Assessment of non-conventional yeasts with potential probiotic for protein-fortified craft beer production

The use of non-conventional yeasts could be an interesting source of biodiversity for developing innovative fermented beverages. Here, 43 wild yeast strains belonging to different genera such as Lachancea, Kluyveromyces, Torulaspora, Metschnikowia, Kazachstania, Brettanomyces, Pichia, Candida, Hanseniaspora, Rhodotorula, Rodosporidobolus and Saccharomyces, previously evaluated for their probiotic traits, have been tested for craft beer production. Different experimental lines were carried out to develop a new beverage which could combine increased aromatic characteristics and improved nutritional properties: i) beers produced from pils wort (PW); ii) beers from pils wort enriched with lentil (PLW) or chickpea flour extracts (PCW). PW beer trials were characterized by a low ethanol content. The PCW results in beer with an unpleasant aromatic taste, while the presence of lentil (PLW) confers effective fermentative characters and pleasant aromatic notes to the final beers. The selected strains Lachancea thermotolerans, Kazachstania unispora and Saccharomyces cerevisiae determined a significantly increase in the main aromatic compounds such as ethyl acetate, isoamyl acetate and higher alcohols in PLW. The sensorial profile indicated that the beers were characterized with emphasized aromatic attributes. The yeasts selected here, could contribute to obtain a premium craft beer, with highly nutritional and functional characteristics, with a distinctive aromatic character.