Olive oil for yeast and experimentation results

[likker liker]

Corn does have oil in it with as far as I know most if not all plants. Lots of people use stills to extract oils every day.

[masonsjax]

Kinda. I guess I didn't entirely qualify my statements, or perhaps I've been misinformed. As I understand it, crude corn oil as we see being extracted in the linked video is never sold as a consumer product and goes through a lot of chemical/solvent processing and refining before becoming corn oil like we see in bottles or in various food items at a grocery store. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 acids are undesirable in a human diet, and may also be detrimental to yeast health. I would stick with olive oil personally.

[3d0g]

I believe the point being made here however is the "crude corn oil" already in our mashes far, far exceeds a drop or two of added olive oil. Again, I know there are brewers that swear olive oil helps, but the whole concept just reeks of homeopathic dilution to me.

[Galeoturpis]

Kinda. I guess I didn't entirely qualify my statements, or perhaps I've been misinformed. The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 acids are undesirable in a human diet, and may also be detrimental to yeast health. I would stick with olive oil personally.

omega 3:6 ratio is a controversial and second order issue. Every animal (and yeast) on the planet requires a minimum amount of each for a multitude of functions (membrane stability, brain function, other fat metabolism etc). During ww2 some people died from rabbit starvation. Wild rabbits were lean and didn't have enough omega 3:6 fatty acids and so despite having plenty of calories, these rabbit trappers died from liver failure.
Omega 3s make meat go rancid quickly so have been steadily eliminated from our diet by farmers. The only wild meat we eat is fish. Linseed or flax is a good source as well.
Omega 3s were so plentiful in the environment that we no longer code for them (i.e we can't make them.) Nor can yeasts (I read the yeast lipid genome). However, plenty of omega 3&6s exist in yeast.
I do sugar washes so must add them. The tomato paste of a bird watchers recipe ensures the yeast get omega 3s.
I don't think that olive oil has any special unique metabolic function so is probably a waste of effort.

[shadylane]

Has anyone been using olive oil as a yeast nutrient? When I started brewing beer years ago, I did extensive research on yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and their life cycle. I read a few articles on the use of olive oil in the wort as a supplement to aeration (or lack thereof for people without pure oxygen and bubble stones) and found that a small amount of olive oil (2-3 drops per 5gal) helped with low oxygen saturation in the wort. The Linoleic acid and sterols in the olive oil would help the yeast to propagate (do the nasty and reproduce) much the same way they use oxygen.

Olive oil might be a good yeast nutrient. But I doubt it's a substitute for aeration.
I've never used "pure oxygen and bubble stones" just splashing the mash or spraying water into the wash.

[raketemensch]

Aeration, as I read it, is all about sterol production. The high oleic acid in olive oil allows the yeast to produce the sterols without oxygen, it's just another path to the same goal.

One of the things that came out of the New Belgium experiment was that the olive oil reduces the production of fusel oils, and increases the production of esters. That's one of our goals, no? Am I confused on that?

They also proved that it "resulted in a fermentation time most similar to the aerated control." Personally, I'm not in a hurry for ferments to complete, so speed isn't really an issue for me, I'm more interested in the flavor.

Aeration's not particularly difficult, we've got a lot of different ways to skin that cat, but if it benefits flavor, then I'm all for it.

Chris White's "Yeast" book is some great reading, if this stuff interests you. It's primarily beer-oriented, but 99% of it pertains to us as well.

[3d0g]

OK, so it's all about oleic acid / omega-9? Fine. True, olive oil has 2-3x the oleic acid that corn does. But then again, in a 51%+ corn mash, you're getting several thousand more times the oleic acid from corn than from a drop or two of added olive oil.

I still call it homeopathy. For any mash with corn, I suggest you're already getting the full benefits of olive oil x at least 1000.