We’ve learned in the previous article that brewers don’t like all microorganisms. In this article, let’s figure out how we can apply foolproof methods to find spoilage organisms in breweries.

Industry 4.0 and the Smart Factory address major challenges – the securing of competitiveness, resources and energy efficiency, the quick change of sales markets and ever-stronger individualization. The introduction of cyber-physical systems as well as flexible and intelligent software solutions is necessary to create completely networked, self-organizing production systems and thus secure the sustainability of industrial manufacturing.

The Beer Monitor is the result of over 20 years of working experience in inline and laboratory beer analysis, based on over a thousand samples covering products ranging from alcohol-free beers to double bock. It uses proven density and sound velocity measurement combined in a compact sensor with a hygienic stainless steel housing. Combined with an additional CO₂ sensor from the Carbo series, a complete beer and CO₂ measuring system is created.

Small, independent, traditional: These are the three core values, which define a craft brewery, according to the Brewers Association (BA) of Boulder, Colorado in the USA. However, the word “small” is a relative term with craft breweries. If the volume and growth of the craft beer sector is examined more closely, it is clear that the craft beer scene has ceased to be small for some time now. In 2014, US craft breweries commanded a market share of 11 percent, and the 2015 Craft Brewers’ Conference has once again set new records.

enerally, results obtained with different brands of turbidity meters correlate very well for lager beers, but can differ substantially for dark beers. The reason for this effect can be found in the fluorescence of the sample. Depending on the optical design of a turbidity meter, the fluorescence of dark beers can cause a considerable apparent increase of the turbidity results. In this paper, four turbidity meters from different manufacturers are compared with one another.

The market for beer-based beverages is becoming increasingly important all over the globe. The most common beverage is the “traditional” shandy but the industry is innovating continuously and can be regarded as diversified. The EBC Symposium 2014 “Sensory Aspects and Technology of Beer Mix Beverages” held in Vienna/Austria highlighted the importance of beer-based beverages. One of the major sessions related to microbiological considerations and assessments of beer-based beverages.

How can beer be preserved long without staling? Lipoxygenase-1-less (lox-less) barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) can be a possible answer to this question. This report describes the characteristics of CDC PolarStar which is the first lox-less malting barley variety in North America and the positive effects of the lox-less trait on beer quality, and the lox-less barley breeding strategy.

Now in its 35th year, the EBC Congress will be held from 24 - 28 May 2015 in Porto, Portugal. After the last three congresses (2009 in Hamburg, 2011 in Glasgow and 2013 in Luxembourg), the EBC Congress has once again returned to a destination further south. Porto is Portugal‘s second largest city and is picturesquely situated on the Douro River, about five kilometers away from where the river flows into the Atlantic Ocean. BRAUWELT International spoke with Dr. Stefan Lustig, EBC president, Dr. Stefan Kreisz, EBC vice president and John M. Brauer, EBC executive officer, about the upcoming conference.

Hundreds of farms outside three American Northwest states grow less than two percent of the hops harvested on far fewer farms in the Northwest, but their production understates their impact. Like the country’s craft breweries they have focused new attention on hops and on beer as a local product.

Invisible Sentinel, Inc., a global molecular solutions company providing detection tools to advance quality processes, has initiated the final validation phase of Veriflow® brewPAL, which follows the successful development of this product for the brewing industry.

A group of diploma master brewer students from two different brewing courses at Scandinavian School of Brewing (SSB), Copenhagen, presented the results of their studies on the most common flavours and off-flavours found in beer in a two part series. The first part (BRAUWELT International no. 4, 2014, pp. 204-207) dealt with flavour development during the individual steps of the brewing process. This second part gives an overview of off-flavours, their causes and remedies.