New Way to Sour Mash: Intentional Bacterial Inoculations for Distilled Spirits Fermentations

Description

Expertise Level: Advanced

What?: Yeast fermentation is the driving force behind alcohol creation and the production of spirits in our distilleries. They form the ethanol, as well as the complex flavors and aromas we have come to love. However, bacteria have always played a large role in this process as well, intentionally and unintentionally, historically and in modern distilleries. We have been investigating the idea of intentional bacterial inoculations, alongside standard yeast pitches, to create new and exciting flavor profiles and fermentations. These yeast-bacterial co-fermentations have shown a lot of promise as a new, highly controllable/reproducible method for sour mashing at the craft scale. In this webinar, we will investigate the effects this has on the fermentation, as well as the resulting spirits’ profile and maybe some new and unique ways we can play with this new tool.

Who?: Mitchell Codd – Technical Sales Manager, Lallemand

Codd comes from a microbiology background, having worked in the biotech realm previously. During this time, he worked to engineer various strains of yeast for increased fitness and performance in Brazilian sugarcane fermentations. While traveling to Brazil, he was able to be immersed in the agriculture and industrial fuel mills that comprise that industry. This gave him a holistic understanding of the real-world constraints and stresses these biological and physical processes have, rather than taking a strictly lab-based approach. Unfortunately, he never made it to Carnival, or fishing in the Amazon, despite having several plans lined up! But all this experience transferred very well to his work in the Craft Spirits Community. Producing quality Craft Sprits is an art, but it is also a science!