Glossary
Autolysis
Yeast cells breaking down and releasing their contents into beer, producing rubbery, meaty or savoury off-flavours.
Pronounced aw-TOL-uh-sis.
Also called yeast bite, autolysed.
The full record
Autolysis has its own catalogue entry with the detail this page summarises — causes, thresholds, related styles and evidence.
Yeast autolysis — Dead yeast breaking down and releasing rubbery, meaty compounds — the result of leaving beer too long on a yeast bed.
Happens when beer sits on a thick yeast bed too long, particularly under pressure and at warmer temperatures. It is a reason commercial brewers remove yeast promptly, and a hazard of leaving homebrew in a primary fermenter for months.
A little yeast character is not autolysis. The autolysed note is distinctly savoury and rubbery rather than bready.
Related
- Yeast autolysis — The fault record, which carries the evidence.
- Flocculation — The settling that precedes the risk.
More vocabulary
Acetaldehyde · Bottle bomb · Diacetyl · DMS · Gushing · Lightstrike · Oxidation · Staling
See every term on the glossary index.
Last reviewed 2026-08-16.