Scientists have high hops for crafty beer research
WITH the New Zealand craft beer industry frothing, a group of Kiwi food scientists are on the scientific forefront of quenching our thirst for more beer variety.
A University of Otago research programme is quantifying, for the first time, the science behind how yeast reacts with hops – in essence, what gives beer its taste.
The study is run by the ultimate beer dream-team, food science professor Phil Bremer and flavour chemist Graham Eyres, who have studied the vagaries of yeast and hops for decades between them.
Bremer said brewers had traditionally treated yeast-hop interaction as a trial and error process.
‘‘You add the yeast in and you either like what you get or you don’t. We want to be able to say ‘if ROBERT KITCHIN/FAIRFAX NZ you use this sort of yeast, you’ll highlight these sort of characters with this hop’,’’ Bremer said.
The open-ended study has hit it’s first milestone by seeing distinct flavours produced by two different yeasts making beer from the same ingredients.
‘‘In the craft beer movement, consumers and brewers are searching for greater diversity of flavour characters and for greater sensory experiences, and this will allow the brewer to do this,’’ Eyres said. They’ll effectively be able to plan a desirable flavour profile.’’
The quest for the ultimate yeast-hop interaction is even spilling over from the laboratory in Dunedin, to a brewery in Wellington.
Brewpub and restaurant Fork and Brewer is experimenting with its own crafty combinations.
Head brewer Kelly Ryan, an exstudent of Bremers, has created more than 70 different beers in less than three years and is currently playing with 18 different yeast strains in his endeavours produce new and interesting beers.
‘‘Every brewer comes from a different background and has a complete different philosophy on brewing. So I wish this study would have a huge impact, but it will probably end up being just one part of the huge jigsaw puzzle that is beer producing.
‘‘Craft beer is going great in NZ, it’s never been better. I’ve been brewing beer for 15 years, and the industry just goes from strength to strength and brewers are getting better and the beer is getting better and the drinkers are learning more.’’