Best Practices

Lallemand
LAGER
STRAIN
selection Lager is the most popular beer in the world. Clean and refreshing,
this style has won over 90% of the international beer market.

The production of lagers is a recent innovation in the history of

brewing, which is measured by thousands of years. The appearance
of lagers is attributed to the XV-XVI centuries, and Bavaria is
considered the birthplace of the style.

The key feature of the lager style is using the authentic type of
yeast called Saccharomyces pastorianus. In the 1980s, while
studying the DNA of the lager yeast, researchers
discovered that it was a hybrid of the ale yeast
Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a hitherto unknown
microorganism. But in 2007 microbiologists found that
the genes of that microorganism are 99.5% identical to a
yeast found in Patagonia, which the local population
used to produce alcohol at low temperatures. Yeast was
contained in "galls“, spherical growths on southern beech
trees, inside of which juice is fermented (Figure 1). This strain
was named Saccharomyces eubayanus.

Fig. 1: Galls growing on a southern beech tree in Patagonia.

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Best Practices Lallemand Lager Strain Comparison

  
Lager yeast strains are classified into  -


   
different lineages based on their genomic # "$   

structure. Each S. pastorianus strain has a

subgenome derived from both the S.
"" "  %!"!&' &()  
cerevisiae and S. eubayanus parental strains
(Figure 2). The two traditional lager groups
  
 " 

arose by natural hybridation events. Group I  --  

(Saaz) lager strains are allotriploid with three
 !  

 
sets of chromosomes, one from S. cerevisiae
and two from S. eubayanus. Due to the greater  

   
"" " 
   " '
contribution from the S. eubayanus
subgenome these strains are more  ---
6IREMWWERGI
cryotolerant. Group II (Frohberg) lager strains
are allotetraploid with four sets of &()
chromosomes, two from S. cerevisiae and two
from S. eubayanus. Due to the greater "" " 

contribution from S. cerevisiae these strains

exhibit more robust fermentation Fig. 2: Comparative genomic structure of Group I (Saaz), Group II (Frohberg) and Group III
characteristics including broader temperature (Renaissance) lager strain lineages.
and alcohol tolerance. The most well-known
lager yeast strain Weihenstephan 34/70 as well as LalBrew Diamond™ belong to the Group II lineage. Both Group I and Group II
strains are genetically very similar and have changed very little over the centuries since their domestication in 15th century Bavaria.
Some brewers have used neutral ale strains to ferment at colder temperatures in order to produce neutral beers that are “lager-like”,
but not considered true lagers since they are not fermented with S. pastorianus. LalBrew Nottingham™ is an excellent option for
brewing pseudo-lagers due to its neutral profile and broad fermentation temperatures range.

Recently, classical and non-GMO methods FERMENTATION KINETICS

have been used to breed novel lager
LalBrew Diamond™ LalBrew Nottingham™ LalBrew NovaLager™
hybrid strains that are distinct from the
Group I and II traditional lineages1. These 16
novel Group III (Renaissance) strains are 14
12
allotetraploid with four sets of


10
chromosomes, three from S. cerevisiae and 8
one from S. eubayanus. The first 6
commercial example of the Group III lager 4
2
strains is LalBrew NovaLager™, which
0
represents the first major innovation in 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
lager yeast strains in centuries. Due to a 
greater contribution from the S. cerevisiae
subgenome the LalBrew NovaLager™
Fig. 3: Fermentation kinetics of different LalBrew® Premium Series yeast strains for lager styles.
strain demonstrates tolerance to warmer Standard all-malt 15°P pale wort pitched with 1.5 million cells/ml/°P and fermented at 12°C.
temperatures, more robust and rapid
fermentation, a unique flavor profile and
low levels of diacetyl and H2S while
1
Turgeon, Z., Sierocinski, T., Brimacombe, C. A., Jin, Y., Goldhawke, B., Swanson, J. M., Husnik, J. I., & Dahabieh, M. S. (2021).
Industrially Applicable De Novo Lager Yeast Hybrids with a Unique Genomic Architecture: Creation and Characterization.
maintaining cryotolerance imparted by Applied and environmental microbiology, 87(3)
the S. eubayanus subgenome (Figure 3). 2
https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en/technical-paper/hydrogen-sulfide-h2s-beer/

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 Quick facts Saccharomyces pastorianus

SPECIES Saccharomyces pastorianus Saccharomyces cerevisiae Saccharomyces pastorianus

LAGER CLASSIFICATION Group II (Frohberg) Pseudo-lager Group III (Renaissance)
50% S. cerevisiae 75% S. cerevisiae
HYBRID GENOMIC COMPOSITION 100% S. cerevisiae
50% S. eubayanus 25% S. eubayanus

MELIBIOSE UTILIZATION + - +
ATTENUATION RANGE 77-83% 78-84% 78-84%
FLOCCULATION High High Medium
TEMPERATURE RANGE 10-15°C (50-59°F) 10-25°C (50-77°F) 10-20°C (50-68°F)
ALCOHOL TOLERANCE (ABV) 13% 14% 13%
PITCHING RATE 100-200 g/hl 50-100 g/hl 50-100 g/hl

LE TROPIC LE TROPIC LE TROPIC

PP AL PP AL PP AL
DA DA DA

Flavor & Aroma

FR FR FR
RE UI RE UI RE UI
T T T
L

L
L
BA

BA
BA
RA

RA
RA
NA

NA
NA
UT

UT
UT
NA

NA
NA
NE

NE
NE
GREE N APP

GREE N APP
GR EEN APP
OHOLIC

OHOLIC
OHOLIC
ALC

ALC
ALC
LE

LE
LE
C

C
R

R
C
R

E LO LO E LO
E
PP VE PP VE PP VE
PE PE PE
ACI D ACID ACI D

Neutral Slightly fruity, neutral Clean, low to medium ester,

no sulfur
Table 1: Comparison of LalBrew® Premium Series strains for lager styles.

LAGER FLAVOR AND AROMA H2S Production

Typical
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) 1800
LalBrew Diamond™ LalBrew Nottingham™ LalBrew NovaLager™
lager strain

All brewing yeasts produce some amount of H2S 1600

during fermentation as a part of normal amino 1400

1200
acid metabolism (See our Technical paper, 20
1000 15
Impact of Hydrogen Sulfide in Brewing ). With
2


800 10
5
ale fermentations, H2S is depleted efficiently by 600
0
400 0 5 10
CO2 scrubbing during active fermentation and
200
reabsorption by the yeast after full attenuation.
0
With lager fermentations, the cooler, slower 0 2 4 6 8 10

fermentations result in less CO2 scrubbing and
the bottom fermenting, medium flocculant Fig. 4: H2S production during fermentation with LalBrew® Premium yeast strains for lager beer
lager yeast does not reabsorb H2S as efficiently. styles. A typical lager strain is shown for comparison purposes. Traditional lager strains (LalBrew
Diamond™, typical lager strain) produce more H2S than ale strains (LalBrew Nottingham™). H2S levels
Small amounts of H2S at threshold detection
are undetectable for fermentations with LalBrew NovaLager™. Standard all-malt 15°P pale wort
levels produced by traditional lager strains such pitched with 1.5 million cells/ml/°P and fermented at 12°C.
as LalBrew Diamond™ are considered an
important part of the normal sensory profile for many lager beers. However, poor wort nutrition or brewing techniques can result in
elevated levels of H2S and an undesirable aroma of rotten eggs. This can be avoided by adding nutrients to the wort (especially when
using adjuncts) and leaving the beer in contact with the yeast before transfer or filtration to allow time for H2S reabsorption. The
LalBrew NovaLager™ strain was selected for reduced H2S production by disrupting specific sulfur metabolic genes (Figure 4). As a
result, LalBrew NovaLager™ does not require the long maturation times typical of traditional lager strains.

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 Best Practices Lallemand Lager Strain Comparison
Gravity °P Temperature °C
Diacetyl 18
16
Diacetyl is a common fermentation byproduct
14
that is perceived by most people as an off-flavor. It 12


is produced from a side reaction by yeast metabo- 10
8
lizing amino acids into valine. The yeast produces
6
α-acetolactate, which is then excreted out of the
4
cell. The α-acetolactate is then decarboxylated 2
into diacetyl and reabsorbed back into the yeast at 0
0 5 10 15 20
the end of fermentation where it is metabolized

into acetoin, a flavorless compound. Diacetyl
reabsorption by the yeast takes time and is faster Fig. 5: A typical diacetyl rest is performed by increasing the temperature for several days at
the end of active fermentation
at warmer ale temperatures compared to cooler
lager temperatures. Diacetyl may be present in
packaged beer when fermentations are incom- Valine Uptake
plete, and the yeast is unable to completely LalBrew Diamond™ LalBrew Nottingham™ LalBrew NovaLager™
reabsorb the diacetyl. For this reason, lager
140
fermentations usually employ a diacetyl rest by 120
raising the temperature at the end of fermentation 100


to give the yeast time to reabsorb the diacetyl 80

60
before transfer off the yeast (Figure 5). Diacetyl
40
production can also be inhibited by using an 20
α-acetolactate decarboxylase (ALDC) enzyme, 0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
which allows the direct breakdown of α-acetolac-

tate into flavorless acetoin and prevents the
formation and normal metabolism of diacetyl by Fig. 6: LalBrew NovaLager™ exhibits higher “ale-like” uptake of valine similar to LalBrew
the yeast cell. Nottingham compared to traditional lager strains.

Strain selection will also impact diacetyl production. Ale strains such as LalBrew Nottingham™ will tend to produce less diacetyl as
a result of more efficient valine uptake. LalBrew NovaLager™ demonstrates valine uptake and diacetyl levels that are similar to ale
strains (Figures 6-7), which contributes to shorter maturation times required for this strain compared to traditional lager strains.

Esters and Hop

Diacetyl production Biotransformation
LalBrew Diamond™ LalBrew Nottingham™ LalBrew NovaLager™ Traditional lager strains such as LalBrew
Diamond™ produce few esters and are very
2000 neutral leading to clean, dry and refreshing
beers. Modern interpretations of lager styles
1500 tend to be more flavorful, often with higher


hop rates than traditional lager beers. The

1000 LalBrew NovaLager™ strain produces low to
medium esters for a more aromatic lager beer,
0 and expression of a β-glucosidase enzymes
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
promotes biotransformation and complexity

of hop aromas.
Fig. 7: The level of diacetyl produced by different yeast strains for lager styles.

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