The Cereal Grain Café
All things related to cereal grains. Join host Dr. Kurt Rosentrater and his guests as they talk about grain, from farm to table, from ancient history to modern technologies, and everything in between. Grain has played a critical role in human societies throughout history, and it continues to even today.
The Cereal Grain Café
Season 3, Episode 7 - Yeast and Alcohol with Professor Graeme Walker
Why is yeast the most popular microorganism?
Because it’s a fun guy!
In this episode we talk with Dr. Graeme Walker from Abertay University in Scotland. He is a professor of zymology – in other words, he studies yeasts and fermentation. His focus over the years has been fermentation for alcoholic beverages, distilled spirits, and biofuels – many of which (but not all) use cereal grain as a substrate. His recent work has been investigating non-cereal substrates for fermentation.
Graeme’s contact information can be found at his faculty webpage at Abertay University. If you would like to dig deeper into yeast and fermentation, check out his Google Scholar page and explore his publications. You can also take a deeper dive into yeast nutrition in a recent webinar with Graeme.
Especially relevant to our discussion about non-cereal fermentations is a recent study that estimates yield drags for corn, wheat, and barley due to climate change.
A half-century of climate change in major agricultural regions: Trends, impacts, and surprises
Indeed, changing cropping conditions may necessitate the development of non-cereal alternatives for fermentation of both beverage as well as biofuel alcohols.
Our music is Inspiring Cinematic Asia by Lexin Music, which is available at Pixabay.