If you love your alcoholic beverages then in addition to sipping happily on your drinks you should also know about fermentation definition for improved spirits and alcohols. A perfect fermentation process ensures that the glass that you hold contains alcohol drinks with the best possible taste, color, strength, and character.

A simple definition of fermentation translates into conversion of sugars into alcohol due to the addition of yeast. Another effect of adding yeast to various ingredients is the creation of carbon dioxide. Active yeast in the form of baker’s yeast, brewing yeast, distillers yeast, etc is used to make several foods and drinks including cakes, pastries, cookies, alcohols, and spirits, among several other delicious products, along with several industrial products too. Fermenting the mixture is one of the most crucial processes in alcohol production.

Wine, beer, whiskey, vodka, rum, etc are all alcohols and spirits that require to be fermented so that all sugars such as fructose, sucrose, and glucose within the original mixture get transformed into alcohol. The original mixture is usually made up of water along with various grains or fruits and vegetables such as grapes, apples, potatoes, etc, depending on the alcoholic beverage that needs to be manufactured by the brewery or distillery.

There are several processes such as milling, mashing, lautering, boiling, cooling, etc that leads to the fermentation process. The grains or fruits or other key ingredients are first mixed together to form a mixture, which is then dried and milled or crushed, depending on the process. This dried mixture is again immersed in hot water or the entire mixture is again mixed with water and mashed before being boiled and cooled again. This mixture is now ready to be fermented with the appropriate yeast.

The reason for cooling the mixture to usually below 30 degrees Celsius is that yeasts are micro organisms from the fungi family and they can survive only in cooler surroundings and their alcohol tolerance too has certain limits. Thus, alcohol or ethanol production requires that the mixture remain under controlled temperatures and only matching yeast such as yeast saccharomyces, wine yeast, vodka yeast, etc be used for manufacturing specific types of alcohols and spirits.

Once yeast is added to the mixture then the fermentation definition certainly becomes clear as the yeast attacks all fermentable sugars in the mixture and starts converting them into ethanol or alcohol. Carbon dioxide is also created during fermentation and this feature adds some form of natural carbonation to the drink. Although regular yeast requires temperatures to remain between the 15 to 27 degrees Celsius range, better yeast varieties such as turbo yeast can provide stronger alcohols even if the temperature of the mixture touches 40 degrees Celsius. This form of instant yeast also ferments at a faster rate while easily producing alcohols with 17% strength.

Knowing about fermentation definition

While various initial processes break down the starches present in ingredients such as grains, fruits, vegetables, etc and convert them into various fermentable sugars, it is the process of fermentation that finally converts the mixture into delectable alcoholic drinks. Whether you are a commercial alcohol producer, or an alcohol enthusiast that loves to make alcohols and spirits at home, or simply an alcohol connoisseur that loves sipping on these heady drinks, knowing about fermentation definition will surely lead to experiencing improved spirits and alcohols.