Wine Fermentations: Inoculated vs Wild Yeasts

[@shirfarkash3904]

Great video, thank you, professor Cramer!

[@grantcramer]

Your welcome!

[@pilsplease7561]

Cultured yeast was originally wild yeast that was selected and cultured and purified to be just that strain. its much more reliable but I find that it can make a text book wine which can be boring and plain. Wild yeasts can add a lot of texture and flavor and aroma to a wine, the majority of the time wild yeast produces flavors and aroma for the first 4-5% abv then Saccharomyces takes over for the remainder of the fermentation.

[@grantcramer]

Thank you for your insights.

[@pilsplease7561]

@@grantcramer I work in the wine industry and its always a fight when someone brings up the subject winemakers like to fight over wild and cultured yeast and which is better i like both for different reasons and different uses. Each has a place.

[@bonbonpony]

So how can one distinguish all those different strains of yeast? E.g. if I catch some random wild yeast, how can I tell that it is the right one that will be good for bread raising or wine/beer making? Are there any bad strains that can poison the brew or make one sick? And how to distinguish them from other microorganisms, like bacteria, or mold?

[@grantcramer]

Hello, yeast identification is not easy for the average person. Traditionally people have grown the yeasts on sterile agar plates and viewed them under the microscope, but this is still full of complications for an accurate identification of yeast strain or species. Modern DNA sequencing of the yeast would be the most accurate way to identify them. If you catch some random wild yeast and try to use it, it will be by random chance as to whether or not it is going to be beneficial or harmful. You would need to experiment by trial and error as people have already done for centuries to select for beneficial organisms.