The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the lab’s favorite model organism, and it’s also an industrial workhorse used to make consumer products, biofuels, pharmaceuticals, and alcoholic beverages. Due to our affinity for craft beer, we’ve been focusing on the latter and have undertaken a variety of projects involving yeast and beverage alcohol. We solved a long-standing beer packaging problem, went bio-prospecting for novel yeast strains, identified species that create both ethanol and lactic acid during fermentation, and have recently been studying honey fermentation. Doc Boc had so much fun doing this that he also co-founded Wild Pitch Yeast, a start-up company devoted to bringing craft yeast to craft brewers. Cheers!
Heterofermentative yeast generate lactic acid and ethanol during primary fermentation. Various assays showing the presence of lactic acid created by LAY (lactic acid yeast) and LAB (lactic acid bacteria). WLP001 is a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and does not ferment sugar into lactate.
Isolation of wild yeasts from Olympic National Park and Moniliella megachiliensis ONP131 physiological characterization for beer fermentation. Araujo Piraine RE, Nickens DG, Sun DJ, Leivas Leite FP, Bochman ML. Food Microbiol. 2022 Jun;104:103974. doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2021.103974. Epub 2021 Dec 28. PMID: 35287803
Mixed culture metagenomics of the microbes making sour beer. Piraine, REA, Leite, FPL, Bochman, ML. Fermentation. 7(3), 174.
An organoleptic survey of meads made with lactic acid-producing yeasts. Peepall C, Nickens DG, Vinciguerra J, Bochman ML. Food Microbiol. 2019 Sep;82:398-408. doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2019.03.002. Epub 2019 Mar 15. PMID: 31027799
Two novel strains of Torulaspora delbreuckii isolated from the honey bee gut microbiome and their use in honey fermentation. Barry, JP, Metz, MS, Hughey, J, Quirk, A, Bochman ML. Fermentation. 2018 4(2), 22; doi:10.3390/fermentation4020022.
Primary souring: A novel bacteria-free method for sour beer production. Osburn K, Amaral J, Metcalf SR, Nickens DM, Rogers CM, Sausen C, Caputo R, Miller J, Li H, Tennessen JM, Bochman ML. Food Microbiol. 2018 Apr;70:76-84. doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2017.09.007. Epub 2017 Sep 14. PMID: 29173643
Terminal acidic shock inhibits sour beer bottle conditioning by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Rogers CM, Veatch D, Covey A, Staton C, Bochman ML. Food Microbiol. 2016 Aug;57:151-8. doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2016.02.012. Epub 2016 Mar 3. PMID: 27052714