Yeast from Distillery Plants: A New Approach

Abstract

Nowadays, there is more and more interest in the microbiological resources from different ecosystems, not only because this would allow knowing more about the microbial biodiversity related with these substrata but also because it provides an opportunity to study their characteristics and technological properties which may be of potential interest. This knowledge may allow finding future biotechnological applications for these microorganisms on bio-conservation and reuse of agricultural by-products and may also lead to studies on the improvement of raw material processing. Some raw materials and processing plants in wine and related industries constitute a suitable place for yeast growth; for example, musts, wines in cellars, piquettes, bagasse, pomace, grape skins and yeast lees in the ethanol industry all provide an inexhaustible supply of yeasts. Few microbiological studies have been published so far about the biodiversity of the yeast population in distillery plants. For that reason, the aim of this research was to determine yeast biodiversity and their distribution in different distillery plants in the La Mancha region which are at least 100 years old.