Until its closure in 2007, new hop variety development in England was carried out at Wye College in Kent. Through the determined efforts of the National Hop Association of England the hop breeding programme is being continued by their new subsidiary company called Wye Hops Ltd. Since 2007, it has overseen the development of three new dwarf hop varieties which are described here.

GEA Brewery Systems GmbH has developed a method for the efficient use of hop extract. For an industrial application of this method they also integrated a homogenizer of their affiliated company GEA Niro Soavi. Such homogenizers are well known and proven e.g. in the field of milk treatment.

This month, 4 new hop varieties were officially launched. These new varieties were bred in the Hop Research Institute in Hüll, Germany and are characterized by their unique flavours. As dry hopping becomes increasingly popular in the brewing industry, especially among craft brewers worldwide, these flavours, which re-appear in the finished beer, will no doubt make an important contribution to overall beer aroma. ...

During the production of beverages or in terms of quality control, the question often arises as to which yeast species occur in which beverage as starter cultures or as spoilers? The species name should direct beverage microbiologists and technologists to information that is available about species’ specific spoilage and fermentation characteristics. This review provides an overview regarding the yeast flora present in beverage processes in general and provides guidance on how this yeast flora can be identified at the level of genus, species or strain. Additionally, beverage-specific technological and microbiological information about specific yeast species is included. Yeasts are grouped as either inoculated or spontaneous starter cultures and as direct or indirect spoilage organisms..

Hop cultivars have been developed at the Hop Research Center Huell since 1926. Until recently, all breeding programmes pursued the objectives to develop aroma varieties of the classical European noble aroma type and high yielding, high-alpha varieties. Both groups fully satisfied the demands of growers and brewers worldwide. However, initiated by the US craft brewers and also taken up by other creative brewers worldwide novel hop-derived aroma and flavour notes in beer attracted much attention. Therefore, new breeding efforts started in 2006 which already brought forth several experimental lines which impart multifaceted floral, fruity and citrusy aroma impressions to beer..

Hop has three groups of variety-specific ingredients. These are the bitter substances, the essential oils and also some low molecular weight polyphenols like the flavonoids. In this work the focus was mainly on the composition of the quercetin- and kaempferol-glycosides, because these compounds are suitable to differentiate varieties. Initial work focused on the development of convenient methods for sample preparation and HPLC-analysis. Then nearly the whole available world hop collection (121 different varieties from 17 countries) was analysed. The data were evaluated by a principal component analysis to make differences and similarities visible..

Water issues in India

On the basis of its population census of 2011, India’s per capita availability of water has fallen alarmingly. According to the Indian water resource ministry, the country’s per capita availability at 1545 m³/year including non-personal consumption such as industry and irrigation is way below the international threshold benchmark of 1700 m³/year. The United Nations’ widely cited water adequacy measure Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator shows that the country might face acute problems due to water shortage in the medium and long term. At Water 2010, an event organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce body CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), water availability was projected to fall to 1140 m³ by 2014 (2001: 1829 m³; 1951: 5177 m³). This is alarmingly close to the water stress line of 1000 m³.

World Beer Cup 2012

This year is the ninth edition of the biannual international beer competition, hosted by the Brewers Association. The 2012 World Beer Cup® will be held in San Diego, California, USA. Judging takes place May 1-2, 2012 in conjunction with Craft Brewers Conference. The competition will judge more than 3600 entries. Awards will be presented at the World Beer Cup Gala Awards Dinner on 5 May 2012, during the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego. Every entering brewery receives one complimentary ticket to the awards ceremony.

Hops are one of the most interesting research areas worldwide and the full extent of all the applications for hops are far from being known. Therefore the Barth-Haas Group, the world’s largest supplier of hop products and services, will again confer grants for hop research projects in 2012.

The basis for evaluation for the analysis results of hop products is the statistical data of the methods recommended in Chapter 7 of ”Analytica-EBC“. This annually updated collection of methods will soon be available on-line (www.europeanbreweryconvention.org). All the prescriptions have been tested in ring analyses which provide a reliable source for the determination of statistical data. In some cases coefficients of variation (CV) and/or standard deviations (s) are used to characterize accuracy. Newer methods which have been tested according to the Norm „Accuracy (trueness and precision) of measurement methods and results“ (ISO 5725:1994), specify the errors of repeatability (r95) and reproducibility (R95) of an analysis with a statistical certainty of 95%.

The world’ s longest-established brewing competition is gearing up with a change of name – to The International Brewing Awards - and a growing list of sponsors, judges and brewers around the globe registering their interest.