Whey Spirits

[OtisT]

New to me.

Someone just shared a white spirit made from Whey. Tasted OK to me, like a unique vodka. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to talk to the distiller, just the person they gave a jar to. Not sure the ABV, how it was distilled, if it was filtered, etc. I'm hoping to get in touch with the distiller at some point to learn more about their process.

It was made by a local dairy farm that is looking to diversify. Was their first batch, so I am told, and I think they are still working on the recipe and process.

I found some old threads about a similar product but nothing new. Just thought I would give this idea a bump and see if anyone on HD is currently doing this.

Otis

[The Baker]

For years I have wanted more information about distilling from whey. I am acquainted with a cheese-maker so could probably get some whey in return for some vodka.
The important thing is you either need the special yeast that eats milk instead of the usual distiller's yeast (baker's yeast, whatever) that eats sugar; baker's yeast is Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The yeast for whey is Kluyveromyces marxianus or k. fragilis.
Tried to find the yeast on the internet but it was maybe over $200 for a tiny sample of great purity; for a distillery with its own laboratory to propagate. No help to me.

Or there may be a way to do the job using enzymes. Dunno for sure.

Any information very welcome; and a modest (or less modest?) sample of that yeast would be incredible. I could pay but NOT a huge amount!
Anyone?
Thanks,
Geoff

[fizzix]

Took some notes on this a while back after reading about an Irish whey vodka:
Lactose is a form of sugar that makes up about 5% of whey, but only a few industry-secret strains of yeast can ferment that sugar (as The Baker related) without causing the lactose to sour.
So you're looking at a special yeast to ferment very little sugar. Large cow's milk plants are capable of producing loads of whey to quantify enough lactose for fermentation.
And usually by ultra-filtration. Then it is refluxed to about ~95% as a neutral. So it remains an inefficient and thus expensive way to make spirits.

[The Baker]

Took some notes on this a while back after reading about an Irish whey vodka:
Lactose is a form of sugar that makes up about 5% of whey, but only a few industry-secret strains of yeast can ferment that sugar (as The Baker related) without causing the lactose to sour.
So you're looking at a special yeast to ferment very little sugar. Large cow's milk plants are capable of producing loads of whey to quantify enough lactose for fermentation.
And usually by ultra-filtration. Then it is refluxed to about ~95% as a neutral. So it remains an inefficient and thus expensive way to make spirits.

Thanks fizzix.
I have seen on a forum, a craft distiller making vodka from I think sheep milk (uncertain of that last).
So it is doable but as I also thought, inefficient.
But on the other hand if the whey were free....

Anyone else with knowledge or information?
Particularly about the possible use of enzymes, or the availability of lactose devouring yeast?

Thanks,

Geoff

[Saltbush Bill]

There are a fair few people playing around with it , including this bloke from Tasmania who's doing it commercially.
http://grandvewe.com.au/product/sheep-whey-vodka/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
If you look around some of the other forums there is quite a bit of information out there.

[stillwagon]

I have access to 100,000 gallons of whey per week. So, I am wondering if anyone has gotten anywhere with this. The yeast strain I have found mentioned most is kluyveromyces marxianus. I have found some studies talking about using an enzyme to break the lactose down in order to use different yeasts, but the results have been poor at best. There was also mention of using reverse osmosis to consolidate the sugars as as simply boiling it down. I am getting ready to buy the yeast but I want to explore all my options. ATCC is extremely proud of their products and a yeast sample from them is $360. I am hoping there might be some more reasonable source for the yeast.

[The Baker]

I have access to 100,000 gallons of whey per week. So, I am wondering if anyone has gotten anywhere with this. The yeast strain I have found mentioned most is kluyveromyces marxianus. I have found some studies talking about using an enzyme to break the lactose down in order to use different yeasts, but the results have been poor at best. There was also mention of using reverse osmosis to consolidate the sugars as as simply boiling it down. I am getting ready to buy the yeast but I want to explore all my options. ATCC is extremely proud of their products and a yeast sample from them is $360. I am hoping there might be some more reasonable source for the yeast.

I expect that the special yeast is a small, very pure sample, designed for operations that have their own laboratory standard yeast 'breeding' area.

If you can set up and operate this, the $360 cost becomes tiny, especially considering the amount of whey you have access to.

Love to know how you get on.

Geoff

P. S. You could maybe outsource the breeding of the yeast to an educational institute or to a firm that has a food lab that could do that work?? G.