Fermented whey

[dairymann]

Anyone have a recipe to ferment whey into alcohol? Looking for something similar to kumis. Help me if you can.

Thank you.

 

[nukebrewer]

Whey is protein and cannot be fermented. The closest you're likely to get to kumis is, well, kumis. Whey by itself isn't fermentable. Do you have any more pointed objectives for the drink you're trying to make, so maybe I or someone else could point you in the right direction?

 

[Ash_Mathew]

Check out the Mead section. There is a fermented milk subject going on. On my phone so can't post the link, but it's pretty much always near the top.

 

[MrOH]

I threw 1.5C of whey into the mash for a saison earlier this week. Mostly due to a whim and the fact that I'm out of gypsum and calcium chloride.

 

[bennerman]

Whey is protein and cannot be fermented. The closest you're likely to get to kumis is, well, kumis. Whey by itself isn't fermentable. Do you have any more pointed objectives for the drink you're trying to make, so maybe I or someone else could point you in the right direction?

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but acid whey (the byproduct of cheese produced via acid) is only 13.3% protein (not counting water content, of course). The other 86.6% is carbohydrates (again, not counting water). The rest is fat, though the fat content may be higher depending on the milk and cheese making method used. Point is, there are most definitely sugars in whey.

 

[bernardsmith]

Not an attempt to revive a dead thread but to add a point of closure. Unless the whey has aged for a long time and the whey has been inoculated with various cultures that convert lactose in the way to lactic acid the lactose is a sugar but wine yeasts cannot ordinarily ferment lactose into alcohol. You can certainly add lactase - an enzyme that is used by those who are lactose intolerant to break lactose down into sugars that yeast can ferment and my understanding is that there are some strains of Brett that can also ferment lactose. I have yet to find one that does.
For the record when I make cheese using cultures I find that my whey has an SG of about 1.020 or thereabouts, and unless I add lactase I ferment ON the whey and not the whey itself when I make kumis from cows milk. This wine becomes VERY drinkable after it's aged about 4 or 5 years. Very bright and very fruity.