Yeast recycling | The physiological state of the yeast cell has a major influence on fermentation behaviour. In breweries, yeast is usually harvested at the end of fermentation and re-used for the next brewing cycle. It is important to assure optimal yeast physiology, in particular good yeast vitality, in order to use the yeast culture several times. The number of cycles is based on the experience of the brewmaster.

Inert gas from own production | Nitrogen is used in many areas of the food industry. The gas is also being increasingly used in breweries to prevent the spoilage of beer and to keep it fresh for a prolonged period. The Bavarian company BrauKon, as a brewing equipment manufacturer and brewery, has gained intensive experience with the use of nitrogen and is familiar with the areas in which nitrogen offers breweries advantages over the use of carbon dioxide.

White Labs | As of September 1, all yeast produced by White Labs Copenhagen is 100% certified organic yeast.

Scientific Articles | After the first BrewingScience Yeast Special in April 2019, the BrewingScience editorial team is looking forward to your submission for the second Yeast Special that will be published on 24 April 2020. The submission phase is now open!

Genetic test | Some contaminant yeasts make beer bottles and cans explode. Apart from being dangerous for consumers these ‘diastatic’ yeasts also cause loss of beer batches due to off-flavours, increased alcohol and over-carbonation in products. VTT scientists developed a genetic test for brewers to detect the strains that cause these problems. 

{attachments}Craft Breweries | In mid-April, GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft from Düsseldorf/Germany presented its new GEA Craft Yeast Propagator at the Craft Brewers Conference in Denver, USA. There, BRAUWELT International talked to Torben Bauch, Team Leader Product Management Beverages and Beer, about the new development and the special requirements of craft brewers in terms of yeast propagation and management.

Getting to grips with brewers‘ yeast | Yeast – driving force, flavourist, complex entity and challenger. There is more to this small organism than meets the eye. Controlling brewers’ yeast is primarily essential for beer quality as it has been subjected to some technological transformations in the course of time.

Biosynthesis | It was found recently that brewers’ yeasts not only break down and convert hop aroma substances such as linalool and geraniol during fermentation, they can also form them. Though these processes take place in the microgram range, they nevertheless change beer flavour. This may be influenced by selection of a brewers’ yeast strain [1].

Beer analyses | The Omnium brewhouse concept by Ziemann has been operating successfully for the first time in a German brewery, Schlossbrauerei Reckendorf, since the beginning of April 2018 [1]. In the first part of the technological considerations, the results of brewhouse operation based on process times and data from wort analyses were explained [2]. The repercussions for beer quality resulting from technological factors described will be examined in this second part of the article.

Less is more | When producing beers using ale yeast strains in the pilot plant of the University of Weihenstephan-Triesdorf, fluctuations occurred in sensory quality of 50-l pilot brews. In some instances, beers were described as “lacking body” and as “empty”. It was assumed that this was due to excessive addition of dry yeast. As a consequence, a pilot fermentation process on a 0.5 litre scale was developed in order to obtain information about fermentation rapidly and with little expenditure.

Searching for innovations | Beer, the traditional beverage, is losing many consumers in the face of many new and innovative beverages. Innovations in the beer sector such as novel hop varieties or targeted use of different malts, as well as a great variety of different shandies, have already reversed this trend to some extent [1]. Continuing along the same lines, a method aimed at producing new brewers’ yeasts is presented.