Beer · History · Short entry

Pasteur's Études sur la bière

In 1876 Louis Pasteur published his studies on the diseases of beer, arguing that the changes that spoil wort and beer are caused by living micro-organisms.

Location: Paris, France

1876

Publication of 'Études sur la bière, ses maladies, causes qui les provoquent, procédé pour la rendre inaltérable' (Gauthier-Villars).

Why it mattered

Gave brewers a microbiological explanation of spoilage and a basis for controlled fermentation.

The book

Pasteur began the work after France's defeats of 1870, wanting French brewing to compete with Germany's and to find a process independent of season and place. His Études sur la bière (Paris, 1876; English translation 1879) argued that "every change to which wort and beer are liable is brought about solely by the development of organic ferments". Hansen's later work at Carlsberg showed that wild yeasts, not only bacteria, were also to blame (pure yeast).

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