Brewing experts at the Food Innovation Centre in Nottingham have been helping smaller breweries losing batches of beer in hot weather.
The team has been helping small breweries in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire introduce a relatively new, simple technique to stop infections during the production process which become more of a problem in the summer.
While bigger breweries can invest in labs to test for infections, smaller ones can find the cost prohibitive.
Brewing experts at the University of Nottingham-based centre have been helping out with a process developed in Germany which flags up infections using a simple colour change system.
The technique can be used at any time during production – helping identify infection problems at the earliest possible stage and avoiding costly recalls.
Food Innovation Centre brewing specialist Rod White said the beauty of the process is that it can be carried out without the need for the full laboratory which opens up the technique to the craft brewing community.
He said: “Beer is inherently microbiologically stable due to the presence of hops and alcohol but occasionally an infection can take hold and spoil a batch of beer ruining thousands of pints of beer at a time.
“The technique developed by the Technical University Munich at Weihenstephan is very simple to use and helps pin point infection issues as early as possible.
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“Infection in beer is a particular problem in the peak of summer, as it’s often temperature dependent, so this has been a timely issue.
“We were familiar with the new technique from PhD work undertaken at the University and it turns out that it is particularly useful for the very small brewer.
“We’ve now helped to introduce this system to a number of local breweries, and we hope it will help them to avoid unnecessary costs.
“We are blessed in Nottingham to have one of the most vibrant craft brewing scenes in the 海角视频.
“Support from the Food Innovation Centre is helping the amazing craft brewing scene to flourish and expand into new markets.”
Working in conjunction with the International Centre for Brewing Science at the University of Nottingham, the Food Innovation
Centre is offering a range of support to small and medium-sized breweries in the D2N2 area under the Driving Research and Innovation project - a three-year project that runs until the end of December 2022.
Richard Worrall, who runs the Food Innovation Centre, said: “Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire is well known for having many fantastic small, individual breweries.
"It’s great that we have been able to transfer key knowledge to the sector – gained during academic work.”