Non brewing yeasts are commonly called wild. Even non brewing strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae may be termed wild in a brewery if they alter the beer flavour or affect the fermentation performance of the standard brewing yeast. Most wild yeasts found in beer are of a different Saccharomyces species or a different genera such as Pichia, Bretannomyces or Hansenula and produce distinctive flavours as well as turbidity.

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