Master Brewers Podcast

United We Brew

About the show

Each week, thousands of brewers download The Master Brewers Podcast to hear interviews with the industry's best & brightest in brewing science, technology, and operations. The show is known for featuring technical deep dives, a bit of brewing history, cutting edge research, hard lessons learned, important industry contributors, and no fluff. If you make beer for a living, this show is for you.


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Episodes

  • Episode 177: The Art & Science of Roasting Specialty Malt

    July 13th, 2020  |  1 hr 1 min

    Specialty malt freshness, roaster technology, flavor development & complexity in specialty malts, and more.

  • Episode 176: Functional Terroir

    July 6th, 2020  |  53 mins 48 secs

    Three people who know a lot about malting talk about base malt flavor development and the variables driving a lot of creativity in brewing.

  • Episode 175: Know Barley, Know Beer

    June 29th, 2020  |  30 mins 35 secs

    Beer consumption per capita in the US has declined steadily since 1980; meanwhile, consumption of wine, cider, and spirits has increased. Keith Armstrong joins us to talk about why, as well as what brewers should be doing about it.

  • Episode 049: Breathe, Breathe, Breathe, Scream

    June 22nd, 2020  |  45 mins 2 secs

    Kerry Caldwell suffered severe injuries from an accident in the brewhouse. She was airlifted and overcame the 34% chance of survival calculated by the hospital.

  • Episode 174: WHAT IS BEER?

    June 15th, 2020  |  1 hr 11 mins

    "The Inspiring History and Legacy of American Lager Beer" is envisioned to be a nine-volume series of books covering the history of the American lager brewing industry from the 1840s to the 1940s and the evolution of adjunct lager beer as America’s “national beverage.” The “surprising” aspect of this history is that it ever happened at all, given the half-century-long assault on the industry between the 1870s and 1910s to impose an “American Reinheitsgebot.” Unified in this objective were a plethora of the nation’s political, cultural, and agricultural institutions—all seeking to ban to use of rice and corn-based products in the brewing of American ales and lagers. Equally united in opposition to this effort were the brewers and brewing scientists of America. In battles that were passionate, highly public, and intense in nature, these brewing industry advocates successfully defended the right of American brewers to brew with the ingredients of their choice. It is a powerful legacy not only for America’s first revolution in beer (the adjunct lager brewing industry) but also for the nation’s second revolution in beer (the American craft brewing industry).

  • Episode 173: Using Exogenous Enzymes to Boost Biotransformation​

    June 8th, 2020  |  35 mins 45 secs

    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.

  • Episode 172: What’s The Buzz? Non-alcoholic Beer Production

    June 1st, 2020  |  52 mins 48 secs

    There are lots of different approaches to producing NA beer. Justin McKellar walks us through the tradeoffs of each method.

  • Episode 047: Whirlpool Trub Carryover Effects on Beer Sensory Quality & Clarity

    May 25th, 2020  |  20 mins 10 secs

    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.

  • Episode 171: Best Practices - Container Rinsing with Water

    May 18th, 2020  |  48 mins 12 secs

    Does your brewery can or bottle? Do you pay close attention to your rinser or just assume it does what it's supposed to? This week on the show, we take a deep dive into water rinsers with a team of Master Brewers who collaborated to publish a Best Practices document you can use to get bottle and can rinsing done right.

  • Episode 170: Centrifuge Operation

    May 11th, 2020  |  1 hr 2 mins

    This is what happens when someone reaches out to suggest a great podcast topic. Becky Rudolf had questions about centrifuge operation so we mobilized a small army of Master Brewers members to provide answers.

  • Episode 169: Oak

    May 4th, 2020  |  43 mins 10 secs

    We take a deep dive into oak barrels. You'll hear about the properties of oak, the different types, and all about the complexities of seasoning and toast.

  • Episode 038: Comparison of the Contributions of Hop Pellets, Supercritical Fluid Hop Extracts, and Extracted Hop Material to the Hop Aroma and Terpenoid Content of Kettle-Hopped Lager Beers

    April 27th, 2020  |  26 mins 10 secs

    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.

  • Episode 168: Spirit Barrel Aging

    April 20th, 2020  |  38 mins 7 secs

    We take a look at spirit barrel aging techniques from the perspective of Julian Shrago at Beachwood Brewing

  • Bonus: Introducing Plantopia

    April 17th, 2020  |  33 mins 8 secs

    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).

  • Episode 167: Manufacturing Hand Sanitizer in the Brewery

    April 13th, 2020  |  48 mins 8 secs

    Three different perspectives on the realities of producing hand sanitizer.

  • Bonus: The New Normal

    April 10th, 2020  |  27 mins 48 secs

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