called fermentation happens; this simple personality lacking juice becomes an alcoholic drink which can bring a touch of color to your cheeks and warm your insides gloriously.

So what exactly is wine making yeast?

While most living creatures live on oxygen, the yeast stands apart due to its amazing ability to live without oxygen. So the yeast, a tiny organism which is merely 8/25,000ths of an inch long, can double its number every two hours when dropped in fermenting juice.  So if a single drop contains five million yeast cells and this number keeps doubling every two hours, emanating carbon dioxide, a microscopic x-ray peep into a wine jar will probably show a lot of buzzing activity. The noise this produces can actually be disquieting.

The wine yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae is good yeast and is used in the making of wine.  In fact, one does not need to go hunting for this yeast, as it almost naturally inhabits crushed fruit, which is why some rotten fruits give off a tangy, wine like smell.

Today, one does not need to search natures hideouts for the simple yeast.  The world of medical science has brought the yeast to the chemist shop, and scientists have made it easy for home winemakers to select the yeast of their choice without too much trouble.  Depending on the country and its climatic conditions, one can choose different kinds of yeasts. Thus, one can choose yeasts which tolerate high and low temperatures, those which foam and don’t foam, and even control the flavor of the wine by choosing the appropriate yeast.

Most cultured yeasts are available in varying quantities but the highly recommended one, especially for home wine making processes, is the Active Dry Yeast (ADY) form, which is dehydrated, dormant, and yet very much alive.  A five gram packet can produce five gallons of wine, and that’s the power of these creatures.

To make good wine, adding a yeast starter is a good step.  This would entail that the yeast is introduced to a liquid medium a day before it is added to the wine.  This ensures that fermentation is not delayed and starts off almost immediately.  This method is highly preferred as the fermentation process, because if delayed, it can result in the fruit juice losing its original taste and flavor. Ideally, fermentation should begin immediately and this process enables the same.

A simple and smart approach to producing great wine is to keep the containers sanitized and fresh. This way, the only strain which gets to work when the yeast is introduced is the one which helps to make wine.  Not following the process can result in other bacteria creeping in and corrupting the fermentation process.  Caution is therefore required. Let the wine making yeast do its work without interruptions or competition.