Yeast and Fermentation
Yeast and Fermentation, by Chuck Hanning
Introduction
Most beer styles are made using one of two unicellular species of microorganisms of the Saccharomyces genus, more commonly called yeast. Generally, either an ale yeast (known as S. cerevisiae) or a lager yeast (known as S. pastorianus or by older terminology S. carlsbergensis or S. uvarum) is used for the appropriate style. Functionally these yeasts differ in their optimum fermentation temperatures, ability to ferment different sugars, environmental conditions, and ability to settle out upon completion of fermentation, and production and/or metabolism of fermentation by-products. The choice of the strain of ale or lager yeast and how these factors are controlled during the various stages of fermentation will determine how well a beer is made to style. While a list of all the possible strains is beyond the scope of this guide, readers are encouraged to review reference (1) for a more thorough review.
One of the common terms used to describe yeast is apparent attenuation. The attenuation of a particular yeast describes its ability to decrease the original gravity of wort upon fermentation. It is commonly listed as a percent, in which the numerator is the difference between final and original gravity and denominator is the original gravity. Because the density of ethanol is less than water, when a hydrometer is used to measure this attenuation, it will be measuring the apparent attenuation not the real attenuation (if the alcohol was replaced by water). Another common term used to describe different yeasts is flocculation, which is the ability of the yeast to settle out of the beer upon completion of fermentation; it can vary significantly with strain.
