Something very simple can throw that flavor off before most types of beer are even bottled, and cause further troubles once it’s left the brewery: Pediococcus and Lactobacillus, two types of bacteria with voracious appetites that can wreak havoc by leaving an undesirable sour taste in their wake. They can be crucial to making some beer styles, but if unchecked in others (like say an India Pale Ale), they can ruin a batch. That’s why I’m here: Russian River is among the first breweries to try a new test for these germs, one that promises to take a week-long test that has become the standard among brewers, and do it in just under three hours.
To speed up turnaround time, Philadelphia-based company Invisible Sentinel has come up with a new rapid testing kit called the BrewPal that identifies isolated chunks of DNA from problem bacteria. It’s not meant to diagnose every potential problem that could threaten a good beer; rather, it’s designed to target the specific types of Pediococcusand Lactobacillus bacteria that are responsible for serious, and often irreversible damage.
The idea behind the BrewPal is that you can simply get a yes or no for if the bacteria is there, much like an over-the-counter test for pregnancy. The test uses a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR for short. It’s been used in everything from criminal forensics and paternity tests to helping enforce overfishing tied to black caviar.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Spoiled rotten: how breweries are trying to spot bad beer through DNA
