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 181: Tracking Biotransformation of Sulfur Compounds in Beer

    August 24th, 2020  |  38 mins 40 secs

    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.

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    Episode 001: Total Oil Content ≠ Aroma

    August 17th, 2020  |  16 mins 46 secs

    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.

  • Episode 180: Exogenous Enzyme Applications in Malting

    August 10th, 2020  |  33 mins 27 secs

    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.

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    Episode 179: Reuse of Spent Dry Hop Slurry in the Brewhouse

    August 3rd, 2020  |  26 mins 52 secs

    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.

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    Episode 178: Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Oxidized Beer

    July 27th, 2020  |  23 mins 33 secs

    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.

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    Episode 040: What is Aleppo?

    July 20th, 2020  |  21 mins 3 secs

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

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    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.

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    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.

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    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.

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    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).

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    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.

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    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.

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    Episode 045: Spoiler Alert

    April 6th, 2020  |  36 mins 12 secs

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

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    Episode 165: Bypassing the Malting Process with Koji

    March 30th, 2020  |  28 mins 8 secs

    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.

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    Episode 164: When Draught Dries Up

    March 23rd, 2020  |  23 mins 57 secs

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

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    Episode 163: Kiln Temperature & Hop Quality

    March 16th, 2020  |  32 mins 59 secs

    New information from OSU regarding how hop kiln temperature impacts hop quality.