The Science behind Spontaneity

To say beer is simple enough to make that even a woman in medieval times could make it is true, albeit misogynistic. To say that beer is simple enough to make that even I could make it in my apartment’s small kitchen is true, but somewhat insulting to the hard work those medieval women — brewsters — applied to their craft. In their day, the act of making beer relied on a lot of know–how and a little magic, in that no one could say for sure exactly how the raw ingredients — grains, herbs, and water — were transformed into an effervescent, alcoholic drink. What they did understand was that it helped if some remnants from the previous batch were added to the new one. The slurry from the brewing pots contained what brewers simply referred to as “God-is-good.” Today, thanks to the discovery by Louis Pasteur, we call it yeast. Drink a quality brew and it’s all the proof you need that even agnostics have to admit, God is great.

The discovery of yeast launched the branch of science known as zymurgy — the study of fermentation. As yeast strains evolve (most breweries that use their own yeast over and over again say it has developed a “house character”), so does the field of zymurgy.

While beer is fundamentally the same beverage today that it was centuries and even millennia ago, one primary difference is that brewers — each of them zymurgists — today initiate fermentation by pitching yeast, the microorganisms that convert sugars from the malt into carbon dioxide, thus making beer bubbly and alcoholic. It requires specific and ideal brewing conditions including temperature and sanitation. It leaves little room for spontaneity. But what if . . . just what if there could be a spontaneously fermented beer? For one, it’d be impossible to accurately predict what it would feel, smell, and taste like.

Yes, taste. Yeast also dictates greatly the flavor of the beer. Most brewer’s yeast falls under the species of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for making ales or Saccharomyces pastorianus for lagers. The German yeast pitched into Bavarian hefeweizens give it that tell-tale banana and clover flavor. California lager yeast is responsible for Anchor Steam’s slightly grassy notes. And Belgian Trappist yeast contributes the sweet’n’spicy taste you get from a Chimay. You can procure samples of any of these yeasts and dozens more from commercial yeast distributors such as Wyeast and White Labs.

These yeast peddlers even offer “wild” yeasts such as Brettanomyces, Lactobacillus, or Pediococcus — increasingly popular for sour beers from breweries such as Russian River (Santa Rosa, California), Jolly Pumpkin (Dexter, Michigan.), and Cascade (Portland, Oregon). Allagash in the other Portland (in Maine) brews with them, too. Brewmaster Jason Perkins, in discussing various strains of “Brett” yeast and blends of the aforementioned organisms, calls “isolated wild yeast an oxymoron.”

But there are other yeasts you cannot buy. That’s because they are free and all around you all the time. Is the OJ in your fridge that’s two weeks passed the expiration date off and turned into hooch? Wild yeast. Are monkeys in the jungle keeling over off their branches after eating the fallen fruit rotting on the jungle floor? Wild yeast.

And then there are those wonderfully tart and complex lambic beers that the Belgians have been brewing for some five hundred years in the Pajottenland region near Brussels and at the Cantillon brewery in Brussels itself. Again, thank wild yeast and the bacteria floating around which, after fermenting in barrels, result in flavors more similar to cider and wine than standard ales and lagers.

Enter Allagash Brewing in Portland, Maine. Founded by Rob Tod in 1995, Allagash doesn’t strive to make standard beers. Which is why, a couple years ago, they decided to try and emulate traditional lambic brewers and see if they couldn’t achieve similar results. Brewmaster Jason Perkins starts by brewing a wort, essentially the tea that beer starts off as before yeast is introduced. Then, rather than pitching domesticated yeasts, the liquid is poured into a specially-built structure that houses large, open trays, not just daring but encouraging microorganisms wafting through the Portland atmosphere to come in and make themselves comfortable. The structure is a “cool ship” (koelschip) modeled after those built in Belgium. “As soon as the wort is cool enough,” reads a post on the Allagash blog, “the natural airborne yeasts and bacteria are able to survive in what will eventually be the spontaneously fermented beer.”

As a point of record, Russian River Brewing Co. in Santa Rosa produces a beer called Beatification wherein brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo does not pitch any type of yeast. Instead, he fills used barrels and allows the pre-existing microbes to do their thing. The difference is that instead of introducing bacteria to the wort, he introduces wort to the bacteria. It is still spontaneously fermented, yet relies less on chance than Allagash’s project.

So what exactly is it that magically turns these experimental batches into spontaneous beer? Perkins can’t say for sure, yet. “We have a masters student at UC Davis doing some genetic testing for us on the microbes in the beer,” Says Perkins. He’s interested to find out the scientific name, but that discovery is still many months away. The release of the beers is even further down the road.

“It’ll be three years in November from the time we brewed the first batch,” says Perkins. “We hope in the next year we’ll have some to sell.” The beers have been patiently aging in French oak barrels at Allagash and will be blended for the perfect marriage of flavors, as is traditional for lambic–style beers. Currently, three different releases are in the planning. “Cool Ship Resurgam” will be the selected blending from the best of the barrels. “Cool Ship Cerise” will be in the vein of kriek lambics with cherries added. And the third, another fruit lambic style beer, will be “Cool Ship Red,” with raspberries. All the fruit has been locally sourced.

The Belgians may have a five hundred year jump on American craft brewers, but watch out, with breweries such as Russian River and Allagash studiously, diligently, and respectfully emulating their Belgian brothers, their meticulous efforts are being heralded by beer lovers and zymurgists around the world and things are about to get spontaneous.