yeast and alcohol

[Cookaburra]

I know that yeast is killed at high alcohol levels and that is why to get anything stronger that wine it has to distilled, but what at cellular level is the precise effect of alcohol on the yeast.

[wildwood]

There are different types of yeast so there is no one answer to your question.
Turbo yeast as used in distilleries obviously has a higher tolerance than baker's yeast.

[theprof]

At a cellular level, the effects of alcohol on yeast are complex and require a knowledge of cellular pathways and biochemistry to understand fully. It's not something that can be explained simplistically on AB.

I think you might be better off trying to access a good book on online dealing with fermentation. If you can access netlibrary, this is would a good place to start. The Knovel Library is another possibility.

[Cookaburra]

Thank you prof, I do have a knowledge of cellular pathways and biochemistry ( I have a degree in Biology albeit a long time ago). It has been frustrating me that the only answers in most textbooks are that high levels of alcohol kill the yeast, whereas I needed to know which pathways were being affected or if the alcohol was actually pushing a reversible reaction the wrong way and the yeast wasn't dying but just not producing any more alcohol. I shall continue to search for a more comprehensive answer