Craft brewers tend to cycle through a wide range of ingredients and adjuncts, depending on what they’re making, but there is one constant: yeast health.
Even beyond the basic functions of converting sugar to alcohol and carbon dioxide, yeast have many other impacts on beer. Yeast health directly affects aroma and flavor as well as fermentation times. And while brewers may have full control over recipe development and ingredient selection, yeast can be unpredictable and difficult to decipher.
Luckily, if you know what to look for, yeast also can provide clear signs of when they’re happy and when they’re struggling.
To be clear: I’m not saying to not perform cell counts in your brewery. Ideally, the information I’ll share here about pH and yeast health should be used in conjunction with consistent cell counting. However, if your brewery is unable to invest in cell counting right away—because of financial or staff limitations—these guidelines can be useful in assuring a healthy fermentation.