- Title: Create the perfect beer using genetics
- Date: 17th November 2016
- Summary: LEUVEN, BELGIUM (RECENT - OCTOBER 14, 2016) (REUTERS) CLOSE OF TABLE WITH TRAY OF BLACK GLASSES BEING PLACED ON IT / HANDS REACHING FOR GLASSES WIDE OF SCIENTISTS EACH TAKING A BLACK GLASS CLOSE OF SCIENTIST SMELLING BEER IN GLASS MORE OF SCIENTISTS SMELLING BEER CLOSE OF KEVIN VERSTREPEN, PROFESSOR OF GENETICS, SMELLING BEER IN GLASS QUESTIONNAIRE ON TABLE CLOSE OF HAND WRITING / BLACK GLASSES VERSTREPEN SMELLING BEER IN GLASS CLOSE OF TICK-BOXES ON QUESTIONNAIRE MORE OF VERSTREPEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEVIN VERSTREPEN, PROFESSOR OF GENETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN/VIB CENTER FOR MICROBIOLOGY, SAYING: "We set up a tasting panel here in the lab, which is extensively trained. Most of what we do is beer tasting. So twice a week we get together and taste between six and eight beers. And it's pretty technical tasting - the idea is not to get drunk. To really figure out what chemicals are in there, how the taste is and really compare it. And it's really quite difficult to do a scientific, almost mathematical tasting. It's using your nose and your brain as an apparatus rather than just enjoying things." WIDE OF SCIENTISTS TASTING BEER, SPITTING IT INTO BUCKET / ZOOM TO CLOSE OF VERSTREPEN CLOSE OF BEER IN BLACK GLASS WIDE OF SCIENTISTS AT MICROSCOPE CLOSE OF HANDS WORKING MICROSCOPE CLOSE OF PETRI DISH OF YEAST MICROBES UNDER MICROSCOPE CLOSE OF SCIENTIST'S EYES VIEW ON MONITOR OF INDIVIDUAL YEAST MICROBES BEING PICKED UP AND PLACED ON OTHERS TO MAKE THEM BREED WIDE OF MONITOR SHOWING MICROBES (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEVIN VERSTREPEN, PROFESSOR OF GENETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN/VIB CENTER FOR MICROBIOLOGY, SAYING: "What we're doing is speeding that up and using some of the latest technology to make even better yeast. We're, for example, using robots to cross different yeast like farmers have been doing with cattle and livestock for centuries; we're now doing the same with yeast on a massive scale, making millions of new strains or variants of yeast and testing which ones are the better ones." LEUVEN, BELGIUM (RECENT - OCTOBER 13, 2016) (REUTERS) CLOSE OF BOTTLE OF BEER BEING OPENED WIDE OF BAR STAFF POURING BEING INTO GLASS AND PLACING ON BAR CLOSE OF SCIENTIST DRINKING BEER MORE OF SCIENTISTS DRINKING BEER CLOSE OF BEER GLASSES CLOSE OF BEER FOAM / ZOOM OUT TO SHOW BAR WITH GLASSES OF BEER LEUVEN, BELGIUM (RECENT - OCTOBER 14, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEVIN VERSTREPEN, PROFESSOR OF GENETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN/VIB CENTER FOR MICROBIOLOGY, SAYING: "We try to take their yeast and try to keep as much as possible of the good things and then try and make it better. Or if they come to us to talk about a completely new product, they realise that we can maybe create a new yeast that in the end will save them lots of trouble, save them lots of money because it will be the best yeast to make the product they want. It will be efficient, it won't have any troubles so they won't have to come up with any technical solutions, expensive solutions often to get rid of problems that particular microbes, particular yeast create. So we try to give them a running start and make things easier for them." WIDE OF SCIENTIST OPENING REFRIGERATOR / TAKING OUT PETRI DISH OF YEAST STRAINS BEING CULTIVATED CLOSE OF YEAST BEING CULTIVATED MORE OF SCIENTIST CLOSE OF FRIDGE FILLED WITH PETRI DISHES WIDE OF SCIENTISTS AROUND TABLE AS MORE BEER IS PLACED DOWN ON TRAY IN BLACK GLASSES CLOSE OF SCIENTISTS TAKING GLASSES WIDE OF SCIENTISTS DISCUSSING BEER CLOSE OF SCIENTISTS TALKING CLOSE OF GLASSES / ZOOM OUT AND PAN TO VERSTREPEN AND COLLEAGUE (SOUNDBITE) (English) KEVIN VERSTREPEN, PROFESSOR OF GENETICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN/VIB CENTER FOR MICROBIOLOGY, SAYING: "We can also use genetic modification which, for food production, is not used because most consumers are quite negative and so brewers don't want to use it, which is fine for us. But for example in the bio-fuel industry or the pharmaceutical industry genetic modification is a great way to make yeast produce certain chemicals, certain medicines. So that's another thing that we're also looking in to." LEUVEN, BELGIUM (RECENT - OCTOBER 13, 2016) (REUTERS) CLOSE OF BAR STAFF POURING BEER FROM DRAFT TAP WIDE OF BAR STAFF POURING BEER CLOSE OF MAN DRINKING BEER WIDE OF WOMAN DRINKING BEER CLOSE OF BEER IN GLASSES
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2016 14:41
- Keywords: University of Leuven VIB Centre for Microbiology beer genetics yeast brewing
- Location: LEUVEN, BELGIUM
- City: LEUVEN, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Information Technologies / Computer Sciences,Science
- Reuters ID: LVA00158U2GYJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A Belgian lab is examining the genetic make-up of beer and developing new strains of yeast in a bid to improve the brewing process - with the ultimate aim of creating better beer.
Genetics professor Kevin Verstrepen's twice-weekly lab meetings can take a rather boozy turn. Sitting around the table in silence, Verstrepen and several students under his tutelage sip a selection of beers. But these beverages aren't for drinking, and are promptly expelled into spit buckets. Verstrepen and his team are extensively trained to detect the minute subtleties and differences between the taste and aroma of each beer.
"It's pretty technical tasting - the idea is not to get drunk," Verstrepen told Reuters after a morning tasting session.
"To really figure out what chemicals are in there, how the taste is and really compare it. And it's really quite difficult to do a scientific, almost mathematical tasting. It's using your nose and your brain as an apparatus rather than just enjoying things."
Each of the test beers are supplied in unmarked, identical black glasses. In front of each of the panellists are tick-box questionnaires to mark down and evaluate the qualities of the beer. In addition, the beers are also subjected to chemical analyses, where some 50 flavour compounds are measured.
The group from the University of Leuven and VIB, a life sciences research institute, aims to characterise some 250 commercially available Belgian beers, creating what Verstrepen calls a 'scientific map' of beer to help drinkers select their next tipple.
But a drinker's database is only one part of the on-going research for these self-proclaimed 'beer geeks' -- they're also using genetics to make better beer.
Verstrepen said they took their cue from how brewers hundreds of years ago selected the best yeast without even knowing what it was. By continuously re-using the same yeast with the best brewing traits the yeast got better by slowly adapting to the breweries. It's a distinctly 'Darwinian' process, said Verstrepen.
"What we're doing is speeding that up and using some of the latest technology to make even better yeast. We're, for example, using robots to cross different yeast like farmers have been doing with cattle and livestock for centuries; we're now doing the same with yeast on a massive scale, making millions of new strains or variants of yeast and testing which ones are the better ones," said Verstrepen.
The lab's freezer currently houses around 30,000 different strains of yeast. By analysing the chemical and genetic basis of a beer's flavour and aroma, the scientists are breeding yeast strains that promote the best characteristics that make a good beer. Ultimately, Verstrepen says they want to build the 'perfect' yeast.
It's an approach that has caught the attention of commercial brewers keen to tweak the formula of their beer to eliminate, for example, a certain smell or speed up the fermentation process.
Verstrepen said: "We take their yeast and try to keep as much as possible of the good things and then try and make it better. Or if they come to us to talk about a completely new product, they realise that we can maybe create a new yeast that in the end will save them lots of trouble, save them lots of money because it will be the best yeast to make the product they want. It will be efficient, it won't have any troubles so they won't have to come up with any technical solutions, expensive solutions often to get rid of problems that particular microbes, particular yeast create. So we try to give them a running start and make things easier for them."
The researchers are also experimenting with genetic-modification tools to develop different strains of yeast. While most food and drink companies have little appetite for GM products, Verstrepen said the new strains of yeast could have applications in other industries.
"We can also use genetic modification which, for food production, is not used because most consumers are quite negative and so brewers don't want to use it, which is fine for us. But for example in the bio-fuel industry or the pharmaceutical industry genetic modification is great way to make yeast produce certain chemicals, certain medicines. So that's another thing that we're also looking in to," he said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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