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Purifying yeast

Revolutionizing the brewing industry with research, innovation and sharing

 

In the old days, brewing beer was an unpredictable process that often resulted in undrinkable beer due to the phenomenon called ‘beer sickness’. However, in 1883, Emil Chr. Hansen, head of the physiology department of the Carlsberg Research Laboratory, made a ground-breaking discovery that would revolutionize the brewing industry.

Hansen discovered that "bad beer" was not only a result of bacterial infection, as world famous scientist Louis Pasteur had otherwise assumed. Instead, Emil found that a certain amount of wild yeast in the pitching yeast made the 'beer sickness' break forth.

He then worked to isolate a single cell of good yeast and propagated it into a pure culture. Emil Chr. Hansen's method on how to purify yeast made it possible to make quality beer from every brew and the new ‘Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis’ was used for the first time, and with great success, on a production scale in November 1883. 

As beer sickness was a widespread problem back then, Jacobsen gave the pure yeast away for free to other brewers.

Maybe J.C. Jacobsen knew the original could never be beaten or maybe he knew in doing so, there would be a little bit of Carlsberg in a multitude of beers. Regardless of his reasons, original Carlsberg yeast is used on most of the single lagers that are crafted today.

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Other ground-breaking innovations

The invention of the pH scale

The invention of the pH scale

With the invention of the pH scale, Carlsberg could ensure high quality of every beer. The applications of the pH scale have since been countless throughout all fields. 

Sequencing the barley genome

Sequencing the barley genome

Scientists from Carlsberg Research Laboratory have, together with other researchers from the International Barley Genome Sequencing Consortium, successfully finalized the genome sequence of barley.

Rebrewing the first quality beer using Carlsberg's original purified yeast

Rebrewing the first quality beer using Carlsberg's original purified yeast

Imagine if you could taste the world's first quality beer with the original ingredients, exactly as it was brewed in the late 18th hundreds. Now, a group of scientists from Carlsberg Laboratory in Copenhagen have made that possible.