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Taxonomy of Brewing and Distilling Yeasts and Methods of Identification

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Brewing and Distilling Yeasts

Part of the book series: The Yeast Handbook ((YEASTHDB))

Abstract

There are basically three types of beer: lager, ale and stout. In addition, there are distilling yeast strains. Reasons for differences between ale, lager and distilling yeast strains have intrigued many students of Saccharomyces for a long time! The isolation and characterization of Saccharomyces eubayanus has been discussed. It is regarded to be an early ancestor of lager yeast strains and has the capacity to ferment at cold temperatures (<10 °C). A large number of studies have been conducted to characterize different types of industrial yeast strains. The application of DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify yeast strains has superseded traditional identification methods. However, they do not tell us anything about a strain’s fermentation and growth characteristics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    Graham G. Stewart

  2. GGStewart Associates, Cardiff, Wales, UK

    Graham G. Stewart

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Stewart, G.G. (2017). Taxonomy of Brewing and Distilling Yeasts and Methods of Identification. In: Brewing and Distilling Yeasts. The Yeast Handbook. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69126-8_3

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