Vital Forces: Yeast, Fermentation, and the Practice of Brewing

Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation

Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org

Although brewing is an ancient craft, the nature of fermentation remained an active area of scientific debate throughout the 19th century. Two leading figures of the discussion at mid-century—Justus Liebig and Louis Pasteur—clashed famously over the role of yeast in fermentation. Was it an inert chemical compound or a living organism, a vital force in a physiological process? Less well known is the role that brewers themselves played in this scientific debate. This lecture will explore how traditional brewing practices were transformed by new scientific theories and laboratory techniques concerning yeast and fermentation.

John S. Ceccatti is currently a Haas Fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation where he is writing a book on the relationship between traditional practices and laboratory techniques in the 19th-century brewing industry. He received his Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science, as well as an M.S. in molecular genetics, from the University of Chicago.