INTO THE BREW


Sam Tierney, Toronado San Francisco. Photo: Kayla Coleman


Sam began his love affair with great beer while studying and traveling abroad in Eu- rope during his junior year at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Upon returning home to California in late 2007, he opened the eyes of then-roommate Ryan Lamb to the world of craft beer, especially the amazing beer scene in his own hometown of San Diego. Sam began homebrewing shortly after and has since won multiple awards. After graduating from UCSB, Sam decided to go back to school to become a professional brewer and graduated this past December from the Siebel Institute/ Doemens Academy International Diploma Course. He is currently seeking employment in the local market…


hen you think of the local beer scene, the wealth of great breweries, bottle shops, and beer bars easily comes to mind. San Diego-based yeast lab White Labs, on the other hand, might not. This is the plight of yeast in general: beer drinkers often forget to consider its vitally influential role in the brewing process. We recently sat down with White Labs President Chris White and Vice President Lisa White to see just what it takes to run a yeast lab. While both grew up in the Bay Area, they found themselves in San Diego for grad school and never left. Chris start- ed White Labs in San Diego in 1995 and the company has been growing ever since. “We want to be the best yeast company in the world. That’s our company goal,” says Lisa.


Our February 17th visit happened to coincide with White Labs’ 2011 “Big QC Day.” Every year, brewers who do not have the testing capabilities at their own facilities send in their beer to be tested across multiple parameters, including bitterness units, alcohol content, caloric content, color, diacetyl levels, and bacte- rial contamination. The resulting data will help these brewers dial in their recipes and processes, as well as check their cleaning and sanitation regimens. “Yeast is something that brewers don’t talk about very much because it’s not very sexy,” says Chris. “They like to talk about malt and hops a lot, so the consumer doesn’t really get to hear about it that much.” Talking with Chris and Lisa, their enthusiasm for yeast and how it influences beer becomes apparent. “If you made, for example, a Stone beer with four or five other different yeast strains, they would taste really different,” says Chris. “They


Go Forth and Multiply W


Yeast Whisperers: Behind the Scenes @ White Labs By Sam Tierney


Big QC Day @ White Labs


would have a different hop impact be- cause different yeast strains absorb IBUs differently. Different flavor and aroma compounds will be produced as well. Brewers behind the scenes go through a lot of effort to optimize the yeast strain for their beer. The consumer may never see that work, but there’s usually been a lot of trial and error with different strains.”


Brewers’ yeast strains are a unicel- lular fungus commonly of two different species of the Saccharomyces genus, the name of which is derived from Latinized Greek and means “sugar fungus.” S. cerevisiae is usually referred to as top- fermenting, or ale yeast, while S. pasto- rianus is generally referred to as bottom- fermenting, or lager yeast. The use of either of these two species is the main factor determining if a beer is classified as an ale or a lager. Lager yeast strains ferment at colder temperatures and tend to produce less fruitiness, leading to a cleaner overall flavor.


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Neva Parker, White Labs Head of Laboratory Operations,@ Iron Fist for the Pink Boots Society meeting. Photo: Kristina Yamamoto


Though it may be surprising to some, it is the yeast, not the brewer, that makes beer. The job of the brewer is to make wort from malt, hops, water, and whatever else they feel like throwing in. They then add yeast to the cooled wort and let it consume the sugars, turning them into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Besides the specific strain of yeast used, the composition of the wort and the conditions during fermentation will heavily influence the final beer. Brewers must make sure that the yeast is healthy and has plenty of oxygen and nutrients available to produce the flavor com- pounds they desire. In the forward to Chris White’s recent book, Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation, writ- ten in collaboration with renowned homebrewer


Jamil Zainasheff, Stone Brewing Co. Head Brewer Mitch Steele recounts a discussion that he had with other brew- ers several years ago: “In general, the consensus was that yeast was responsible for nearly 80 to 90 percent of the flavor in an American lager.” Differing tempera- tures, pitching rates (the amount of yeast added), oxygen and nutrient levels, and fermentor geometry will all change how a particular strain performs. Some strains can go from subtle and clean to fruity and spicy with just a couple tweaks in condi- tions.


In a given week, White Labs propa- gates 50 to 60 different yeast strains for both commercial brewers and homebrew- ers, about 10 to 15 of which are propri- etary strains that breweries pay to bank at the lab. Brewers can then order and check on the yeast’s progress through the online Yeastman system.


The responsibility of keeping so many yeast strains and other products (such as enzymes and nutrients) in regular production falls to Neva Parker, Head of Laboratory Operations. According to Neva, working for White Labs “has been been a match made in heaven” since she joined the team in 2002. These days, Neva is excited for White Labs’ impending move to a newer, larger facil- ity nearby. “We’re all looking forward to having more space,” says Neva, who also develops and implements the train- ing program for new employees, updates protocols and manages the R&D lab at Sudwerk Brewery in conjunction with UC Davis.


The new local facility will also better accommodate visitors through tours and specialized tastings, and it is expected that construction will be finished in time to host events around the National Home- brewers Conference in June. “We’re really excited about NHC because a lot of us homebrew,” says Lisa. “If a new strain is coming up a bunch of us will get it and all brew, then send it back to the lab for sensory and analytical.” Chris then added, “That’s one of the benefits of being an employee here: free homebrewing. If you want to homebrew, we’ll pay for the ingredients.” Better get in those applica- tions, San Diego.


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