THE ATTACHMENT OF BREWING YEAST TO GLASS

The secondary conditioning of cask and bottled beer with live yeast is normally facilitated by ensuring the sedimentation of the yeast to the base of the package prior to dispense. Here we examine the resistance of yeast sediment to disruption in bottled conditioned beer by investigating the attachment of brewing yeast to glass. An attachment assay is described which, when applied to brewing yeast, demonstrated that these yeasts are not naturally adhesive. However, yeast may be encouraged to form an attached mat by the physiological manipulation of starvation. The significance of this observation is discussed in relation to the effect of beer composition on yeast attachment.