Brewer's Ed

Though phenolic character and diastatic ability frequently appear together in brewing strains, they are not really connected at a genetic level. Take a look at which strains are just phenolic, which are phenolic and diastatic, and which are just diastatic. You might be surprised.

NA and LA beer has made huge strides in quality and availability in recent years, but large hurdles remain for creating it safely. Are you set up to manage risk and create tasty beer without alcohol?

NA beer has made huge strides in quality and availability in recent years, but large hurdles remain for creating it safely. Are you set up to manage risk and create tasty beer without alcohol?

What I do have is a very particular set of skills…

Gram staining and catalase testing are lab tools that when considered together help you assess what threat a contaminant might pose. It’s not what each test tests for that’s the point really, it’s more about identifying characteristics that differentiate groups of bacteria, so you know what you’re likely to be dealing with.

There’s more than one way to get lactic acidity in beer. Let’s get brighter about Lactobacillus.

Omega Yeast’s researchers can make diastatic strains non-diastatic. That means there are now a couple of ways to avoid the risks those strains posed, while keeping more of what you love about saison.

A good head on a beer’s shoulders isn’t just pretty. Foam (and the carbonation that kicks it off) serves up the bouquet. It affects appearance and mouthfeel, too. Most beers are force carbonated, but capturing CO₂ through spunding can lead to a finer foam.

When yeast leaves some of its discarded things around, it tends to pick up after itself (well, with a little encouragement). Then again, sometimes it just has too much on its plate. That’s where ALDC comes in. ALDC is like the Marie Kondo of diacetyl. It gets rid of what will later become a mess before it even starts. And it can be even more effective when yeast are enabled to produce it.

One especially sweet, thick IPA style and one extremely dry, thin one may have something good together when they combine signature elements.

You might be someone who avoids a bloated pack, but once it’s discounted, maybe it starts to look pretty good. Should you go for it? Why are some of us even suspicious of a swollen pack in the first place?

Incisive new strains can deliver something novel, or they can make something that already exists even better. In this series of articles, we look at modern strains through the lens of ​‘new’ or ​‘improved,’ deliver helpful takes on some yeast fundamentals (like esters, attenuation, and more), and finish with some juicy research: a new technology giving greater command of clarity and haze. Top Crop’s annual newsprint edition is available online or in print.

Using technique to improve clarity in your beers.

In a recent writeup for the Colorado Brewers Guild, Laura discusses how the R&D team began researching haze and how this research identified successful approaches to building long-lasting, stable haze.

Understanding when and why to mix it up.

Since healthy yeast’s role in stable haze formation is a new concept, a lot of mysterious haze outcomes experienced by brewers can be helped via understanding yeast.

If you’re interested in brightness, it’s useful to know how a very low-haze-producing yeast strain can be made to produce even less.

Know when to take the counts and what to do with that information.

You can remove the alcohol, avoid making it in the first place, or… a secret third option.

History plays a major role in beer style formation, but yeast predates all brewers and consumers.