Method of stabilizing yeast fermented beverages

A method of regenerating polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) particles in preparing a yeast fermented beverage, comprising the following consecutive steps:

• (a) fermenting wort with a biologically active yeast to produce a fermented liquid containing yeast, alcohol, polyphenols and protein;
• (b) optionally removing part of the yeast from the fermented liquid;
• (c) combining the fermented liquid with polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (PVPP) particles to bind at least a fraction of the polyphenols and/or protein to said PVPP particles, wherein at least 80 wt. % of said PVPP particles have a diameter of 5-300 μm;
• (d) subjecting the combination of fermented liquid and PVPP particles to membrane filtration and removing a slurry containing the PVPP particles and yeast from the fermented liquid, said slurry being obtained as the retentate from the membrane filtration;
• (e) filtering the slurry containing the PVPP particles and yeast over a filter having a pore size between 0.1-80 μm to produce a PVPP-enriched retentate and a PVPP-depleted filtrate;
• (f) regenerating the PVPP particles contained in the PVPP-enriched retentate by desorbing polyphenols and/or protein from said PVPP-particles by rinsing said retentate with an aqueous caustic liquid having a pH of at least 10.0 and separating the desorbed polyphenols and/or the desorbed protein from the PVPP particles;
• and
• (g) after optional further refining of the regenerated PVPP particles, recirculating the regenerated PVPP particles to step (c).