Do brewers really need to know the difference between glutathione and cysteine-bound thiol precursors? Or whether there might be genes beyond IRC7 that help unlock those bound thiols? And should they care why scientists may call the same compound by two different names?
“A lot of the research can be kind of confusing,” says Laura Burns, director of research and development at Omega Yeast. “Not everybody uses the same terminology, not everybody uses the same metrics. We want to make it a little easier to understand through the practical application.”
The amount of information available can be overwhelming and, at times, contradictory. “Smoke and mirrors,” Burns says. “How do we filter out the noise?”
Gleaned from recent panel discussions and interviews with the experts, here are some tools and insights to help you cut through the noise and focus on how to get the most from thiols in hops.