Event Title
Faculty Mentor
Ted Brummel
Major/Area of Research
Biology
Publication Date
2016
Description
Domestication of organisms was one of the key strategies
that led to the dominance of humans on the planet. Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, Brewer’s yeast, was one of the first organisms
to be deliberately cultivated and has been used in the
production of alcohol since before written history. S. cerevisiae
can undergo anaerobic fermentation and alcohol is generated
as a byproduct. Currently, various strains of this yeast—
with varying fermentation properties—are used in the
production of beer as part of a multi-billion dollar beer industry.
The goal of this project is to generate a strain of yeast that
has an accelerated fermentation rate without compromising
the flavor profile of the resulting beer. Using conventional
chemical mutagenesis more than 250 independent strains of
yeast have been developed and tested. We describe the methodology
utilized to generate and characterize six rapid fermentation
strains and provide an approach to ultimately reduce
production time in the brewing process.
Included in
Acceleration of Fermentation in Brewers Yeast
Domestication of organisms was one of the key strategies
that led to the dominance of humans on the planet. Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, Brewer’s yeast, was one of the first organisms
to be deliberately cultivated and has been used in the
production of alcohol since before written history. S. cerevisiae
can undergo anaerobic fermentation and alcohol is generated
as a byproduct. Currently, various strains of this yeast—
with varying fermentation properties—are used in the
production of beer as part of a multi-billion dollar beer industry.
The goal of this project is to generate a strain of yeast that
has an accelerated fermentation rate without compromising
the flavor profile of the resulting beer. Using conventional
chemical mutagenesis more than 250 independent strains of
yeast have been developed and tested. We describe the methodology
utilized to generate and characterize six rapid fermentation
strains and provide an approach to ultimately reduce
production time in the brewing process.