Methods and nucleic acids for the detection of relevant microorganisms brewery

The invention relates to a method for determining the presence of micro-organisms specific to the brewing process, in addition to nucleic acids and combinations thereof which can be used in said method. The invention also relates to the use of the inventive nucleic acids or combinations thereof for determining and/or identifying and/or classifying different genera or species of micro-organisms specific to the brewing process. The invention aims to provide a method and a means of rapidly testing beer and brewing raw materials for contamination by micro-organisms, whereby the test should encompass the whole range of possible beer-contaminative micro-organisms. This is achieved by a method which comprises the following steps: (a) the sample is brought into contact with a combination of at least two first nucleic acid molecules (primers) which hybridise with a conserved area of the microbial nucleic acid in micro-organisms specific to the brewing process; (b) amplification of the microbial nucleic acid or a portion thereof, in order to create at least one amplification fragment; (c) the amplification fragment obtained in step (b) is brought into contact with at least a second nucleic acid molecule (probe) which specifically hybridises with at least one amplification fragment comprising a sequence of the microbial nucleic acid specific to all the micro-organisms present in the brewing process, or specific to one or more families, genera or species of said micro-organisms; and (d) determining the presence of at least one hybrid nucleic acid which consists of an amplification fragment and a second nucleic acid molecule, introduced in step (c). The invention also relates to nucleic acid molecules which can be used according to the invention in said method.