Yeast


Video Tip: Yeast Strains for Traditional Lager Styles

Live Oak founder Chip McElroy and head brewer Dusan Kwiatkowski discuss the strains they use for their traditional lagers—and how they’re testing different Saaz-type strains for use in their Czech-style pilsner.

Podcast Episode 238: Laura Burns of Omega Yeast Offers an Expert Approach to Stable Beer Haze

The R&D director of the Chicago-based yeast purveyors combines her brewhouse experience with years of lab work in yeast genetics to help brewers understand how yeast does—and doesn’t—create stable haze.

Video Tip: How Yeast Can Help You Beat the Hop Creep

Russian River cofounder and brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo explains how choosing the right yeast and ensuring a healthy fermentation can help you reduce the risk of hop creep.

Editors’ Picks: Attention Yeast Ranchers!

The labs have been busy developing new critters for us to corral. Here are few recent releases worth trying at home.

Capturing Indigenous Yeast Cultures with Antidoot

In rural Flemish Brabant, Antidoot Wilde Fermenten’s house mixed culture includes various wild yeasts they have captured over the years. Here, Tom Jacobs offers tips for success in wrangling your own local strains.

Video Tip: The Benefits of Open Fermentation

From tank geometry to hydrostatic pressure, Russian River cofounder Vinnie Cilurzo and head lab technician Taylor Lane explain the advantages of traditional open-top fermentation—and why their yeast love it too.

Yvan De Baets Explains Saison’s Greatest Myth: the Yeast

Yvan De Baets, cofounder and head brewer at the Brasserie de la Senne in Brussels, has been researching (and brewing) saison for more than two decades. He has argued that “yeast is the biggest myth about saison.” We asked him to elaborate.

Saison: A Story in Motion

Saison is a dynamic creature—ever-evolving, open to interpretation, and grounded in a myth that is basically true. It chafes at hermetically sealed definitions and style guidelines. Plot twist: You get to write its next chapter.

Video Tip: How to Ensure a Successful Hard Seltzer Fermentation

Yeast love to eat sugar, and a sugar wash has it—but unlike wort, it doesn’t have the nutrients that yeast need to grow. In this video tip, Chris Colby walks us through the necessary additions as well as the options on what yeast strain to use.

Versatile Kveik for the Modern Brewer

Ben Saller, head brewer and cofounder of Burnt City Brewing in Chicago, has used kveik to ferment a range of styles. Here he explains its flexibility, while also keeping its traditional origins firmly in mind.