Innovative milling technology for “green” malt brewing

Wet milling | The malting and the brewing industries are in a constant need of saving money, energy and lowering their carbon footprint. What if maltsters could skip the most energy consuming step of nowadays malt production, i.e. the kilning process? And what if brewers had a workable process to mill the green malt? This article presents an introduction to brewing with green malt with an innovative wet milling system comprising two sequential mills, the first being used for cutting and the second for crushing.

Malting barley report | In addition to a smaller acreage of spring barley in Europe, there are now heterogeneous harvest results. Prices are showing a firm trend.

Isothermal mashing: The answer to brewing reduced-alcohol beer

Single rest | Interest in reduced-alcohol and alcohol-free beers is growing. Can they also be produced by craft brewers? The authors describe a simple, isothermal mashing process in which temperature is maintained constant at 72 °C for 120 minutes. Using different malt mixes, original gravities will range from 10.6 to 12.1 °P. The alcohol content of the finished beer is between 1.9 and 3.5 per cent ABV and, when adding Saccharomycodes ludwigii, about 1 per cent ABV.

Color calculations and measurements (Part 3): Evaluating beer color predictions from recipes

Beer color values in comparison | This is the last part in a three-part series of articles about beer color. Part 1 examined the evolution of color measurements of finished beers [1]. Part 2 outlined the logic behind five popular, malt-based, mathematical color predictors that are commonly used throughout the world at the recipe design stage [2]. Finally, this article looks at three beers brewed specifically for this study to evaluate the saliency and precision of the formulae presented in part 2 by comparing their predictions to actual laboratory color measurements.

Powder and bulk handling in breweries

From taproom to retail | With over 8000 craft and independent breweries now in the US, and macro brewers attempting to protect their market share, the growth in competing beer brands has exceeded the growth in consumer dollars available to purchase them. Resulting financial pressures, exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19 and the waning novelty of craft beers, have forced many microbreweries to shut down. However, more retailers now offer craft beers to their customers alongside macro brews, giving savvy microbreweries an opportunity to move into retail sales. The process that produced a hundred barrels will require a radical upgrade to produce thousands of barrels, including new methods of moving bulk ingredients to and from each step of the brewing process.

Metabolomics and proteomics: Deep diving into quality

The new -omics technologies | Over the last few decades, we have all experienced the benefits of increased computer power, either in our daily lives or at work. The sheer volume of data that can be generated has also required increased storage capacity and new cloud-based applications. Blessing or curse, the reality is: we rely on these on a daily basis. Even in the malting and brewing industries, we are facing ever-increasing amounts of data, requests for more data, and faster access. The growth in data is down to a number of technologies such as metabolomics and proteomics which can provide data on hundreds to thousands of compounds. This review is a helicopter view of these two technologies being used to profile raw materials, brewing, and beer quality in extraordinary detail.

Everything under control? Dry hopping and chemical-physical properties of beer

Quality assurance | Dry hopping has become an essential technique in beer brewing, designed to create the aroma of a beer and to produce pronounced, typical beer styles. This excerpt from an extensive research project provides some insight into the chemical-physical changes associated with dry hopping.

On 17 December 2021, the 11th Hop Special will be published in BrewingScience. Manuscripts can be submitted as of now, editorial deadline is 17 September 2021.

Color calculations and measurements (Part 2): Predicting beer color from recipes

Beer color equations | This is the second article in a three-part series about the challenges of specifying beer color at the recipe design stage, as well as measuring it after the beer has been brewed. It examines the most common equations currently in use by brewers around the world for specifying beer color before the brewing process begins.

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Bohemia Hop, a.s.

In 2021, Bohemia Hop is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The company was first registered in the Commercial Register on March 25, 1991. It followed up on the activities in the international trade of Czech hops from previous decades

Pulsed electric field technology: potential for breweries

Energy savings | From today’s perspective, some of the individual stages in the beer production process are extremely energy intensive. Lots of breweries thus aim to save energy by integrating innovative technologies and concepts without having to suffer any loss of quality. Pulsed electric field technology provides a number of different approaches here.