The greatest age of beer the world has ever seen!

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.

Fluorescence or turbidity? The secret of dark beers

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.

A different kind of product challenge test

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.

Lox-less malting barley varieties and their effects on beer quality

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.

EBC Congress 2015

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.

The new American hop farmers

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.

Flavours and off-flavours in beer – Part 2

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.

The avoidance of gushing initiators from advanced downstream hop products

Gushing is an important quality factor for many brewers. A large number of studies and publications have addressed this topic in the past [1-18]. Efforts to identify gushing initiators have focused on species generated from barley degradation and infestation, and, to a much lesser extent hop constituents, among others. This contribution addresses the impact that certain oxidized downstream hop acid products can have on the gushing phenomenon.

Only in Wisconsin

Where Brewing Meets Art | I was really taken by surprise. After a three hour drive north out of Chicago, we had reached our destination and thought we were in the wrong place. The hotel would not have seemed out of place in an alpine valley in Switzerland: eaves projected widely around a picturesque structure made almost entirely of wood, some of which was exquisitely carved. We had arrived in New Glarus, Wisconsin, USA, the Switzerland of America. There was every indication that an unusual brewery visit awaited us …

Design of quality assurance systems for breweries – Part 2

In the first part of this article (BRAUWELT International no. 3, 2014, pp. 159-161), the concept of quality control and quality assurance in the brewery was exposed, together with relevant topics such as brewery related pre-conditions, quality management systems, quality control manuals, extent of continuous monitoring. In part 2, considerations towards economical calculations on required equipment, facilities, qualified personnel and specialized know-how will be provided.