Alcohol Abuse Advice

Importance of Yeast in Wine Making

Mankind has been drinking wine for thousands of years. Have you ever wondered how wine is made? Do you know that wine can be made at home? In fact, wine used to be made at home until somebody came up with the fantastic idea of mass producing wine and selling it to others to enable them to enjoy great wine with minimum fuss.

We all know wine is made from grapes. How then is it different from grape juice? Is wine just glorified grape juice? Certainly not! The presence of alcohol in wine makes it totally different from grape juice.

So where does the alcohol come from? Is it added to the wine? When we talk about alcohol, we are not talking about whisky or beer. We are talking about the chemical spirit alcohol. Grape juice gets its alcohol content from fermentation.

Fermentation is the process of interaction of yeast, which is a single celled living organism, with the sugar in the grape juice. Alcohol and carbon dioxide are the by-products of this reaction. This reaction continues until the alcohol content becomes so high that the yeast dies off due to the alcohol it created. The yeast sinks to the bottom and is removed. What began as grape juice and yeast has now become wine. This wine must be filtered and stored before it can be consumed.

Had mankind not known what yeast was and what it could do, we would have been sipping grape juice instead of refreshing wine!

Yeast is also found naturally. In this form, it is called wild yeast. The wild yeast that sticks to the skin of the grapes gets mixed with grape juice to initiate fermentation. Hence, wine can be made even without manual addition of yeast. However, there is no certainty that the wine would be to your liking. Adding processed yeast specifically made for making wine helps you control the taste of wine. Relying on wild yeast is a bit of a gamble.

The manual addition of yeast is not a simple process. You can’t buy just any yeast and add it to the grapes. Many individuals who make wine at home opt for the yeast that is used in making bread as this yeast will lead to fermentation and alcohol production. However, using yeast strains that have been made specifically for wine is preferable as it offers the following advantages:

– You know how the yeast will behave. That is, you know how much alcohol it produces, how long it should be stored and the taste it creates. This is possible because the yeast is manufactured after repeated testing and experimentation.

– If you want wine with a high alcohol content, you can opt for those strains that are resistant to alcohol. Since yeast dies during the wine making process, a higher resistance will enable the yeast to survive for a long period of time. This will result in wine with a high alcohol content.

– If you do not intend to store the wine for a long period and if you wish to consume it quickly, you can opt for yeast that reacts with sugar. This yeast will produce a lot of alcohol fast.

Making wine at home is a fruitful exercise if you follow the correct process and have the right tools and materials. You can then proudly share your home made wine with friends and family.