Pure yeast culture for lager brewing
Cultivo de levadura pura para cerveza lager
- Date
- 1883 · confidence high
- Place
- Carlsberg Laboratory, Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Credited to
- Emil Christian Hansen
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Hansen isolated a single bottom-fermenting yeast cell and grew it in pure culture, and in November 1883 the first beer made with that culture came out of the Old Carlsberg brewery. It ended the infections that ruined batches and gave consistent quality.
The yeast he used was named Saccharomyces carlsbergensis and is now classified as S. pastorianus. Pasteur had studied yeasts earlier but did not achieve single-cell pure cultures.
What it led to
- pure yeast cultures in breweries worldwide
- selected yeasts for wine, bread and biotechnology
- the basis of industrial lager (Pilsner, Carlsberg, Heineken)