About This Course

This course includes 53+ minutes of video

In this 53-minute video course, Burns delivers an easy-to-follow yet detailed master class on how to take better advantage of yeast and fermentation to crank up the volume on your hop aroma. Among other topics, she covers: 

  • choosing yeast strains for biotransformation
  • various hop compounds—such as thiols and terpenes—and how they manifest in beer aroma
  • mash-hopping and its effects on biotransformation
  • malt as a source of thiol precursors for bigger aroma
  • how labs engineer thiolized yeast strains
  • cold-side hopping and effects on haze and foam
  • considerations for re-pitching yeast
  • getting provocative aromas from everyday brewing ingredients
  • thiols as a way to build more stable aroma

Instructor

Brewing isn’t a typical career path for research scientists with doctorate degrees, but for Laura Burns it was a practical way to apply academic learning in a creative environment. After finishing her doctorate, she worked in brewhouses from Tennessee to Chicago before landing at Omega Yeast, where she’s assumed the title of director of research and development. There, she’s helped develop new yeast products to solve problems for brewers, and she’s worked diligently to understand why and how yeast create certain flavors and textures in beer.

Laura Burns

R&D Director, Omega Yeast

Course Curriculum

  • 01

    Welcome

    Show Content

    • Welcome, and About Omega
  • 02

    Compounds + Biotransformation

    Show Content

    • Compounds in Beer

    • The Complex Case of Thiols

    • Biotransformation

    • Hop Compounds Interaction with Yeast

    • Randy Mosher Deconstructs the Heady Aromas of IPA
  • 03

    Thiols + Precursors

    Show Content

    • A Surprising Major Source of Thiols

    • How Yeast Access the Precursors

    • Engineering These Strains

    • What Does This Mean for Your Brew

    • Thiols, Unchained: More Ways to Unlock Tropical Aromas
  • 04

    Hopping Techniques + Testing Theorized Yeasts

    Show Content

    • Mash Hopping

    • Cold Side Hopping (including haze, repitching, and foam)

    • Testing Thiolized Yeasts

    • Building More Exotic (and Stable) Flavors
  • 05

    Conclusion, Recipes & Further Reading/Listening

    Show Content

    • Final Thoughts

    • Podcast Episode 238: Laura Burns of Omega Yeast Offers an Expert Approach to Stable Beer Haze

    • Recipe: Foam Like Clockwork Hazy Double IPA (with Omega Yeast)

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