Abstract
The quality of beer relies on the activity of fermenting yeasts, not only for their good fermentation yield-efficiency, but also for their influence on beer aroma, since most of the aromatic compounds are intermediate metabolites and by-products of yeast metabolism. Beer production is a traditional process, in which Saccharomyces is the sole microbial component, and any deviation is considered a flaw. However, nowadays the brewing sector is faced with an increasing demand for innovative products, and it is diffusing the use of uncharacterized autochthonous starter cultures, spontaneous fermentation, or non-Saccharomyces starters, which leads to the production of distinctive and unusual products. Attempts to obtain products with more complex sensory characteristics have led one to prospect for non-conventional yeasts, i.e., non-Saccharomyces yeasts. These generally are characterized by low fermentation yields and are more sensitive to ethanol stress, but they provide a distinctive aroma and flavor. Furthermore, non-conventional yeasts can be used for the production of low-alcohol/non-alcoholic and light beers. This review aims to present the main findings about the role of traditional and non-conventional yeasts in brewing, demonstrating the wide choice of available yeasts, which represents a new biotechnological approach with which to target the characteristics of beer and to produce different or even totally new beer styles.
Highlights
The mostly used brewer’s yeast belongs to the genus Saccharomyces, in consequence of some characteristics essential for the brewing process, such as the production of a high level of ethanol with high efficiency, the metabolism of sugars preferentially using the fermentative pathway based on the presence of the Crabtree effect and its ability to tolerate numerous environmental stresses.The quality of any beer is, in large part, determined by the yeast strain employed and yeast management in fermentations is a critical brewing parameter
This review summarizes current knowledge on the influence of traditional and non-conventional yeasts on beer characteristics and the potentiality of new yeasts for the production of innovative beers
Ale-type strains were grouped in a main cluster that been generated by the hybridization between S. cerevisiae and S. kudriavzevii
Summary
The mostly used brewer’s yeast belongs to the genus Saccharomyces, in consequence of some characteristics essential for the brewing process, such as the production of a high level of ethanol with high efficiency, the metabolism of sugars preferentially using the fermentative pathway based on the presence of the Crabtree effect (repression of respiration by glucose) and its ability to tolerate numerous environmental stresses (firstly, the ethanol presence [1]).The quality of any beer is, in large part, determined by the yeast strain employed and yeast management in fermentations is a critical brewing parameter. This review summarizes current knowledge on the influence of traditional and non-conventional yeasts on beer characteristics and the potentiality of new yeasts for the production of innovative beers
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