Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
That's fascinating!
Amouranth just apparently dropped $17mil on some fruit farms, so money isn't a problem for her, but who knows if she would go to the trouble, since it sounds pretty error-prone.
I told myself I wouldn't do it but I did the research: turns out there's one company who claims to brew with "donor" yeast and that's the company she's talking about partnering with. As far as I can tell from everything I've found reporting on them these claims are unverified so everything below should be taken with a large amount of skepticism.
Their websites are pretty sparse with information (and unsurprisingly creepily neckbeardy) but looking at what's available and been reported I've been able to piece together what I think is happening. They talk around it and try to couch it in scientific jargon, it sounds like they're using it to produce lactic acid only, so no alcohol, which is then sterilised and filtered to death before being used as an additive.
All in all it seems that the steps they describe between "donor" and beer that would result in no actual yeasts from the "donor" in the beer at any point, or even any yeasts cultivated from the originals - Which would seem to be the ultimate intent, probably for food safety law complaince. And this all assumes that they aren't just lieing about it.
Seems like a lot of work to make sour beer, but I have no doubt these will sell out in no time regardless, due to the provenance.
And I had to ask, because it sounds a lot like a recipe for snake oil.
Also just to add I did more reading and technically they're using a Lactobacillus which is a bacteria and not a yeast. Which makes more sense as that's what's responsible for yeast infections, just to add to the yuck factor.
I wonder, if someone were to explain the actual science behind it, if people would still want to buy it? Because this is not sounding any better.