Growth of non-Saccharomyces yeasts affects nutrient availability for Saccharomyces cerevisiae during wine fermentation.

Karina Medina, Eduardo Boido, Eduardo Dellacassa, Francisco Carrau

Departamento de Alimentos, Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.

International journal of food microbiology 2012 Jul 2

filter terms:

Yeast produces numerous secondary metabolites during fermentation that impact final wine quality. Although it is widely recognized that growth of diverse non-Saccharomyces (NS) yeast can positively affect flavor complexity during Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine fermentation, the inability to control spontaneous or co-fermentation processes by NS yeast has restricted their use in winemaking. We selected two NS yeasts from our Uruguayan native collection to study NS-S. cerevisiae interactions during wine fermentation. The selected strains of Hanseniaspora vineae and Metschnikowia pulcherrima had different yeast assimilable nitrogen consumption profiles and had different effects on S. cerevisiae fermentation and growth kinetics. Studies in which we varied inoculum size and using either simultaneous or sequential inoculation of NS yeast and S. cerevisiae suggested that competition for nutrients had a significant effect on fermentation kinetics. Sluggish fermentations were more pronounced when S. cerevisiae was inoculated 24h after the initial stage of fermentation with a NS strain compared to co-inoculation. Monitoring strain populations using differential WL nutrient agar medium and fermentation kinetics of mixed cultures allowed for a better understanding of strain interactions and nutrient addition effects. Limitation of nutrient availability for S. cerevisiae was shown to result in stuck fermentations as well as to reduce sensory desirability of the resulting wine. Addition of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and a vitamin mix to a defined medium allowed for a comparison of nutrient competition between strains. Addition of DAP and the vitamin mix was most effective in preventing stuck fermentations. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Karina Medina, Eduardo Boido, Eduardo Dellacassa, Francisco Carrau. Growth of non-Saccharomyces yeasts affects nutrient availability for Saccharomyces cerevisiae during wine fermentation. International journal of food microbiology. 2012 Jul 2;157(2):245-50