Over the past decade, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become a trusted tool for breweries large and small who wish to screen their products for contamination before packaging and distribution. Many breweries have purchased PCR platforms to get quick yes or no answers to the presence of diastatic yeast, hop resistant bacteria, or foreign yeast species such as Brettanomyces. However, not all PCR platforms are created equal, and even with high-end instruments where quantitative analysis is possible, there is a potential for the presence of contaminants whose genes are not targeted.

In this seminar, John Giarratano and Nicole Balistreri dive into the potential pitfalls of trusting PCR alone. Additionally, they discuss examples of contaminant organisms that are not tagged by traditional PCR primers, as well as inexpensive alternatives such as plating that can be used alongside PCR to increase detection.

Learning Objectives

• Recognize the limitations of using PCR only in a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program
• Learn the difference between PCR platforms such as endpoint and qPCR
• Explore how to use inexpensive techniques such as plating to screen for contaminants in a brewery
• Discuss ways to integrate PCR and plating to improve a QA/QC program
• Know how to identify brewery spoilers and when to dump a batch of beer