Live Yeast and Cellaring Beers

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by wonderbread23, Oct 19, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. wonderbread23

    wonderbread23 Initiate (0) Aug 4, 2009 New York

    Just a short thought on cellaring beer. I see a lot of people instantly discount the validity of cellaring a beer if it has been sterile filtered or pasteurized in order to remove or kill off an live yeast/bacteria. It seems that this is pretty simplistic view, especially when you look outside the beer world and realize that the majority of wine is stabilized or sterile filtered and typically doesn't contain any live organisms. I'd argue that for wild beers, the live cultures do make a difference since yeast like brettanomyces will continue to work away at long chain dextrins well into the life of the bottle creating not only a drier more effervescent beer, but also changing many of the flavor and aroma compounds. Live yeast also probably plays a small role in scavenging any oxygen and preventing bad oxidation of the beer. I'd argue however that micro-oxidation through air ingress via the cap or cork, the esterification of alcohols, and oxidation of many of the compounds in the beer have a much greater effect on the beer. I'd also note, that the autolysis of live yeast in the bottles can sometimes cause bad meaty/soy flavors in a beer... so maybe it's a bad thing? I think that all of this needs to be considered when discussing the cellarability of a beer...am I completely off my rocker or missing something?
     
    jedwards likes this.
  2. brkstoutfiend

    brkstoutfiend Initiate (0) Feb 5, 2010 Michigan

    I was just thinking of this the other day when I learned that NB pastuerizes their Lips of Faith beers that have Brett in them. It's a very interesting question but there are a lot of variables at play in each type such as the quality of the bottle (corked and capped, capped and wax dipped, or just capped?) and the type and cell counts of wild yeasts in the bottle. Beers with wild yeasts in them will dry out over time and thats not something you have to worry about in a pasteurized beer. People obviously age barley wines and stouts that don't have wild yeasts in them. It's always been my understanding that the development in flavors in these beers is largely from oxidation. However I don't think you could say either way has a greater affect on beer since there are many variables in each.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.