A Case Study in Over-attenuation and Exploding Bottles

Brewing beer is easy. Just mix together four, simple ingredients and the enzymes and yeast do most of the work, right? The reality is that brewing consistently high-quality beer with every brew is a constant challenge. Ingredients change from lot to lot, equipment can fail, and even the most experienced brewers can make a mistake from time to time.

At Lallemand Brewing, we take our We Brew With You™ philosophy seriously, and our support extends beyond simple yeast quality control. For example, Microbrasserie Le Castor (Rigaud, Québec) came to us when they were facing product recalls due to over-attenuation and exploding bottles. They needed to identify the cause of the over-attenuation ASAP before releasing other production lots.

Samples were sent to the Lallemand Brewing lab where we identified lower dextrin levels and wild yeast in some beers, suggesting possible
diastaticus yeast contamination. We re-tested our retention yeast samples for these lots of yeast and did not detect any diastaticus yeast. Next, we looked for other potential sources of contamination. To rule out hop creep, we isolated yeast from the hops used for dry hopping. Using our Durham tube diastaticus activity assay (that is 1,000 times more sensitive than standard PCR methods at the time),
we revealed that one hop sample was contaminated with diastaticus yeast.

“When faced with a costly product recall, Lallemand helped us to quickly identify the source of the problem and get back to the business of brewing and selling beer. Their technical team is a great resource for troubleshooting any problems related to fermentation or beer quality.”
Daniel Addey-Jibb, Brewer at Microbrasserie La Castor (Rigaud, Québec)

Lallemand Brewing produces the highest quality yeast, nutrients, enzymes and process aids to help you to brew the best beer possible. But when things go wrong, we have your back. You can count on us to help you to troubleshoot and get back to the business of brewing.