Flowers of the hop plant provide both bitterness and "hoppy" flavor to beer. Hops are, however, both a water and energy intensive crop and vary considerably in essential oil content, making it challenging to achieve a consistent hoppy taste in beer. Here, we report that brewer's yeast can be engineered to biosynthesize aromatic monoterpene molecules that impart hoppy flavor to beer by incorporating recombinant DNA derived from yeast, mint, and basil.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrewing beer involves microbial activity at every stage, from raw material production and malting to stability in the package. Most of these activities are desirable, as beer is the result of a traditional food fermentation, but others represent threats to the quality of the final product and must be controlled actively through careful management, the daily task of maltsters and brewers globally. This review collates current knowledge relevant to the biology of brewing yeast, fermentation management, and the microbial ecology of beer and brewing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The foam stability of beer is dependent on the presence of foam-stabilizing polypeptides derived from the cereals from which it is made. It has long been argued that there is a tendency to boost the foam-stabilizing capabilities of these polypeptides at the heating stages involved in the production of the grist materials. The present study started with the intent to confirm whether these changes occurred and to assess the extent to which different cereal products differed in their foam-stabilizing tendencies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmerican coolship ale (ACA) is a type of spontaneously fermented beer that employs production methods similar to traditional Belgian lambic. In spite of its growing popularity in the American craft-brewing sector, the fermentation microbiology of ACA has not been previously described, and thus the interface between production methodology and microbial community structure is unexplored. Using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP), barcoded amplicon sequencing (BAS), quantitative PCR (qPCR) and culture-dependent analysis, ACA fermentations were shown to follow a consistent fermentation progression, initially dominated by Enterobacteriaceae and a range of oxidative yeasts in the first month, then ceding to Saccharomyces spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: It has been claimed that beer is one of the richest sources of silicon in the diet; however, little is known of the relationship between silicon content and beer style and the manner in which beer is produced. The purpose of this study was to measure silicon in a diversity of beers and ascertain the grist selection and brewing factors that impact the level of silicon obtained in beer.
Results: Commercial beers ranged from 6.
The interaction of a haze-active protein (gliadin) and a haze-active polyphenol (tannic acid) was studied in a model beer system in order to investigate the principle mechanisms of haze formation at low temperatures. Low concentrations (g/L) of tannic acid, high concentrations of gliadin, and comparatively high temperatures lead to maximum haze values. When considered on a molar basis, the greatest haze levels are displayed at an approximate 1:1 equivalence of polyphenol and protein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF