Rapid Determination of Yeast Viability: How and Why

Yeast viability is perhaps one of the most important factors in creating a great fermented beverage, be it beer or wine or some other delicious brew.

But many brewers and vintners haven’t even tapped into the power of yeast viability, let alone how to measure it accurately and rapidly.

Understanding yeast viability, and why an accurate, rapid measurement can make a huge difference in your end product, can change the nature of your entire creative process.

Yeast

For millennia, wine makers and brewers had no idea what yeast was.

They simply knew that crushing grapes and leaving the juices out to the open air, or roasting and cracking grain and then boiling it in water and leaving that out in the open air, would result in a delicious alcoholic beverage.

What we know now is that yeast plays the most critical role in the production of any fermented beverage, and that its viability matters perhaps more than anything else.

A Brief History

We are only able to have fermented beverages because of yeast.

Without it, we would have only grape juice and grain water.

The true power of yeast for all things fermentation is in its nature as a living organism.

It is as old as life on earth, a fungus that thrives in virtually all atmospheres, from colder temperatures where it will simply lie dormant to warmer temperatures where it will speed up and ferment quickly.

It is only really not viable in extreme heat; temperatures above 120 degrees Fahrenheit will kill off yeast.

It can reproduce asexually and without oxygen or sexually and with oxygen.

And the wonder of it all is that its process is beneficial to humans.

Fermentation brings out nutrient availability in various food and drinks, helps humans digest food better, can offer a source of beneficial bacteria, and has been known to improve mood and behavior.

And luckily for us humans, yeast knows how to do this whole fermentation thing all by itself.

It has been doing it on its own since its inception; all we have had to do is sit back and be grateful. Truly.

Wine was basically in existence since before humans arrived on the scene.

Scientists have found that fruit ripens and ferments on its own, which means it likely has been doing this since before humans were around to enjoy it.

Indeed, anthropologists have discovered tribes of monkeys that wait for the fruit to ripen and ferment before eating it. Those monkeys then go on to enjoy drunken weekends of partying and fighting over the last dregs of alcohol.

No. Seriously.

Other monkeys have tapped palm trees for their syrup, collected it, and then left it out to ferment.

Fermentation is not difficult. But it is fun and easy.

However, humans have complicated matters, as we tend to do, which has led to us complicating the process for ourselves, of course.

Everything comes with benefits and disadvantages, right?

Industrialization and Commercialization

Though humans have long been able to rely on yeast to ferment their food and beverages, the rise of industrialization and commercialization created a market for yeast.

Shortly after French scientist Louis Pasteur discovered what yeast was doing, corporations began harvesting and propagating yeast to sell to brewers, vintners, and bakers alike.

Now, rather than harvesting and propagating our own yeast, we began to rely on companies to do it for us.

Which became a blessing and a curse. We could be grateful not to have to do the work for ourselves and to be able to rely on a consistent strain of yeast for the production of our beer, wine, and bread.

This blessing frees up our time to specialize in other aspects of our business like the ingredients we harvest for our beverages or the production and marketing of our products to customers.

But we also lost the ability to harvest and propagate our own strains, so if companies fell short of their promises, we ended up with a product we, and our customers, did not love.

And this is where yeast viability comes in.

A Consistent Product

The most essential aspect of any great product that brings customers to the table, turns them into loyal customers, and has them raving about your beverage is consistency.

Your customers come to expect what you promise to deliver, and delivering on that promise every single time is what keeps your business thriving.

Consistency demands a well-oiled machine and for every link in the chain to remain the same.

From your grain or grape to your process and of course not just to the strain of your yeast but also to your yeast viability.

When a part of that chain falls apart, your consistency suffers

The most critical factor in a consistent product is yeast, and the most important thing to look for in yeast, beyond the strain of course, is viability.

Yeast viability means how many live and active yeast cells you have in a batch. It is not simply a matter of having yeast, but knowing that your yeast is alive, well, and active; it’s ready to ferment.

A bad batch of yeast may have viability under 50%, or even lower! Which means your fermentation will slow or stagnate.

You need to know how viable your yeast is before you pitch it. And, to ensure you know what your normal fermentation is for your brew and your batch, you want to measure your yeast viability at every step along the way of fermentation.

Without the proper equipment, this rapid and regular measurement can be a huge pain and take a lot of time and energy.

But if you have a user-friendly handheld device that simply requires you to add a bit of your yeast for measurement, you can have this entire process literally at the tips of your fingers.

With the right tool, it takes only a few moments to do an accurate yeast cell count and yeast viability assessment, and your brewing or winemaking process is streamlined, and you have all the knowledge you need to provide your customers with a consistent product every time.

Cheers!

Yeast activity monitoring is also essential for optimizing the process of yeast harvesting and repitching! If you’re interested in finding out how you can use our technology to control fermentation and monitor your yeast, save work hours and improve the cost-efficiency of your business, drop us a line at [email protected] or check out the product pages (for beer or wine):

Also, you can now get access to a fully functional demo account to test our Web App. Completely free of charge and with no commitment to purchase.

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