Quality assessment of lager brewery yeast samples and strains using barley malt extracts with anti-yeast activity

Membrane active anti-yeast compounds, such as antimicrobial peptides and proteins, cause yeast membrane damage which is likely to affect yeast vitality and fermentation performance, parameters which are notoriously difficult to analyse. In this work the sensitivity of lager brewery yeast strains towards barley malt extracts with anti-yeast activity was assessed with an optimised assay. It was found that yeast, obtained directly from a brewery, was much more sensitive towards the malt extracts than the same yeast strain propagated in the laboratory. Sensitivity to the malt extracts increased during the course of a laboratory scale fermentation when inoculated with brewery yeast. As the assay was able to differentiate yeast samples with different histories, it shows promise as a yeast quality assay measuring the yeast's ability to withstand stress which can be equated to vitality. The assay was also able to differentiate between different lager yeast strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae propagated in the laboratory when challenged with a number of malt extracts of varying anti-yeast activity. The assessment of yeast strains in the presence of malt extracts will lead to the identification of yeast strains with improved quality/vitality that can withstand malt-associated anti-yeast activity during brewery fermentations.