Microbe New To Science Found In Self-Fermented Beer (sciencemag.org) 27
sciencehabit writes: In May 2014, a group of scientists took a field trip to a small brewery in an old warehouse in Seattle, Washington -- and came away with a microbe scientists have never seen before. In so-called wild beer, the team identified a yeast belonging to the genus Pichia, which turned out to be a hybrid of a known species called P. membranifaciens and another Pichia species completely new to science. Other Pichia species are known to spoil a beer, but the new hybrid seems to smell better.
Their investigation offered a proof-of-concept for a new methodology for studying spontaneously fermented beers -- especially since the brewmaster admitted that like many brewers making wild beers, "he had no idea what microbes were living in the barrel staves that had inoculated his beer."
The scientists dubbed the new hybrid Pichia apotheca -- which is Greek for "warehouse."
Their investigation offered a proof-of-concept for a new methodology for studying spontaneously fermented beers -- especially since the brewmaster admitted that like many brewers making wild beers, "he had no idea what microbes were living in the barrel staves that had inoculated his beer."
The scientists dubbed the new hybrid Pichia apotheca -- which is Greek for "warehouse."
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... "professional" brewers do know exactly what's in their beer?
Technologies to analyze urine, even a horse's, are far more advanced and routine than those for beer.
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sure, label of brewers yeast they buy will tell, e.g. saccharomyces cerevisiae or saccharomyces bayanus
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There's also brettanomyces lambicus for Brett beers (and the funk that comes with them), and lactobacillus, used in sour beers. Then there's lots of variety even within a species.
There's a practice of making a culture from whatever you can find in your neighborhood, and that's what a wild beer is about. It's also how brettanomyces lambicus was discovered.
Re:Are you implying... (Score:5, Informative)
There are several varieties of beer, (lambics come to mind in particular). that use "wild caught" yeast. This is instead of being inoculated with a standard yeast strain. It's pretty difficult to tell exactly what yeast and other microbes you've caught, so each batch often ends up different. Often the microbes in addition to yeast can add sour or fruity type flavors, but really, the brewer typically does not know exactly which microbes are in the brew.
Re:Are you implying... (Score:4, Informative)
Producing such beers typically requires maintaining an historical process, at a fixed location, since the colonization conditions are uncontrolled yet very specific for the product. Its difficult to introduce innovation without risking the result.
One Belgian lambic brewer needed to move out of their historic wooden structure for a larger one, so they dismantled the old building and re-erected it in pieces inside new one, to provide the same environment as much as possible.
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These are spontaneously fermented beers. Brewers just let whatever microbe present in the environment do the fermentation
This is a specific and rather uncommon type of beer.
Usually, a specific, well known kind of yeast is used, so brewers, professional and amateur alike, can have a pretty good idea of what's in their beer.
Re:Are you implying... (Score:4, Informative)
... "professional" brewers do know exactly what's in their beer?
Yes. And even serious amateurs do. Modern beer fermentation practice is to use fermentation conditions that are sterile (or nearly so) and the introduction of a very specific yeast strain, chose for the specific result desired.
On my desk in front of me is a vial of White Labs WLP099, Super High Gravity Ale Yeast. This strain, WLP099, will provide the exact type of fermentation I want. White Labs, one of the best brewing yeast companies, maintains sterile labs and propagation systems to maintain their extensive library of strains.
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BTW - one of the service White Labs provides is "strain hosting". If you are a local brewer and you have your own special culture you use, you pay them to maintain that culture for you so that it does not get contaminated or die out.
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How to keep the various strain lines replicating only the original DNA?
Curious how it is done.
Any links you recommend?
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Are you implying "professional" brewers do know exactly what's in their beer?
Yes. Where 'knowing' can range from buying yeast from expert companies that may even have done the DNA sequencing (the big boys), to (for many craft beers) at least doing everything they can to keep the yeast population they have used in the past happy and stable. See (or, more accurately, listen to): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programme... [bbc.co.uk]
Quote from the programme:
Dr Bill Simpson is the Managing Director of a company in Leatherhead that has hundreds of samples of yeasts, old and new, frozen in liquid nitrogen. By preserving different yeasts from around the world his team are able to recreate ales and lagers from the past.
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They could if they wanted to. A MinION DNA sequencer only costs $1000 USD, and a single run would provide plenty of coverage for a whole-genome assembly of any yeasts in the beer.
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Yup I now understand...
Scientist + beer
= 3 years to identify one microbe.
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Three years is nothing compared to the centuries it took to discover yeast and why it was necessary to brew beer.
best news of the day (Score:2)
Not surprising (Score:5)
About 80% of microbial organisms living on and around us are "unknown" or rather not classified yet.
According to researchers, colonies of organisms are unique to each of us and can fingerprint pretty much everything in the world. It wouldn't be surprising if you can track down the origins of each bottle of beer to a specific brewing site.
Re: Not surprising (Score:1)
The scientists better get cracking the, before the mass-extinction known as Lysol happens.
Re:Not surprising (Score:5, Funny)
It wouldn't be surprising if you can track down the origins of each bottle of beer to a specific brewing site.
I'm on it!
Probably easier to find new microbes elsewhere (Score:1)
If the scientists want to find more previously unknown microbes, they probably need go no further than their local Chipotle.
The root language is Latin (Score:2)
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I used to make wine every year. (Score:2)
Grapes have yeast and wine will ferment on it's own. Something you really don't want as it would be undrinkable.
Most anything will pick up yeast from the air. This was a very lucky find.