Yeast Recommendation Calculator

[Tim3]

Hi all,

Since the number of yeast strains out there can be confusing, I'm sharing a recommendation table I created to help choose which commercial yeast strains to choose to match a desired wine profile. This table calculates which yeast is best for the style of wine being made relative to the grape variety and takes into account a yeasts ability to impact terpenes, pyrazines, and thiols when existent. This table only has white grape varieties and just over 40 yeast strains, but I'll continue to add over time. Use a drop down menu (cells color coded in orange) to input your grape variety and enhancements you'd like to accentuate and the best yeast(s) for your stylistic goals will automatically color code green based on a scoring mechanism.

I hope this helps to remove some yeast anxiety with your future batches!

 

[winemaker81]

This is impressive. Nice work!

 

[sour_grapes]

Holy cats!

 

[rustbucket]

Putting that list together took a great deal of time. Thanks for providing it to the members of our forum.

I'm not sure how the scoring works. Can you explain it?

 

[Tim3]

It did take some time, but I’m happy to do it! The scoring is based off a pretty simple premise, but has a few caveats. Basically if the yeast contains the desired attribute, it’s +1 to the score, if not it’s -1. However, if the grape variety itself doesn’t have detectable levels of terpenes or thiols, then the yeast varieties impacting those molecular structures can’t impact the final score, so those particular attributes are scored at 0. For example, if a grape variety doesn’t have detectable levels of terpenes, then using a yeast that focuses on β-glucosidase activity doesn’t hurt or help you in your stylistic goal, and that particular attribute of the yeast is considered neutral from a scoring perspective.