Master Brewers Podcast

How brewery chillers work, troubleshooting tips, common mistakes, and easy preventative maintenance to keep it running for years to come. Special Guest: Damon Reed.

Why does dry-hopping during active fermentation change sensory profiles? Is the black box of biotransformation really what drives those changes or is it something else entirely? Special Guests: Leandro Meiners and Mati Cavanna.

The disease has moved out of Africa, it's now in the Middle East. It's only a matter of time before it arrives. It's a numbers game. Pat Hayes joins us to talk about barley breeding, the race against disease, genetic tools, and more. Special Guest: Patrick Hayes.

Are you prepared to face the most challenging barley crop most of us have ever seen? Special Guests: Drew Sharp, Matt Enns, and Peter Watts.

"Thiolized" CRISPR yeast, the world's 1st convincing argument for mash hopping, and more. Special Guests: Lance Shaner and Laura Burns.

Brian Faivre explains how one of the largest craft brewers is using data and tools (accessible to breweries of any size) to improve their process. Special Guest: Brian Faivre.

Dan Stromberg discusses industry best practices for glycol system piping. You'll learn how to balance your system, how to size headers for correct flow rates & velocity, which pipe materials to consider, why the ubiquitous solenoid valve is a bad choice, and more. Special Guest: Dan Strömberg.

Tips & inspiration for using honey in your beer. Special Guest: Keith Seiz.

Ben Edmunds describes his unique & effective approach to brewing hoppy beer. Special Guest: Ben Edmunds.

A study examining the impacts of wort gravity, IBUs, and serial repitching of California Ale yeast. Special Guests: Luis Castro and Nichole Bryant.

Important tools every brewer should have within reach, as we all struggle to deal with increasing competition, costs, variability in raw materials, and strive to operate more sustainable breweries. Special Guest: Mark Sammartino.

We take a deep dive into the impact Mg can have on the Maillard reactions occurring in the brewhouse and during malting. Special Guests: Euan Thomson and Hannah Charnock.

What does a brewer who is new to brewing hard seltzer need to know about yeast & fermentation? And more importantly, what the heck is actually in yeast nutrient? Which type of nutrient do you need and how much should you be using? Special Guests: Avi Shayevitz, Brittney Christianson, and Eric Abbott.

When Keith Miller got blasted in the face with caustic, he was blinded instantly. This could happen to any brewer. Imagine yourself crawling on the brewery floor, completely blind, in desperate search of a safety shower. What happens in the seconds immediately following an injury like this determines whether or not you'll be blind for the rest of your life. Understanding the risks and being f...

Dextrose, cane sugar, beet sugar, corn syrups, back sweetening with stevia, and more Special Guest: Scott Helstad.

4 real-life off-flavor scenarios from Highland Brewing Company, how each issue was discovered & remedied, and the role that sensory data played in each case. Special Guest: Anna Sauls.

We catch up with a guy who's been studying thiols since before most of us understood why they matter. If you're chasing tropical flavors in beer, this episode is a must listen. Special Guest: Laurent DAGAN.

We take a look at the carbon footprint of barley and hear about how a maltster's procurement contracts have drastically reduced that carbon footprint at no cost to farmers. We'll also hear about some case studies from the malthouse, as well as how & why every brewery should take a practical approach to sustainability. Special Guest: Nigel Davies.

Aaron Justus from Ballast Point discusses targeting sulfate to chloride ratios to enhance hop & malt character. This research, which informed recipe development for gold medal winner Manta Ray, was presented during the 2017 Master Brewers Conference. Special Guest: Aaron Justus.

We explore some of the similarities and differences between brewing & distilling. Special Guest: Todd Leopold.

How a simple case study conducted at 35 Rock Bottom breweries more than 10 years ago can inform your process to increase brewhouse efficiency and make better beer. Special Guest: Van Havig.

In today's competitive craft beer market, if you're standing still, you're dead. Continual improvement is a required survival skill. This episode tells the story of how Dogfish Head Craft Brewery went about reducing perceived mercaptan via fermentor trub removal. Read more at MBAA.com Special Guest: Joe Spearot.

Tom Eplett joins us to talk about some anecdotal fermentation problems, lessons learned, and his go-to papers, books, etc. for troubleshooting and learning about brewing. If you still think the best yeast is in the middle of the cone, you should listen to this episode. Special Guest: Tom Eplett.

This week, we continue our draught line cleaning discussion with Keith Lemcke. Special Guest: Keith Lemcke.

Draught beer line cleaning is a critical factor in the service of excellent draught beer. Cleaning your system frequently ensures beer quality but increases the cost of service due to beer lost when preparing the lines for cleaning. Throughout the industry, there is debate over the "best practices" in draught cleaning, including what defines a "clean" draught system. With the ever-increasing selec...