High gravity brewing: Nutrient enhanced production of high concentrations of ethanol by brewing yeast

✍ Scribed by G. P. Casey; C. A. Magnus; W. M. Ingledew

• Book ID: 104634298
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 441 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0141-5492
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00131286

✦ Synopsis

Supplementation of high gravity brewing worts with 0.8% yeast extract, 24 ppm ergosterol and 0.24% (v/x) Tween 80 can result in the production of >14% (v/v) alcohol at 14vC within 5 days.

Unsupplemented worts require up to 2 weeks to end ferment. Overcoming nitrogenous and lipid nutritional deficiencies results in substantial increases in cell mass production, decreased fermentation times and increased ethanol.

It can be concluded that brewers yeast are tolerant to levels of ethanol previously associated only with winery and distilling yeasts, and that they do not require genetic manipulation or strain improvement to become tolerant to 14-16% ethanol.