My Wine and Only

Title: My Wine and Only

Description:
Yeast are single-celled fungi. As fungi, they are related to the other fungi that people are more familiar
with, including: edible mushrooms available at the supermarket, common baker’s yeast used to leaven
bread, molds that ripen blue cheese, and the molds that produce antibiotics for medical and veterinary
use.

The scientific name for the yeast that baker’s use is Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, or “sugar-eating fungus”.
A very long name for such a tiny organism!

Yeast cells digest food to obtain energy for growth. Their favorite food is sugar in its various forms: sucrose
(beet or cane sugar), fructose and glucose (found in honey, molasses, maple syrup and fruit), and maltose
(derived from starch in flour).The process, alcoholic fermentation, produces useful end products, carbon
dioxide (gas) and ethyl alcohol.

Objective:
 To harness the fermenting capacity of yeast to produce wine
 To apply principles of good microbiologic practices in wine making

Materials:
1. Half gallon of:
a. grape juice (labeled 100%)
b. cranberry juice ( labeled 100%)
c. blueberry juice ( labeled 100%)
2. 1/2 cup white sugar
3. 2 tsp. active dry yeast
4. two (2) 1-liter PET bottle
5. 2 balloons
6. Funnel
7. measuring spoons/cup

Instruction:
1. Resume grouping for yeast experiment - 6 groups
2. The class can just buy and share 1 package of active dry yeast (be sure to have at least 50 grams for
the whole class) and 1 kilo white sugar
3. Groups 1 and 4: grape juice
groups 2 and 5: blueberry juice
groups 3 and 6: cranberry juice
4. Juices available at SM Manila supermarket. Get the ones with label 100% juice
5. No sharing of other materials other than those mentioned
6. Procedure will be posted later

Method:
1. Make sure that the juice is at room temperature.
2. Divide the juice into two equal parts putting it in 2 PET bottles
3. Add 1/4 cup of sugar in each bottle. Cover lid and shake until the sugar is totally dissolved
4. Add 2 grams or 3 ml of yeast in each bottle
5. Prick the balloon at least 3 times using a fine needle
6. Place balloon in each bottle.
7. Observe for at least 30 minutes.
8. Wait for further instruction from your micro lab faculty.

Observation

Cranberry Blueberry

After swirling and putting the PET bottles down, After swirling and putting the PET bottles down,
the yeast particle in the cranberry mixture the yeast particle in the blueberry mixture quickly
completely spread out. settled down.
After a minute and 20 seconds the yeast particles After a minute and 40 seconds yeast particles start
start to go up. to go up.

After 5 minutes almost all of the yeast particles are After 5 minutes almost all of the yeast particles are
on the top of the mixture. You can also see the top on the top of the mixture. You can notice a ring on
of the mixture has an evenly spread out particles the rims of the PET bottle and another ring on the
of yeast. center.

After 7 minutes you can feel that the balloon has When we held it after 7 minutes, it feels like the
a little air when you hold it. balloon was sucked by a vacuum.

After 11 minutes and 30 seconds the yeast After 10 minutes yeast particles starts to go down
particles starts to go down. faster than the cranberry.
It looks like a galaxy but has lines through it that It has a foam on top that really looks like a galaxy
looks like stretch marks. The mixture also looks from the top view. The yeast particles also looks
grainy because of the yeast particles. like it is already dissolved.

After 30 minutes, it accumulated more air. After 30 minutes, the yeasts are still slightly active
Minimal activities can be observed in the yeast and the balloon has more air compared to the
particles. cranberry mixture.

This photo was taken last February 28, 2019
(Thursday) a day after the experiment. The
balloon erected with a well-rounded shape and
the color of the cranberry mixture looks like
cloudy brown and it lightened compared to the
initial color.
This was taken last February 28, 2019 (Thursday).
The balloon erected in an elongated form and the
color of the blueberry mixture looks like bloody
red and it lightened compared to the initial color.
This photo was taken last February 28, 2019 This photo was taken last February 28, 2019
(Thursday). The cranberry mixture has foams on (Thursday). There’s no presence of foam and
top and molds appeared on the rims of the bottle. molds on the top of the mixture.

This was taken last Friday, March 1, 2019. The
balloon of the cranberry wine has a bigger
diameter than the blueberry. Foams and molds
can still be observed on top of the mixture.
This was taken last Friday, March 1, 2019. The
balloon of the blueberry wine is sticking sideways
and has a smaller diameter compared to the
cranberry wine. Still no presence of foam and
molds on the top of the mixture.

This was taken March 2, 2019 (Monday). The This was taken March 2, 2019 (Monday). No
balloon deflated and the molds and foams at the presence of molds and foams. The balloon also
top of the mixture disappeared. deflated.
This photo was taken last Wednesday, Mach 6, This photo was taken last Wednesday, Mach 6,
2019. The PET bottle for the cranberry wine looks 2019. The PET bottle for the blueberry wine did
deformed maybe because of the activity of the not changed but the color turned into dark red.
yeast particles. You can also see the change in
color it becomes light red. The foam on top of the
mixture also disappeared.

This was taken yesterday, March 7, 2019. The PET This was taken yesterday, March 7, 2019. The PET
bottle of the cranberry looks more deformed than bottle of the blueberry looks the same.
the previous observation.

This was taken yesterday, March 7, 2019. It has This was taken yesterday, March 7, 2019. It has
lesser residues than the blueberry wine and the more residues than the cranberry and the color is
color is also darker. This maybe because the yeasts white.
act more effectively compared to the other one.
 This was taken yesterday, March 7, 2019. The This was taken yesterday, March 7, 2019. Upon
balloon looks more sucked in and you can also see removing the balloon, the bottle came back on its
the moist on top of the bottle. original shape.

Upon removing the balloon, the bottle came back Upon removing the balloon, nothing happened.
on its original shape.

SMELL: It smells like red horse and has a stronger SMELL: It smells like alcohol and has a weaker
odor. odor.

TASTE: It is sour at first but bitter after. It really TASTE: This has a weird and unpleasant taste. It
tastes like alcohol drink and it provides heat to the does not provide heat to the body.
body.

CONCLUSION

Without yeast, there can be no wine. Yeast is what gives wine its character, aromas, flavor and mouth feel.
It also impacts color and synthesizes a myriad by-products that interplay to create a most pleasant,
flavorful beverage.

The role of yeast in winemaking is the most important element that distinguishes wine from grape juice.
In the absence of oxygen, yeast converts the sugars of wine grapes into alcohol and carbon
dioxide through the process of fermentation. The more sugars in the grapes, the higher the potential
alcohol level of the wine if the yeast are allowed to carry out fermentation to dryness.

In this experiment, the yeast work more effectively on the cranberry mixture. The taste and smell of it is
more appropriate than the blueberry one. The residues and shape of the bottle Is an evidence that the
yeast really worked its magic. Lesser residues and lesser air, more yeast reaction.