The global yeast technology company Renaissance BioScience Corp. (RBSC) announced a new partnership with Mitacs for a multi-year, USD 1.44-million research and development project. Mitacs, a national not-for-profit research and training organization, will provide matching funding to the RBSC project to support the development of next-generation, systematic tools and methods for expanding, screening and selecting biodiversity in non-GMO industrial yeast strains.

Dry Hopping and Its Effect on Beer Bitterness, the IBU Test, and pH

Impact analysis | Dry hopping is very popular among craft brewers, however, few realize that it can significantly alter the hop acid composition of beer which can affect a beer’s bitterness and interfere with the IBU Test. It can also increase a beer’s pH. Dry hopping experiments were conducted and a number of analytical tests were performed on beers before and after dry hopping to better understand the impact it can have on bitterness, the IBU, and pH. In a separate follow-up paper dry hopping experiments were performed to evaluate its effect on beer foam stability.

Alpha Acid Values of Hops of the 2017 Crop and Updated Multi-Year Average Values

The 2017 hop harvest is over. The AHA (Hop Analysis Working Group) announces the average alpha acid values as determined in freshly harvested hops. Members of the AHA include the laboratories of the German processing plants, LfL Hüll, BLQ Weihenstephan, VLB Berlin, TU Berlin, Labor Veritas Zurich and the Slovenian Institute of Hop Research and Brewing Žalec. These values are the basis of any modifications to supply contracts with “alpha clause”. To raise the informational content, some varieties have been added to this table: the newest German varieties and some others from the growing regions Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

VLB Symposium in Guatemala City

The 8th Ibero-American Symposium, organized by VLB Berlin, was held from October 23rd to 25th of 2017 in Guatemala City. The conference program included presentations on a wide range of topics, starting with the raw materials used in beer production, moving on to bottling and packaging, and culminating in a more global note with topics such as sustainability. VLB Berlin was supported by Cervecería Centro Americana and by the market researchers at Euromonitor International.

The supply of spring brewing barley in Europe remains uncertain. In some regions barley quality suffered a lot. Concessions from the processing industry are necessary.

As already shown before in previous years, we would like to demonstrate how the contribution of hop oils to beer can vary from one crop year to another.

The Brewers Association (BA) announced on 30 October an agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to fund public hop breeding for the purpose of developing and releasing disease resistant aroma hop cultivars into the public domain, in support of hop growing efforts throughout the US. The trust agreement between the BA and USDA-ARS provides funding for a program located in Washington and Oregon to leverage significant existing academic and operational infrastructure.

The 2017 Hopsteiner Guidelines are almost ready and will soon be available on our homepage www.hopsteiner.com.

Genes and the Future of Barley Breeding

Ever since Charles Darwin published his seminal work, “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” in 1859, his concept of the survival of the fittest has been a salient metaphor for our understanding of how living organisms evolve. The key to Darwin’s concept is that the selection is “natural,” that is without interference by humans.

A Taste of Summer in Quebec

Quebec‘s national poet, Gilles Vigneault, once sang, “Mon pays c‘est l‘hiver” (my country is winter). Of course he is correct, because, for most of the year, the Quebecois live in an almost artic terroir where blowing snow and intense cold keep them indoors. During those times, they naturally reach for a heart-warming brew like a Barley Wine or a Triple.

Synergies between Hop-Derived Flavour Compounds

New hypothesis | Many researchers have tried to identify key flavour compounds contributing to the varietal aroma of “flavour hops” imparting very characteristic fruity flavours to finished beers. Until now, certain volatile thiols and monoterpene alcohols have been reported as being possible contributors to hop varietal aromas. In this contribution, a new hypothesis of synergies between volatile thiols and monoterpene alcohols is proposed.
The article summarises parts of the research results which have already been published in BrewingScience (Vol. 69, 11-12, 2016, pp. 85-93).