April 05, 2018 1 min read 2 Comments
My good friend emailed this article to me 'Brewing Hoppy Beer Without Hops' and naturally I was intrigued. University of Berkely biologists have developed strains of brewers yeast that mimic hop flavours without actually using hops!
As home brewers we all know making that super dank east coast IPA is going to cost you. Of course it's still less than buying it, and way more rewarding because you created it. These scientists added genes from basil and mint, and apparently have created yeast that not only ferments your beer, but adds in the exact characteristics of hops into your beer with no off flavours.
Why you might ask? Well hops use valuable land, resources, water and if they can add it directly into yeast without the wasted resources, I guess it's a win. I'd like to ask, does this make it a GMO? (disclaimer, I am NOT a scientist!)
According to this article in double blind taste tests the yeast was given a thumbs up by the employees at Lagunitas Brewing Company in Petaluma, California.
Bräu on!
April 06, 2018
Read this in GenomeWeb. My company manufactures DNA for Berkeley and when I read this, I got super excited! A chance to no longer deal with hop additions!?! No filtering, no mess! One could theoretically tune the flavor of the yeast to mimic the flavors of various hops but with much more accuracy. If you want passion fruit, plug that gene in, want basil, use another gene sequence. The possibilities are very enticing!! I definitely want to try it out. Yes this would be a GMO as it doesn’t currently exist in nature.
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Brau Supply
April 10, 2018
I guess the yeast options would be endless! Just no bacon flavour please:)