Glossary
Maltose-negative yeast
Yeast unable to ferment maltose, the dominant sugar in wort, and therefore unable to produce more than a fraction of a percent of alcohol.
Also called saccharomycodes ludwigii, non-maltose fermenting yeast.
Saccharomycodes ludwigii is the best-known example. Because it consumes only simple sugars such as glucose and fructose, it ferments a normal wort only slightly, producing carbonation and some fermentation character while leaving most of the extract untouched.
The trade-off is the same as for arrested fermentation: a great deal of residual sweetness. It is increasingly used in combination with other techniques rather than alone.
Related
- Arrested fermentation — The related approach.
More vocabulary
Adjunct · Aroma hop · Base malt · Bittering hop · Black malt · Brettanomyces · Candi sugar · Chocolate malt · Crystal malt · Dextrin
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.
Evidence
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Saccharomycodes ludwigii and similar maltose-negative yeasts consume glucose and fructose but not maltose, the dominant sugar in wort, so they ferment a normal wort only slightly and leave most of the extract untouched.
Backed by a source
Sources: Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation — print; Journal of the Institute of Brewing