With yeast carbon dioxide is a bubbly side effect
Yeast fermentation is one of the most important processes during the manufacture of alcohols and spirits including wine, whiskey, vodka, beer, etc, and with yeast carbon dioxide is a bubbly side effect that is produced along with ethanol alcohol. Yeast transforms fermentable sugars in the mixture of water along with various grains or fruits or vegetables into ethanol and carbon dioxide, which is then passed through various other processes to produce the desired alcoholic beverage.
Yeast is an active micro-organism from the fungi family and has been used since centuries to ferment various foods and drinks. In case of drinks, the main aim of yeast once it is blended into any ingredient is to locate sugars and convert them into alcohol with varying strengths. This strength depends on the alcohol tolerance of the yeast as well as the limitation of yeast temperature that can be handled by the particular species of yeast. All yeasts also take various pathways so as to produce lactic acid or ethanol based on the ingredients and the type of yeast used in the fermentation process.
There are different species and variants within species of yeasts that are used for fermenting different alcohols with varying strengths. The yeast too needs to be strong enough to survive until they have delivered the alcoholic beverage with the required strength. Thus, beer and lager usually use milder yeasts such as saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and yeast saccharomyces, while wines use stronger variants of these yeasts in the form of wine yeast. Strong spirits like vodka require equally strong distillers yeast such as vodka yeast that has very high alcohol tolerance levels so as to provide vodka, which is further distilled to boost proof levels.
However, one common factor amongst all alcohol fermentation yeasts is the ability to convert various sugars such as glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc into ethanol or ethyl alcohol or alcohol as it is more commonly known. In fermentation of yeast carbon dioxide too is produced along with ethanol. In case of sugar fermentation of glucose, each molecule of glucose is transformed into two molecules of ethanol and two molecules of carbon dioxide. This could be a boon in alcohol production of alcoholic drinks such as sparkling wine or champagne where producers might want natural carbonation in their alcohol drinks. However, others that do not want this bubbly effect might need to remove this carbon dioxide from the fermented mixture.
In case yeast is used in making bread or cakes then the carbon dioxide manifests itself in the form of air bubbles that makes those products rise upwards in the tray or cup. In ethanol this effect produces a fizz that adds a crisp punch to the taste of the final product such as wine, beer, whiskey or vodka, among other such drinks. The quality and quantity of yeast is the deciding factor on the strength, color, taste, and acidity of the alcohol produced.
In addition to turning various sugars into ethanol, yeast also releases a bubbly side product in the form of carbon dioxide that is used to carbonate most alcoholic beverages naturally. With yeast carbon dioxide is a bubbly side effect that needs to be conditioned with care so as to provide that perfect fizz to the final alcoholic drink.