Microbiological control in a microbrewery.

Scheer, F.M.

Abstract
The use of selective culture media and staining tests for the detection and identification of contaminant bacteria and wild yeasts in microbreweries (which generally do not have access to the sophisticated modern microbiological analyses used by large brewing companies) is described. The principal selective media used are listed, the properties of the major categories of spoilage microorganisms are described and the growth and proliferation cycle of microorganisms in a culture, which is the main constraint on the rapidity of classical microbiological analysis, is explained. The microbiological sampling and analysis schedule used in a typical US microbrewery is presented in tabular form.
Keywords : beer brewery contamination culture medium detection identification microbiology microbrewing microorganism staining