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Yeast vitality testing and its role in production brewing
By: Chris Boulton
01/12/2013
The concept of yeast vitality and the methods that are used for its assessment continue to elicit interest amongst brewers. It is easy to see why. The traditional viability test based on methylene blue requires a reasonably skilled operator which may be at odds with the common desire to close central analytical facilities and move routine QC tasks to satellite laboratories in the production area.
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The global potential for cider - The market in 2013 and beyond
By: Steve Curtis
01/12/2013
For many years beer and cider have co-existed. Beer has sold in massive volumes with the ‘big brewers’ thriving as global beer volumes increased and millions of dollars were thrown into sales and marketing. Global beer sales continue to rise, driven by growth in China, Africa and emerging markets. But lurking in the background is cider...
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A Dundalk brewing tradition eases off into the night
By: Gerry McGovern
01/12/2013
As you read this review article, the last beer will have been brewed at Ireland’s iconic Great Northern Brewery, the original home of the Harp Lager brand. It has fallen victim to a decline in sales brought on by the longest recession in living memory and the need for its parent Diageo to reduce overheads by consolidating all brewing production operations on the St James’s Gate site in Dublin.
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Be disciplined in analysing your filter performance
By: Dave Thomas
01/12/2013
At about the same time that dinosaurs, pterosaurs, crocodiles and birds were evolving on earth, a common beer filtration aid was being laid down for brewers to exploit some 200million years later. Today’s brewers, among other food and water technologists, exploit these 10 to 200μ skeletons of organisms that lived in the Jurassic period.
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The art of filtration - The past, present and future of filter aids
By: Matthew Jordan
01/12/2013
The filtration of liquids, irrespective of the method used, can be an unpredictable affair and is often considered an imprecise science, perhaps even an ‘art’. This is because many liquids requiring filtering contain a variety of suspended solids with complex characteristics of shape, size, deformability and surface properties – all of which have an influence on the degree of filterability.
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Cold stabilisation of beer - Sterile filtration versus pasteurisation
By: Daniel Vecsey
01/12/2013
The microbiological stabilisation of beer is of critical importance for the shelf-life of bottled beers. As producers target new and faraway emerging markets, it is critical that the beer reaches end-users with its intended characteristics.
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A silk purse froma sow’s ear
By: Richard Broadbent, Phil Ham
01/12/2013
As one of the UK’s largest maltsters, Bairds Malt operates five plants in the UK with a total output of 250,000t tonnes per year. Its water consumption is substantial, with approximately 4.5m3 of water required to steep every tonne of barley, meaning the average annual consumption tops 960 million litres.
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GABF sets new records
By: Alex Barlow
01/12/2013
October in Denver saw the Great American Beer Festival come to town again, this time celebrating its 31st year. The USA’s biggest beer festival and associated beer competition is capably organised by the Brewers Association, the trade body for US craft brewers.
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2013 northern hemisphere hop update
By: Paul Corbett
01/12/2013
The 2013 growing season in Europe will go down in the record books as being one of the most difficult for many years with extreme weather causing problems for growers throughout the year.
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MBAA goes to the Lone Star state - The 2013 Convention held at Austin, Texas
By: Simon Jackson
01/12/2013
This year the MBAA took its annual convention to Austin, the state capital of Texas. Here is a state with a strong sense of ‘independence’ and pride in the many struggles that it had to endure to first forge independence from Mexico and then to join the Confederation and yet remain independent in spirit. There are many memorials to the men of Texas who fought with the southern states in the Civil War.
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Barley forMillerCoors in the US
By: Mont Stuart
01/12/2013
MillerCoors, the second largest brewer in the US, was formed in 2008 as a joint venture between SABMiller and MolsonCoors. Miller and Coors are two iconic American brands with a rich brewing heritage that dates back to the 1800s, when their founders, Frederick Miller and Adolph Coors, first built their breweries. Their development from small regional brewers into international brewing companies is deeply intertwined with the production of malting barley in the United States.
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Over 800 years of history ... A visit to PureMalt in East Lothian, Scotland
By: Roger Putman
01/12/2013
The area to the east of Edinburgh towards the English border has a micro-climate not unlike High Norfolk with sea frets keeping ripening grain cool and damp. It has a long history of grain production and is famed for its superior malting barley just like Fakenham.
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Tequila fromMexico
By: M G Lopez
01/12/2013
Tequila is a unique alcoholic beverage whose tradition, legacy and mythology dates back to pre-Hispanic times. The only raw material permitted for the production of tequila is from one of the Agave families: Agave tequilana Weber var. Azul. The name of this alcoholic beverage comes from its place of origin – Tequila in Jalisco State – which is 500km west of Mexico city.
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Standing on its own feet - An update fromWye Hops
By: Steve Curtis
01/12/2013
Back in early 2006, the announcement that East Malling Research was to close the Hop Department at Wye College sent a shock-wave through British hop growers and brewers alike. The National Hop Association (now the British Hop Association) quickly made plans to rescue the main parts of the breeding programme by relocating it to a new plot at China Farm, an irrigated and wilt-free hop garden near Canterbury.