Thermotolerant yeast and efficient fermentation solutions

With rising interest rates and the current economic climate, increasing production capacity is getting more and more difficult. It is my belief that 2024 will be an important year for the brewing industry to explore different? ways to increase the efficiency of the brewing and fermentation processes. Instead of increasing the production capabilities by traditional expansion, via capex spend, there are a number of ingredients being launched that are implementing optimised solutions. Take, for instance, the hops industry’s recent innovation: SPECTRUM and Incognito by Barth Haas:

With SPECTRUM and Incognito?, you can make hop additions to the Whirlpool (Incognito?) or dry-hop (SPECTRUM) in a way that achieves a substantial increase in yields, and a reduction in tank turnover times, while maintaining the full dry-hop flavour in your beer. The products are designed to maximise efficiency, stability and cut down tank turnover times significantly, all while preserving the rich, hop flavour in beer.

Exploring thermotolerance in yeast

Our focus for 2024 is to introduce products such as thermotolerant yeast that benefit breweries of all sizes, from the smallest nano-breweries to large-scale production facilities. Our purpose is to not only support the brewery environmental sustainability goals and reduce costs but also to improve their operational efficiency.

With this in mind I want to highlight some new products that we are bringing to the brewing industry. February highlighted the?release of a pair of dried yeast strains: Mango Madness and High Voltage. They are both thermotolerant yeast strains, meaning they operate at much higher temperatures than normal brewing yeast strains. What’s more, neither of them produce any off flavors associated with higher temperature fermentation.

Thermotolerant yeast strains have been implemented in the distilling industry for a number of years because of their increased fermentation kinetics and the reduction of energy consumption. Thermotolerant yeast strains improve fermentation speed and decrease the conditioning period, meaning the overall tank time in the brewery is significantly reduced. Therefore, increasing productivity over the course of the year while decreasing production costs such as chilling.

High Voltage, Electrifyingly Clean Thermotolerant Yeast

High Voltage is designed for brewers aiming for a clean-tasting beer across a variety of styles, from Lager, West Coast IPAs, Stouts, and Red Ales. Its optimal operating temperature is in the 30-35°C range. It offers the potential to experiment with cooler fermentations for an even cleaner profile. Our trials show that using this thermotolerant yeast reduces fermentation and conditioning times by an average of 30% compared to clean ale yeast strains such as LAX, and well over 50% compared to traditional lager yeast fermentations.

Mango Madness, Thermotolerant IPA Yeast

On the other end of the flavour spectrum is Mango Madness, the counter opposite of High Voltage in that, it is used in styles that call for a more expressive yeast strain and high levels of biotransformation. It is particularly good for NEIPA style beers, or any beers with a high hop charge. The thermotolerant yeast excels in the 30C temp range and has a high haze stability. It also allows dry hopping at higher temperatures. Its perfect for both standard and high gravity brewing as the fermentation time is severely reduced. A recent trial brew in a local brewery that was producing a 1.080 gravity DIPA, in which they would normally use our Saturated yeast, the fermentation time was reduced by 50%. The full fermentation was completed in less 72 hours, with a lower pitch rate than normally used.?The thermotolerant yeast also allows dry hopping at higher temperatures.

We at WHC Lab we’re eager to support your brewing experience, offering full technical support and sample opportunities for our thermotolerant yeast strains and our entire product range.

If you’re interested in reducing costs and improving efficiency with our thermotolerant yeast solutions, we’re just an email away at [email protected].

Let’s collaborate to make 2024 a milestone year for your brewery’s production efficiency and sustainability.