Master Brewers Podcast

The 2020 World Brewing Congress is almost here! Have you registered yet?Special Guest: Keith Villa.

A growing demand in utilizing biotransformation, a general term for the conversion of compounds through biological pathways, to improve the organoleptic profile of beer has changed the way hop forward beer recipes are approached. While the analysis of terpene biotransformation has been well documented, there remains a gap in knowledge in sulfur compounds due to their extremely low concentrations (sometimes in concentrations of parts per trillion) and high volatility. Analysis of sulfur compounds requires precise and sensitive analytical methodology in order to detect them. While sulfur compounds have been successfully detected using gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) a pulsed flame photometric detector (PFPD), and a GC sulfur chemiluminescence detector (GC-SCD), the research presented here utilizes a GC-SCD via stir bar-sorptive extaction (SBSE) methodology previously used to track aroma intensities in optimizing harvest picking windows. This work shows an identification of various thiols and sulfur compounds found in both un-hopped and hopped wort (with Amarillo® (VGXP01), Cashmere, Idaho grown Saaz (Osvald-72 c.v.), and Czech Saaz) and tracks them through the fermentation process confirming the volatility of some thiols and most notably the presence of 4-methyl-4-mercaptopentan-2-one (4MMP) in the final beer at a retention time of 9.5 minutes, a compound that contributes a catty, black currant/Sauvignon Blanc aroma character. Differences in hop varieties were compared with an American ale yeast, and the effect of yeast strain as well as temperature on thiol production with VGXP01 was compared between an American ale, German lager, Belgian saison, and Brettanomyces bruxellensis strain.Special Guest: Tim Wallen.

This was the very first episode of The Master Brewers Podcast, recorded during the 2016 WBC. As we prepare to kick off the all-virtual 2020 WBC in just a few weeks, this seems like the perfect opportunity to listen in on what was happening during the 2016 WBC. Special Guests: Daniel Vollmer and Tom Shellhammer.

We continue conferencing vicariously from the Master Brewers Live event during the 2019 Master Brewers conference in Calgary, where former Master Brewers Technical Director Mark Sammartino joined me to talk about trials using exogenous enzymes in malting to get brewers more consistent malt and make life easier in the malthouse.Special Guest: Mark Sammartino.

Isn't it a shame to just throw out all of that spent hop slurry after dry-hopping a tank? Ola Oladokun from Carlsberg sat down with me during last year's conference in Calgary to talk about brewing trials designed to put that "spent" hop slurry back to work.Special Guest: Olayide Oladokun.

Audrey Skinner joins us to talk about bright tank purges and other important battles in the war you should be waging against dissolved oxygen in your brewery.Special Guest: Audrey Skinner.

Need to remove haze? Need to add haze? Need to stabilize flavor? This week, we're talking applications for tannic acid in the brewery.Special Guest: Joe Formanek.

Biotransformation has become a buzzword in the brewing community, with many brewers even performing dry hopping at certain specific times to hit what is considered to be the “biotransformation sweet spot.” Academic literature does not support these claims. With the aid of enzymes developed for the wine industry, two experimental IPA beers were brewed: one with an enzyme preparation aimed at hydrolyzing glycosides and the other with a β-lyase preparation aimed at releasing bound thiols. Triangle tests for each treatment were carried out by a panel of over 25 participants, composed of brewers and judges, and showed that both beers were significantly different from the control, yet preference was overwhelmingly toward the no-enzyme IPA control beer. Furthermore, the descriptive analysis carried out by the same panel showed a clear trend toward both enzyme beers being less tropical/fruity and more herbal and/or citrusy, the exact opposite of the purported benefit of biotransformation.Special Guests: Leandro Meiners and Mati Cavanna.

Does increasing the whirlpool trub carryover by 20% significantly affect beer quality? That's what Hayley & Tom set out to determine at Stone's Richmond, VA brewery.Special Guests: Hayley Goodwin and Tom Boudreau.

Our friends from OSU join us to talk about a peer-reviewed paper comparing hop pellets, CO2 extracts, and spent hop material in kettle hop additions.Special Guests: Daniel Sharp, Karl Vanevenhoven, and Tom Shellhammer.

Today, we bring you the first episode of Plantopia - a brand new podcast, produced by our very own host & producer, for APS (one of Master Brewers sister scientific societies).

Three different perspectives on the realities of producing hand sanitizer.Special Guests: Dave Rathkamp, Derik Reiser, and Joel Moore.

Now that we've got some historical COVID-19 sales data, Ross is back with insights on the new normal.Special Guest: Ross Ackermann.

Eric Jorgenson joins us to talk about his approach to microbiology and his quick reference guide of significant bacteria found in the brewery environment.Special Guest: Eric Jorgenson.

This week on the show, our friends from Appalachian State University join us in Calgary to talk about their work evaluating koji as an alternative to traditional malting.Special Guests: Brett Taubman and Tom Williams.

This week, we take a break from technical brewing to talk about the new realities of selling beer during a pandemic.Special Guest: Ross Ackermann.

New information from OSU regarding how hop kiln temperature impacts hop quality.Special Guests: Lindsey Rubottom and Tom Shellhammer.

David Kapral joins us to talk about why it's critical to have thermostatic air vents and vacuum breakers on your steam jackets, and what happens when you don't.Special Guest: David Kapral.

Jordan Kelly joins us in Calgary to talk about Odell Brewing Company's low-cost lactic acid bacteria propagation system, as well as how they dialed-in and scaled their process.Special Guest: Jordan Kelly.

Peter Watts joins us in Calgary to talk about a bunch of new malting barley varieties coming out of Canada.Special Guest: Peter Watts.

Tom Shellhammer joins us from the 2019 Master Brewers Conference in Calgary to shed some light on the inefficiencies of dry hopping.Special Guest: Tom Shellhammer.

Joe Walts joins us to talk about his TQ paper and experiences managing water chemistry in the brewhouse.Special Guest: Joe Walts.

Kim Syring from Surly Brewing joins us in Calgary to talk about her outside the box controlled spoilage studies to determine micro tolerance limits.Special Guest: Kim Syring.

Ross Koenigs from New Belgium sits down with us in Calgary to talk about his poster and quest to better understand hemp flavor in beer.Special Guest: Ross Koenigs.

Two presenters from the hops technical session during the 2019 Master Brewers Conference in Calgary discuss the use of beta acid products in haze stabilization, as well as some practical aspects of using hop oils in the brewery.Special Guests: Horace Cunningham and Margaux Huismann.

Our friends from Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston describe how they reduced lauter times, decreased their grain bills by 5%, and increased average brewhouse efficiency from 89.3% to 95.5%.Special Guests: Drew Russey and Eddie Gutierrez.

Our friends from Escarpment Labs (EP102) discuss the impact of inoculation rate on Norwegian kveik yeast fermentation.Special Guests: Iz Netto and Richard Preiss.

Our friends from a "large" craft maltster and a "large" craft brewer get together to talk about craft malt, winter barley, AMBA's guidelines for all-malt brewers, and more.Special Guests: Dave Kuske and Tim Matthews.

This week on the show, a topic that we should all be considering: sustainability. Amy (Johnson) Dragon describes how she went about reducing the solid waste that Genesee Brewing Company sends to the landfill.Special Guest: Amy (Johnson) Dragon.

This week on the show, we get a glimpse at life inside a brewer's yeast supply lab. You'll hear about tips for ordering yeast, how to better align expectations with reality, and of course, when to blame the maltster.Special Guests: Jasper Akerboom and Travis Tedrow.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus is a beer spoilage yeast, with contamination leading to off-flavors, over-attenuation, and over-carbonation, potentially causing gushing beer, exploding packages, or non-compliance with Alcohol by Volume reporting. Many diastaticus yeast are commercially available, high-attenuating strains, but wild strains have also been isolated in beer. Regardless of the source of contamination, re-fermentation of finished beer by diastaticus is caused by the secretion of a glucoamylase. In finished beer, glucoamylase breaks down unfermented dextrins, creating newly fermentable carbohydrates. Outside of PCR-based genetic screening, there exists no easy method for detection of diastaticus contamination by the brewery quality control lab. Matt Linske joins us live from the 2019 Master Brewers Conference to discuss his evaluation of Farber Pham Diastaticus Medium (FPDM) for the enrichment and detection of diastaticus, and provides tips for effective use of FPDM in the brewery.Special Guest: Matt Linske.

Doug needed an affordable solution for growing up yeast in the brewpub environment, so he got crafty.Special Guest: Doug Hindman.

An effort supported by a professional perfumer to establish a universal sensory language for hops.Special Guest: Georg Drexler.

The Lallemand Brewing team joins us to talk about their new bioengineered, lactic acid-producing Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ADY).Special Guests: Chaz Rice, Eric Abbott, and Molly Browning.

If OSHA shows up at your brewery tomorrow, are you ready?Special Guests: John Olaechea and Nicole Reiman.

An elite group of brewers working behind the scenes to improve hop quality in the US.Special Guests: John Mallet and Tom Nielsen.

What if you could postpone buying new fermentors by reducing variability during fermentation? This week on the show, you'll hear about how this was accomplished at New Belgium while eliminating inaccurate measurements like yeast cell counts & viability.Special Guest: Peter Bouckaert.

A diverse group of commercial brewers work together to chase down the source of extract loss in a hypothetical brewhouse. Special Guests: Emily Rivera, Jay Pemberton, and Victor Rini.

Dr. Michael Lewis has trained thousands of brewers since launching the UC Davis Brewing Science program in 1962. We talk about his journey, his love affair with stout, "extreme beer," why you're using the wrong beer glass, and the responsibilities we all have as brewers.Special Guest: Michael Lewis.

Tips for improving your process steam system from a longtime Master Brewers district officer, contributor, and course lecturer, Steve Huffman.Special Guest: Steve Huffman.

It's no secret that yeast needs zinc for healthy fermentation, but how much and where/when should you add it? What happens when you add too much zinc? Microbiologist Joe Kinney of FX Matt Brewing Co. joins us to help you get the right amount of zinc into your fermentations.

What if you had a brewery bot that monitored for things like out of spec fermentations, glycol reservoir temp & level, or CIP temps & times, and sent your team alerts by text message? This week on the show, Sam McElwee explains how to leverage big data in small breweries.Special Guest: Sam McElwee.

Ann Spevacek & Eric Ritchson from Pizza Port Brewing discuss water usage and their journey to wastewater compliance.Special Guests: Ann Spevacek and Eric Ritchson.

Tyler Schoales of Country Malt Group takes us on a deep dive into the most important step in malting. Special Guest: Tyler Schoales.

Alex Gertsman talks about brewing the traditional Russian beverage known as Kvass.

Kevin McCabe talks about how PCR works, how he uses it at Full Sail, the different types of instruments available, their cost, and more.

Industry veteran, Joe Hertrich, talks about malt flavor development, why lower color expectations are the enemy of malt flavor, and why the standard base malt used by lots of US craft brewers isn't the best choice for all-malt beers.LINKS: MBAA Brewing & Malting Science Course Become a Master Brewers Member 2019 Master Brewers Conference Special Guest: Joe Hertrich.

Back in January, Wade Begrow gave a great presentation during the annual conference District Michigan puts on together with the Michigan Brewers Guild. Master Brewers members can download Wade's Yeast 101 presentation (both slides & audio) or any of the other 781 (and counting) files in the District Presentations Archive at MBAA.com. Thanks to the efforts of volunteer district officers (like Debbie Neustifter-Smith) members have ongoing access to presentations given at Master Brewers District meetings, both near and far. LINKS: Yeast 101 (slides & audio) District Presentations Archive Become a Master Brewers Member 2019 Master Brewers Conference Special Guest: Wade Begrow.

Dave Baughman talks about boiler safety, mistakes many brewers make when purchasing steam boilers, the pros and cons of atmospheric vs forced draft boilers, and more. LINKS: MBAA TQ: Steam Boilers in the Craft Brewing Industry and the Need for Proper Training 2019 Master Brewers Conference

Pattie Aron and Xiang Yin join us (live from CBC19) to talk about beer staling mechanisms and preventative measures that are important in malting and brewing. LINKS: 2018 MBAA ETC: FAN and Flavor Impacts - The Fundamentals of a Brewers Dilemma 2019 Master Brewers Conference Special Guests: Patricia Aron and Xiang Yin.