Appliances (100) for preparing and dispensing beverages, such as beers, featuring a transparent window (110) that allows a user of the appliance to view the beverage in a chamber of the appliance as that beverage is being prepared are disclosed. The chamber in which the beverage is prepared can be either an integral part of the appliance or a disposable chamber that can be removed and replaced with a new disposable chamber after one or more servings of a beverage has been prepared in the disposable chamber. The appliances can have methods for cleaning the chamber, or the chamber can be self-cleaning. If the chamber for preparing the beverage is a disposable container, it may come with a concentrated beverage already prepackaged in the container, and the casing of the container can prevent oxygen and light from penetrating the container and affecting the concentrated beverage contained within.

Appliances (100) for preparing and dispensing beverages, such as beers, featuring a transparent window (110) that allows a user of the appliance to view the beverage in a chamber of the appliance as that beverage is being prepared are disclosed. The chamber in which the beverage is prepared can be either an integral part of the appliance or a disposable chamber that can be removed and replaced with a new disposable chamber after one or more servings of a beverage has been prepared in the disposable chamber. The appliances can have methods for cleaning the chamber, or the chamber can be self-cleaning. If the chamber for preparing the beverage is a disposable container, it may come with a concentrated beverage already prepackaged in the container, and the casing of the container can prevent oxygen and light from penetrating the container and affecting the concentrated beverage contained within.

A method of manufacturing of a dry mixture of at least one yeast and/or yeast derivative and at least one bacteriophage, where the mixture being in the form of solid entities, and each solid entity is composed of at least one yeast and/or at least one yeast derivative and at least one bacteriophage and possibly at least one drying excipient, where the method is done by the mixing of at least one yeast and/or yeast derivative and at least one bacteriophage in suspension and the drying of this mixture. Also, a dry mixture of at least one yeast and/or yeast derivative and at least one bacteriophage, which is in the form of solid entities, where each solid entity is composed of at least one yeast and/or at least one yeast derivative and at least one bacteriophage and possibly at least one drying excipient and uses thereof.

The invention relates to methods of producing a fermented beverage by employing at least two fermentative yeast strains, to a fermented beverage that may be produced by the methods of the invention, and to the use of at least two fermentative yeast strains for the production of a fermented beverage.

The present invention relates to a yeast strain used in the production of a fermented beverage, wherein the yeast strain is a hybrid obtained by a mass-mating hybridisation process between haploid spores selected from Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain Y927, strain Y115, strain WI011, strain WI017 and strain WI018, or wherein the yeast strain is an inbred strain of said hybrid. The present invention further relates to a yeast slurry, a method for brewing a fermented beverage, and a malt or tea-based beverage obtained on the basis of a fermentation process.

The invention relates to a method of producing a beverage comprising the steps of (a) fermenting a wort using a culture comprising a maltose-negative yeast strain to obtain a fermented beverage having an alcohol content of less than 1.00% v/v; and (b) subjecting the fermented beverage to a thermal dealcoholization step at a temperature between 2 and 80 C. to obtain the beverage.

The present invention relates to the unexpected discovery of a new strain of yeast, dubbed GY7B, which is related to, but genetically and phenotypically distinct from, Lachancea thermotolerans. The invention provides methods of brewing sour beer using GY7B, wherein the methods do not require use of lactic acid or lactic acid producing bacteria.

Provided herein are genetically modified yeast cells that recombinantly express a gene encoding a fatty acid hydroxylase (FAH) enzyme, such as an oleate 12-hydroylase, and produce y-decalactone levels above an odor-threshold. Also provided herein are genetically modified yeast cells that recombinantly express genes encoding a fatty acid hydroxylase (FAH) enzyme, and one or more additional genes, such as an acyl-CoA desaturase 1 (OLE1) enzyme, a deregulated transcription factor, and/or an alcohol-O-acyltransferase (AAT) enzyme. Also provided are methods of producing fermented beverages and compositions comprising ethanol using the genetically modified yeast cells described herein.

The present invention relates to new enzymes with improved properties and to compositions comprising these enzymes suitable for use in the production of a food, feed, or malt beverage product, such as in a brewing process.

It has unexpectedly been found that a low alcohol or alcohol-free beverage, with a flavor profile very close to a beer of at least 4% (vol/vol) alcohol, can be produced by using Pichia kluyveri yeast strains. In particular, Pichia kluyveri yeast strains only use the glucose in the wort, and have the ability of converting this substrate into a high concentration of specific flavor compounds, which are normally produced by Saccharomyces ssp. yeast strains used for the brewing of beer. In this way the Pichia kluyveri yeast strains can be used to produce either a low alcohol or alcohol-free beverage, depending on the glucose levels in the wort. The main flavor compounds produced by Pichia kluyveri in the fermentation of wort are isoamyl acetate, isoamyl alcohol, ethyl butyrate, ethyl hexanoate and ethyl octanoate.