Scientific Publications

A listing of peer reviewed scientific publications and non-peer reviewed scientific studies that focus on subject material that is relevant to sour brewing. Some good journals to keep an eye on for new publications about sour and funky beers include Cerevisia, The Journal of the Institute of Brewing, and The International Journal of Food Microbiology.

Some of the papers are freely accessible and others require journal subscriptions for access.

Brettanomyces

Much of the scientific research done to date on Brettanomyces approaches the yeast from the view point of wine production and treating the yeast as a spoilage organism. These papers can still be useful to brewers interested in using Brett while recognizing the possible preconceptions, motivations, and biases that this viewpoint might contribute. Other groups, notably those led by a couple of Belgian researchers as well as Chad Yakobson's masters work, have studied Brett from the viewpoint of a desired component in certain beer fermentations.

Title	Authors	Date	Note
Pure Culture Fermentation Characteristic of Brettanomyces Yeast Species and Their Use in the Brewing Industry	Yakobson	2011	MSc thesis. Free access.
Screening and evaluation of the glucoside hydrolase activity in Saccharomyces and Brettanomyces brewing yeasts	Daenen, Saison, Sterckx, Delvaux, Verachtert, Derdelinckx	2008	Free access.
Physiological, biochemical and molecular characterisation of hydroxycinnamic acid catabolism by Dekkera and Brettanomyces yeasts	Victoria Harris	2010	Free access. PhD thesis. HCA's are the precursors to phenolic compounds in beer. See phenol production in Brettanomyces
Evaluation of the glycoside hydrolase activity of a Brettanomyces strain on glycosides from sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) used in the production of special fruit beers	Daenen, Saison, Sterckx, Delvaux, Verachtert, Derdelinckx	2008	Free access.
Survey of enzyme activity responsible for phenolic off-flavour production by Dekkera and Brettanomyces yeast	Harris, Ford, Jiranek, Grbin	2009	Not free access.
Genetic diversity and physiological traits of Brettanomyces bruxellensis strains isolated from Tuscan Sangiovese wines	Agnolucci, Vigentini, Capurso, Merico, Tirelli, Compagno, Foschino, Nuti	2009	Not free access.
Dekkera and Brettanomyces growth and utilisation of hydroxycinnamic acids in synthetic media	Harris, Ford Jiranek, Grbin	2008	Not free access.
The effect of sugar concentration and temperature on growth and volatile phenol production by Dekkera bruxellensis in wine	Barata, Pagliara, Piccininno, Tarantino, Ciardulli, Malfeito-Ferreira, Loureiro	2008	Free access.
Formation of 4-vinyl and 4-ethyl derivatives from hydroxycinnamic acids: Occurrence of volatile phenolic flavour compounds in beer and distribution of Pad1-activity among brewing yeasts	Vanbeneden, Gils, Delvaux, Delvaux	2008	Not free access.
Genome Survey Sequencing of the Wine Spoilage Yeast Dekkera (Brettanomyces) bruxellensis	Woolfit, Rozpędowska, Piškur, Wolfe	2007	Free access
Release of hydroxycinnamic acids and formation of flavour-active volatile phenols during the beer production process	Nele Vanbeneden	2007	PhD Thesis. Free access.
Localization and Characterization of α-Glucosidase Activity in Brettanomyces lambicus	Shantha Kumara, De Cort, Verachtert	1993	Free access.
Esterase Activity in the Genus Brettanomyces	Spaepen and Verachtert	1982	Brett ester production and destruction. Free access.

Lactic Acid Bacteria

Title	Authors	Date	Note
125th Anniversary Review: Bacteria in brewing: The good, the bad and the ugly	Vriesekoop, Krahl, Hucker, Menz	2012	Free access.
Fundamentals of Beer and Hop Chemistry	Keukeleire	August 12, 1998	Useful information regarding how beta acids and iso-alpha acids inhibit/effect the grown of gram-positive bacteria and LAB. Free access.
Beer spoilage bacteria and hop resistance	Sakamoto and Konings	2003	Another useful paper for antimicrobial properties of hops and bacterial resistance. Not free access.
Localization and Characterization of α-Glucosidase Activity in Lactobacillus brevis	De Cort, Shantha Kumara, Verachtert	1994	Free access.

Lambic and Spontaneous Fermentation

Title	Authors	Date	Note
The Microbial Diversity of Traditional Spontaneously Fermented Lambic Beer]	Spitaels, Wieme, Janssens, Aerts, Daniel, Van Landschoot, De Vuyst, Vandamme	April 18, 2014	Free access
BELGIAN ACIDIC BEERS Daily Reminiscences of the Past	Verachtert and Denderlinckx	2014	Not free access.
Taming Wild Yeast: Potential of Conventional and Nonconventional Yeasts in Industrial Fermentations	Steensels and Verstrepen	2014	Not free access
Microbiota and metabolites of aged bottled gueuze beers converge to the same composition	Spitaels, Kerrebroeck, Wieme, Snauwaert, Aerts, Van Landschoot,De Vuyst, Vandamme	2014	Not free access
Brewhouse-Resident Microbiota Are Responsible for Multi-Stage Fermentation of American Coolship Ale	Bokulich, Bamforth, Mills	April 18, 2012	Free access.
Characterization of aroma and flavor compounds present in lambic (gueuze) beer	Katherine Witrick	2012	PhD Thesis. Free access.
Occurrence of sotolon, abhexon and theaspirane-derived molecules in Gueuze beers. Chemical similarities with ‘yellow wines’	Scholtes, Nizet, Colin	2012	Free access.
Fermentation Studies on the Traditional Russian Drink “Sourish Shchi”	Dankovtsev, Vostrikov, Markina	2002	Free access.
Microbiological Aspects of a Mixed Yeast—Bacterial Fermentation in the Production of a Special Belgian Acidic Ale	Martens, Iserentant, Verachtert	1997	Free access.
Synthesis of Aroma Compounds By Wort Enterobacteria During the First Stage of Lambic Fermentation	Martens, Dawoud, Verachtert	1992	Free access.
Wort Enterobacteria and Other Microbial Populations Involved During the First Month of Lambic Fermentation	Martens, Dawoud, Verachtert	1991	Free access.
Identification of Lambic Superattenuating Micro-Organisms By the Use of Selective Antibiotics	Shantha Kumara and Verachtert	1991	Free access.
Fatty Acids and Esters Produced During the Spontaneous Fermentation of Lambic and Gueuze	Spaepen, Van Oevelen, Verachtert	1978	Free access.
Microbiological Aspects of Spontaneous Wort Fermentation in the Production of Lambic and Gueuze	Van Oevelen, Spaepen, Timmermans, Verachtert	1977	The source of the data used to create the Apte chart of which microbes are active at a given time in Lambic Fermentation as presented in his 2004 slideshow and in Wild Brews. Free access.
Synthesis of Aroma Components During the Spontaneous Fermentation of Lambic and Gueuze	Van Oevelen, De L'Escaille Verachtert	1976	Free access.

Other resources

These studies, presentations, or discussions aren't peer reviewed but they do contain useful info for brewing sour and funky beers..

Title	Authors	Date	Note
Measurement of Oxygen Transfer Rates for Carboy Closures and Air Locks	Gibbs	November 10, 2011	Study performed by Better Bottle
How to Make Sour Ale: an inquiry	Apte	2004	contains Apte's charts for oxygen permeability and other notable references.
Pickled beer: Concepts of Sour Ale	Raj Apte	2004	A presentation about sour beer.
Horse of a Different Color	Nate Sampson, Michael Tonsmeire, Steve Gale, Tomme Arthur, Al Buck, Cisco ?, Sean Paxton		Round table tasting and discussion of brett primary beers. The author of the transcript is not listed.
Methods of Creating and Maintaining 'Wild' House Cultures	Kyle Kohlmorgan	2013	Presentation at NHC 2013. Notes available here. Audio available from the AHA website past presentations section (must be an AHA member for access).
The Mystery of Lambic Beer	Jacques De Keersmaecker	1996	Article in Scientific American.