![Emil C. Hansen](/media/4omddwpr/emil-c-hansen.png?width=75&height=75&rnd=133377610092370000)
![A cultural pioneer.](/media/cbmdatvf/emil.jpg)
Emil C. Hansen
A cultural pioneer.
![When the going gets tough…](/media/xagppjsf/slide-1-emil.jpg)
When the going gets tough…
Emil came from a very poor and eccentric family. In his youth, he tried almost everything to make a living, from theatre performances and house painting, to a career in art and teaching. He also wrote stories. At one point, he was so poor and desperate that he considered traveling south to join Garibaldi’s army in Italy.
![The tough get going.](/media/ivkfymmq/slide-2-emil.jpg)
The tough get going.
Luckily for him, and for all beer lovers of the world, he got a reasonably paid job as a tutor. He could finally make enough money to support his studies and even won a gold medal at Copenhagen University for his study of Danish fungi. It’s a short genetic step from fungi to yeast. He soon started working at Carlsberg as a researcher on “organisms in beer.”
![The science of better beer.](/media/22nba1zj/slide-3-emil.jpg)
The science of better beer.
In 1883 Emil announced his system of pure yeast cultures. He revealed that ‘bad beer’ was not only a result of bacterial infection, as French biologist, Louis Pasteur had assumed, but contamination by wild yeast. Until then brewers re-used beer from previous fermentations. Isolating yeast meant they could use “fresh” clean yeast every time, significantly improving the brewing process and taste consistency. He then worked to isolate a single cell of good yeast and propagated it into a pure culture. The new “Carlsberg bottom yeast n.1” was used for the first time, and with great success, on a production scale in November 1883.
![A celebration of beer love.](/media/zugfipyq/slide-4-emil.jpg)
A celebration of beer love.
In 1902 Hansen celebrated 25 years of work at Carlsberg and was presented with a gold medal by Carl Jacobsen. The award was a recognition for being one of the most influential pioneers in the fermentation industry.