Program Book - Master Brewers Association of the Americas

O-7
The establishment of new yeast management system in our
breweries
HIROSHI KUBOTA (1), Yoshihiro Nakao (2), Haruyo Hatanaka (2),
Fumihiko Omura (2), Seisuke Takaoka (1), Noboru Ito (1)
(1) Suntory Limited, Kyoto Brewery, Kyoto, Japan; (2) Suntory
Limited, R&D Planning Division, Osaka, Japan
It is essential to use vital yeast for making beer of high quality.
We have already optimized the time to crop and the conditions to
store the yeast, and now we have a process that can maintain highly
vital yeast through serial repitching. However, recent studies
in our laboratory have revealed that lager brewing yeast suffers
from unwanted changes in its chromosomes under oxygenated
conditions (1). In practical brewing, such chromosomal changes
in yeast may cause aberrant fermentation and deteriorated beer
quality. Therefore, it is desirable to establish a system that can
detect yeast alteration and predict problems in beer production.
We developed a DNA microarray which contained all genes and
intergenic sequences of lager brewing yeast (2), and it was confirmed
that it could detect changes in genetically altered yeast strains
(1). Using this technology we investigated whether some brewing
associated stresses (e.g. oxygenation or high temperature) could
lead to alteration of chromosomal structure. We exposed a lager
yeast strain from our laboratory stock to those possible stresses, and
isolated several altered strains. We found that these strains had the
deletions and/or duplications of large chromosomes compared with
the parental strain. Some of the obtained yeast isolates produced
much higher amounts of VDK than their original stock cultures
during the fermentation trial. It was very likely that some particular
regions could change more preferentially under these stresses. The
PCR primers were designed to detect this type of change, so that the
test is easily practiced in our brewery laboratories. Furthermore we
established a very simple plate assay system that can detect various
mutations, and introduced it to our brewing plants. Using these
systems our yeast has been periodically inspected by the quality
assurance division in our breweries. Yeast management in our
breweries has greatly improved with these detection techniques.
References: 1) Hatanaka, H et al., Proceedings of the 31st EBC
Congress, 2007 : 397-405; 2) Nakao, Y et al., Yeast, 2005, 22 (S1),
S43.
Hiroshi Kubota is a senior assistant brewmaster in Suntory Kyoto
Brewery. The main subject of his work is development of brewing
technology. He majored in fermentation engineering at Hiroshima
University, and he was engaged in production of antibiotic by
bioconversion. He joined Suntory Ltd. in 2005. He is now engaged in
optimization and development of the fermentation process especially
for the optimization of yeast handling.
O-8
Commissioning and start-up of a highly automated 7mm bbl
brewhouse in the first new Coors brewery in the United States
in 133 years
WALTER HEEB (1), Andy Pickerell (1), Mike Ouderkirk (1)
(1) Coors Brewing Company
‘Project Jefferson’ was the construction, commissioning and startup
of the first new Coors’ brewery in 133 years. This was a green
field site installation of a 7MM bbl brewery with twin 1000bbl
brewstreams, a high level of process automation and cutting-edge
brewhouse technology. An overview of the brewhouse design,
automation, systems integration and operational philosophy
are reported. The construction, commissioning and start-up of
the brewhouse are discussed in detail. Performance acceptance
criteria and actual performance of the brewhouse are reviewed with
particular emphasis on low shear, low DO pick-up mashing, efficient
short cycle time lautering and high evaporation rate boiling.
Walter Heeb received B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology from James
Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. He began his employment
with Coors Brewing Company, Shenandoah brewery, in 1988 as
a micro-lab technician. He progressed through various roles at the
brewery, including quality analyst, quality manager, and business
unit manager for plant quality and conditioning operations.
He served as a primary plant operations representative in the
development, design, and commissioning of Shenandoah’s new
7-mm barrel per year brewhouse and fermenting operation. He is
currently a business unit manager of brewing and utilities. He has
been an active ASBC and MBAA member since 1989. He is currently
district president of the MBAA District Mid-Atlantic.
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