The discovery that opened the world of yeasts
In 1827, a French doctor with the spirit of explorer of the invisible made his debut in the history of microbiological science. Jean Baptiste Henri Joseph Simazières, with his microscope and a lot of patience, revealed the first images of yeasts in beer, accompanied by a simple term: ‘Mycoderma Cervisiae’. Although at that time they did not know that they were facing living beings in full action, their recognition as organisms was a step that promoted overwhelming curiosity in the scientific community.
Perspectives that transformed microscopic observation
A decade later, in 1837, the French scientist Charles Cagniard-Latour managed to capture the microscopic world of these yeasts in greater detail. He discovered not only his round shape and his ability to reproduce, but also how to feed on the sugars present in the cane. These findings contributed the first image of an ‘organized matter’ in microbiology, which would serve as inspiration for future research that changed forever the way we understand fermentation and its invisible protagonists.
The beer chaos and the birth of a scientific hero
The nineteenth century was also a time when beer could become a real headache: often acquired strange flavors or simply became unusable in the middle of the process, leaving producers with much to fix. The good news came with two key figures that, without knowing it, would revolutionize beer forever: Louis Pasteur and Emil Christian Hansen. Both dedicated their careers to understand how to prevent beer from ruined, shedding light and hope to a process that seemed to be in the hands of bad luck.
Louis Pasteur: from wine to beer, the unexpected hero
Before becoming the genius we know, Louis Pasteur was a chemist with little fame. However, in 1854, Lille’s viticultors went to him with a problem: his wine vanished in a matter of days. Pasteur, with his talent and attitude of detective, invented a method that would change the food industry: pasteurization. Heating liquids at moderate temperatures in sealed containers seemed crazy, but scientists showed that it worked, guaranteeing the safety and durability of products from milk to wine.
His work in the 1870s with beer producers in France was even more ambitious. With his insatiable curiosity, he discovered that industrial yeasts were contaminated with bacteria and fungi that complicated things a lot for brewers. Although he tried to use tartaric acid to solve the problem, his true contribution was much further: he opened the door to a more precise control of the process and the production of more reliable and long -lived beers.
Christian Hansen and the revolution from Copenhagen
While Pasteur marked the way in France, in Copenhagen born the Danish Emil Christian Hansen began to decipher the secrets of yeasts. As director at the Carlsberg brewery and with a doctorate in physiology, Hansen focused on the variety and behavior of these key organisms in fermentation. In 1883, he took a giant leap by successfully isolating a pure strain, baptizing it as ‘Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis’. This innovation allowed to sow the seed for cleaner and more controlled beers, which not only resisted the stations, but also opened the doors to the industrialization of the process.
The support and dissemination of an idea that changed the game
At first, some in the industry were not convinced, including Carlsberg’s own founder, who was a fervent admirer of Pasteur. However, Pasteur’s influence and support were decisive, when he visited Hansen’s laboratories and confirmed the usefulness of his pure strain. As a sample of gratitude and vision of the future, Hansen distributed his finding for free, ensuring that many Lager beers in the world carry, in their microscopic DNA, a touch of their invention.
Today, the history of microbiological science and beer continues intertwined, thanks to these pioneers who saw beyond the microscope, transforming tradition into technology and quality. It is a reminder that sometimes the best recipes for success are born of curiosity, innovation and a little patience with the invisible.
