Brettanomyces bruxellensis

Last updated

Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Aspect de brettanomyces bruxellensis sur gelose YPD.JPG
Appearance of colonies of Brettanomyces bruxellensis on YPD (Yeast Peptone D-glucose) agar.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Saccharomycetes
Order: Saccharomycetales
Family: Pichiaceae
Genus: Brettanomyces
Species:
B. bruxellensis
Binomial name
Brettanomyces bruxellensis
Kufferath and von Laer

Brettanomyces bruxellensis (the anamorph of Dekkera bruxellensis) is a yeast associated with the Senne valley near Brussels, Belgium. Despite its Latin species name, B. bruxellensis is found all over the globe. In the wild, it is often found on the skins of fruit.

Contents

Beer production

B. bruxellensis plays a key role in the production of the typical Belgian beer styles such as lambic, Flanders red ales, gueuze and kriek, and is part of spontaneous fermentation biota. The Trappist Orval has very little in it aswell. It is naturally found in the brewery environment living within oak barrels that are used for the storage of beer during the secondary conditioning stage. Here it completes the long slow fermentation or super-attenuation of beer, often in symbiosis with Pediococcus sp. Macroscopically visible colonies look whitish and show a dome-shaped aspect, depending on the age and size. [1]

B. bruxellensis is increasingly being used by American craft brewers, especially in Maine, California and Colorado. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Allagash Brewing Company, Port Brewing Company, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Russian River Brewing Company and New Belgium Brewing Company have all brewed beers fermented with B. bruxellensis. The beers have a slightly sour, earthy character. Some have described them as having a "barnyard" or "wet horse blanket" flavor. [2]

Wine production

In the wine industry, B. bruxellensis is generally considered a spoilage yeast and it and other members of the genus are often referred to as Brettanomyces ("brett"). Its metabolic products can impart "sweaty saddle leather", "barnyard", "burnt plastic" or "band-aid" aromas to wine. Some winemakers in France, and occasionally elsewhere, consider it a desirable addition to wine, e.g., in Château de Beaucastel, but New World vintners generally consider it a defect. Some authorities consider brett to be responsible for 90% of the spoilage problems in premium red wines.[ citation needed ]

One defense against brett is to limit potential sources of contamination. It occurs more commonly in some vineyards than others, so producers can avoid purchasing grapes from such sources. Used wine barrels purchased from other vintners are another common source. Some producers sanitize used barrels with ozone. Others steam or soak them for many hours in very hot water, or wash them with either citric acid or peroxycarbonate.[ citation needed ]

If wine becomes contaminated by brett, some vintners sterile filter it, add SO2, or treat it with dimethyl dicarbonate. Both knowledge and experience are considered helpful in avoiding brett and the problems it can cause.[ citation needed ]

Biochemistry

B. bruxellensis contains the enzyme vinylphenol reductase.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer</span> Alcoholic drink made from fermented cereal grains

Beer is one of the oldest types of alcoholic drinks in the world, and the most widely consumed. It is the third most popular drink overall after potable water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley, though wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. During the brewing process, fermentation of the starch sugars in the wort produces ethanol and carbonation in the resulting beer. Most modern beer is brewed with hops, which add bitterness and other flavours and act as a natural preservative and stabilising agent. Other flavouring agents such as gruit, herbs, or fruits may be included or used instead of hops. In commercial brewing, the natural carbonation effect is often removed during processing and replaced with forced carbonation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brewing</span> Process in beer production

Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, at home by a homebrewer, or communally. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archaeological evidence suggests that emerging civilizations, including ancient Egypt, China, and Mesopotamia, brewed beer. Since the nineteenth century the brewing industry has been part of most western economies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeast</span> Informal group of fungi

Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitute 1% of all described fungal species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambic</span> Style of spontaneously fermented beer

Lambic is a type of beer brewed in the Pajottenland region of Belgium southwest of Brussels and in Brussels itself since the 13th century. Types of lambic beers include gueuze, kriek lambic, and framboise. Lambic differs from most other beers in that it is fermented through exposure to wild yeasts and bacteria native to the Zenne valley, as opposed to exposure to carefully cultivated strains of brewer's yeast. This process gives the beer its distinctive flavour: dry, vinous, and cidery, often with a tart aftertaste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old ale</span> Style of beer

Old ale is a form of strong ale. The term is commonly applied to dark, malty beers in England, generally above 5% ABV, and also to dark ales of any strength in Australia. It is sometimes associated with stock ale or, archaically, keeping ale, in which the beer is held at the brewery. In modern times, the line has blurred between Old Ale and Barley wine.

<i>Brettanomyces</i> Genus of fungi

Brettanomyces is a non-spore forming genus of yeast in the family Saccharomycetaceae, and is often colloquially referred to as "Brett". The genus name Dekkera is used interchangeably with Brettanomyces, as it describes the teleomorph or spore forming form of the yeast, but is considered deprecated under the one fungus, one name change. The cellular morphology of the yeast can vary from ovoid to long "sausage" shaped cells. The yeast is acidogenic, and when grown on glucose rich media under aerobic conditions, produces large amounts of acetic acid. Brettanomyces is important to both the brewing and wine industries due to the sensory compounds it produces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orval Brewery</span> Belgian Trappist brewery

Orval Brewery is a Trappist brewery within the walls of the Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Orval in the Gaume region of Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in Belgium</span> Overview of beer in Belgium

Beer in Belgium includes pale ales, lambics, Flemish red ales, sour brown ales, strong ales and stouts. In 2018, there were 304 active breweries in Belgium, including international companies, such as AB InBev, and traditional breweries including Trappist monasteries. On average, Belgians drink 68 litres of beer each year, down from around 200 each year in 1900. Most beers are bought or served in bottles, rather than cans, and almost every beer has its own branded, sometimes uniquely shaped, glass. In 2016, UNESCO inscribed Belgian beer culture on their list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brewery Ommegang</span> Brewery near Cooperstown, New York

Brewery Ommegang is a brewery located near Cooperstown, New York, United States, that specializes in Belgian-style ales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gueuze</span> Type of Belgian beer

Gueuze is a type of lambic, a Belgian beer. It is made by blending young (1-year-old) and old lambics, which is bottled for a second fermentation. Because the young lambics are not fully fermented, the blended beer contains fermentable sugars, which allow a second fermentation to occur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer style</span> Differentiation and categories for different types of beer

Beer styles differentiate and categorise beers by colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of beer</span> History of beer and brewing

Beer is one of the oldest human-produced drinks. The first chemically confirmed barley-beer – from the area of Mesopotamia, part of modern-day Iraq – dates back to the 5th millennium BC. The written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia records the use of beer, and the drink has spread throughout the world; a 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honouring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer-recipe, describing the production of beer from barley bread, and in China, residue on pottery dating from around 5,000 years ago shows that beer was brewed using barley and other grains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain Lawrence Brewing Company</span>

Captain Lawrence Brewing Company is a craft brewery located in Elmsford, New York. The brewery is owned and run by head brewer Scott Vaccaro. Vaccaro, a homebrewer since 1995, trained in brewing science at UC Davis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">De Struise Brouwers</span> Microbrewery in Oostvleteren, Belgium

De Struise Brouwers is a microbrewery located in Oostvleteren, Belgium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American wild ale</span>

American wild ale is a sour beer brewed in the United States using yeast or bacteria in addition to Saccharomyces cerevisiae for fermentation. Such beers are similar to Belgian Lambic and Oud bruin, and typically fermented using a strain of brettanomyces, resulting in a "funky" flavor.

Beer is produced through steeping a sugar source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt. Descriptions of various beer recipes can be found in Sumerian writings, some of the oldest known writing of any sort. Brewing is done in a brewery by a brewer, and the brewing industry is part of most western economies. In 19th century Britain, technological discoveries and improvements such as Burtonisation and the Burton Union system significantly changed beer brewing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sour beer</span> Beer with a tart or sour taste

Sour beer is beer which has an intentionally acidic, tart, or sour taste. Sour beer styles include Belgian lambics and Flanders red ale and German Gose and Berliner Weisse.

Brettanomyces claussenii is a wild yeast of the genus Brettanomyces which has a negative Pasteur effect. It and Brettanomyces anomalus share identical mtDNA. In the wild, it is found on the skins of fruit. It has been shown to be useful for wine and beer fermentation as well as ethanol production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeast in winemaking</span> Yeasts used for alcoholic fermentation of wine

The role of yeast in winemaking is the most important element that distinguishes wine from fruit juice. In the absence of oxygen, yeast converts the sugars of the fruit into alcohol and carbon dioxide through the process of fermentation. The more sugars in the grapes, the higher the potential alcohol level of the wine if the yeast are allowed to carry out fermentation to dryness. Sometimes winemakers will stop fermentation early in order to leave some residual sugars and sweetness in the wine such as with dessert wines. This can be achieved by dropping fermentation temperatures to the point where the yeast are inactive, sterile filtering the wine to remove the yeast or fortification with brandy or neutral spirits to kill off the yeast cells. If fermentation is unintentionally stopped, such as when the yeasts become exhausted of available nutrients and the wine has not yet reached dryness, this is considered a stuck fermentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrel-aged beer</span>

A barrel-aged beer is a beer that has been aged for a period of time in a wooden barrel. Typically, these barrels once housed bourbon, whisky, wine, or, to a lesser extent, brandy, sherry, or port. There is a particular tradition of barrel ageing beer in Belgium, notably of lambic beers. The first bourbon barrel-aged beers were produced in the United States in the early 1990s.

References