104th MEBAK meeting took place in Mainburg

Mainburg | On April 3 and 4, the members of MEBAK met in Mainburg at the invitation of Hopsteiner. As part of the supporting program, the participants were informed by Martin Waldinger about the internal breeding program for new hop varieties, especially with regard to the necessary characteristics for consistent quality despite the challenging current environmental conditions. This was followed by a tour of the new propagation of hops. Dr. Christina Schmidt also presented the extensive analytical facilities before Frank Peifer rounded off the tour at the pilot-brewing plant.

At the 104th session, a new working group for cleaning in place (CIP) was formed, which will look at the existing CIP guidelines in order to fully meet the current requirements of the industry.

Two members of the WATER working group have retired. Fortunately, new members have already recruited.

The containers and product equipment working group presented the current status of the method update. MEBAK is very pleased to publish a first part of the approx. 100 methods on mebak.org/en/ shortly. This first part includes 7 chapters for glass bottles and beverage cans, as well as related topics such as crown caps, adhesives and labels.

By drinktec 2025, the microbiology working group will have translated the current collection of 96 methods into English and put it online. In addition, a small expansion with a focus on hygiene is planned for this chapter, which can then be accessed via the online method database.

New method development

The purity of the (fermentation) carbon dioxide used is of increasing interest to breweries, especially in view of the rising sales figures for non-alcoholic beer and beer mixed beverages “Radler”. The new method is intended to be used by both breweries and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers for quality control of the CO2 used.

Coordination with EBC

John Brauer (Executive Officer EBC) was temporarily connected online, and various topics were discussed, such as the “(IM)” label at the end of the method title. “IM” stands for inter-national method and is listed, if international coordination between EBC, ASBC and BJOJ is the basis of method approval. As a result, the provided method is congruent in terms of the validation for reproducibility and repeatability that meets the statistical criteria of partici-pating laboratories from America, Japan and Europe. The introduction of “(IM)” at MEBAK to harmonize the corresponding methods is seen as advantageous by all sides. Furthermore, John Brauer reported that the EBC will introduce a method for the determination of xantho-humol in beer.

Personnel

Dr. Roman Benes was invited to the conference once again. He designed and developed the “alcolyzer”, which is based on near-infrared spectroscopy for measuring alcohol in alcoholic beverages. This measuring method was patented, and he is the main inventor. Since 2022, he has been working part-time at the Research Institute of Brewing and Malting in Prague, where he studies the optical degradation of beer and develops new measurement methods to determine it.

In the shown study about “Possible determination of the optical stability of beer”, Dr. Roman Benes impressively presented the correlating factors in the formation of light taste in green glass bottles. Direct correlations could be established in the results of the investigated characteristics iso-humulone, riboflavin, wavelength and sulphur source (see also his publications on this subject). The MEBAK expert group is very pleased to have unanimously elected Dr. Roman Benes to MEBAK and to welcome him as a new member.