Research conducted in collaboration with Upland Brewing Co., a craft brewery in Bloomington, Ind.
Indiana University researchers have found that conditions common in the production of certain types of craft beers can inhibit the successful production of these brews, risking a growing segment of an industry whose economic impact was recently estimated at $55 billion.
The conditions, the primary of which is high acidity, threaten yeasts typically used in the production of sour beers, one of the fastest-growing segments of the craft beer industry. The work, which appears in the journal Food Microbiology, also reports a method to overcome the condition, dubbed "terminal acid shock."
The lead author on the paper is Matthew Bochman, an assistant professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry and a craft brewing consultant. The research was conducted in collaboration with Upland Brewing Co., a small craft brewery based in Bloomington, Ind.