A recent experiment led by University of Idaho professor Paul Rowley has led to the potential solution of using “killer yeasts” to prevent beer from exploding during production.
This experiment, conducted by Rowley and his undergraduate microbiologist students at UI as well as brewers from Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati, was brought about in an intriguing way.
“I heard a podcast from the Master Brewers Association (I found it due to my automated weekly Google search for ‘killer yeast’),” Rowley continued. “Nicholas Ketchum at Rhinegeist [Brewery] was the first to think of the idea, and he has been a close collaborator since. My lab already had extensive experience working with ‘killer yeast’ and their effect on human pathogens, so it was easy to pivot to spoilage organisms!”
The actual experiment consisted of adding yeasts to 1,000-liter fermenters that made killer toxins. The batch of beer was contaminated, but this addition prevented spoilage of the drink as well any unwanted explosions.
The outcome of this led to the solution that killer yeasts can be used to combat the negative results of production that can riddle breweries.
This solution has the potential to be helpful to breweries who wish to implement a new strategy in how they approach beer production; it could save costs that are incurred when products explode.
Rowley is not sure how demanding the Moscow market is for this idea, but he plans on moving forward with this research and idea developments.
“We are not sure if local breweries in Moscow have issues with diastatic contamination. We are looking to file patents and license the product to breweries,” Rowley said.
This was a breakthrough discovery for Rowley and his collaborators, but there is still work yet to be done and questions to be answered.
Rowley begs the question, “If we use killer yeast in beer, does it impact the flavor and the shelf life? Killer yeasts are used in winemaking, so we assume that they are safe, but we still have to do more testing at an industrial scale.”