Identification of a yeast strain as a potential stuck wine fermentation restarter: a kinetic characterization

Restarter yeast strains are used to consume residual sugar (mainly fructose) in stuck wine fermentations. Forty-three yeast strains were evaluated initially. Strain ITD-00068 showed the highest values for the maximum growth rate, maximum fructose consumption rate, and maximum ethanol production rate (0.143, 0.268, and 0.231 h−1, respectively). Therefore, it was selected for further molecular and kinetic analyses. RFLP analysis identified this isolate as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Strain ITD-00068 consumed 100% and 36% of the fructose present (at 20°C and 30°C, respectively), when cultured in medium with 12% (v/v) ethanol. The fructose consumption rate was reduced by 97% at 30°C, when ethanol…