Issue 16 - December 2022

Foreword By Benet Fite

Lene Mølskov Bech

Dear community of brewing scientists and technologists,

I hope these words find you all hopeful and healthy. This foreword had to be full of enthusiasm and joy, mainly to invite you to the first physical event of EBC after such a long time being contacting only by digital means. Unfortunately and sadly, we are facing again a tremendous local and global event, a humanitarian disaster here in our continent. The impact in human lives, families, communities, economy and, of course, to brewing industry is going to be outrageous and impossible to evaluate so far. My warmest and the most hopeful support to the Ukrainian people! In another level of relevance, I’d like to mention the importance of Ukraine as a brewing land with one of the hugest brewer facilities in Europe and one of the most important producer and exporter of cereals in Europe together with other supplies related to our industry.

Additionally, all the brewing industry, despite of being slowly leaving away the so long pandemic and its so impacting consequences, now is facing one of the worst raw materials and packaging supplies inflationist and volatile period in the last 40 years putting at risk our business. Nevertheless, I’m fully convinced that joining forces and putting all the knowledge and experience together, we’ll overcome all these difficulties and challenges once again. Most of this new research and advances in science and technology will be covered and discussed at the 38th EBC Congress joint edition with the Brewers Forum, the last days of May in Madrid when we all will have the chance to celebrate the 75th anniversary of EBC. In this edition, we’ll have the honour to host about 60 oral lecturers and more than 120 poster presenters, covering topics as sustainability challenges, low and non-alcoholic beer, every angle about hops, new fermentation processes and microorganisms, wood aged beers, innovative products and much more… That’s the reason why I encourage you to travel to Spain to meet your colleagues face to face and beer in hand to make EBC Congress an unforgettable brewing event again.

Salud y paz!

EBC at work

EBC Executive Team

The  EBC Executive Team met on the 10th of February to review progress achieved over the last year and to discuss the projects of 2022. The first decision taken was to propose for physical sales the Beer Brewing Guide as well as the Manuals of Good Practices in physical trade faire attended by The Brewers of Europe / the EBC (read below for more explanation). Then, members of the EBC Executive Team discussed on how best to transfer knowledge within the industry on important topics such as sustainability. The Secretariat was tasked to develop a roadmap covering 2022 and 2023 possibly involving the update of another Manual of Good Practices and the development of a series of webinars on topics such as carbon-emission reduction and packaging. The roadmap will be presented at the next meeting of the EBC Executive Team.

Call for Experts – Sub-Committee Sensory

The Sub-Committee Sensory, under the chairmanship of Julia Bär (Doemens), is looking to build up a new team and is recruiting experts to join the Sub-Committee. The work is centred around reviewing and updating, where necessary, the Sensory Analytica EBC (Methods 13.1 to 13.14) in coordination with the ASBC, as relevant, and also developing new methods, particularly concerning flavour stability measurement and assessment of drinkability. Profiles sought after are sensory experts from breweries (big, medium-scale, small) or from universities and institutes, from all across Europe. The next meeting of the Sub-Committee Sensory is scheduled in Madrid, in the lead-up to the Brewers Forum / 38th EBC Congress. If interested, don’t hesitate to contact us here at the EBC secretariat via info@brewersofeurope.eu

Analysis Group

The Analysis Group held its first meeting of the year on the 15th of March to discuss progress made in current project.  From the Sub-Committee Beer & Wort, a method on gluten detection is pending final validation before publication, whilst a collaborative trial on color determination by L,a,b will be kicked off soon. Other projects on detection of heavy metals in beer by IOS-MS are undergoing a pre-test phase whilst draft methods for SO2 detection by DTNB are being prepared. On the front of the Sub-Committee Hops, pre-trials on iso-alpha acids and alpha-acids in wort and xanthohumol are being run by the experts, with two potential full-scale collaborative trials as next steps. The Sub-Committee Barley & Malt is finalizing a Guideline Method on gushing as well as a method on wort turbidity of Congress Mash Wort. Work is also going on concerning wort color/boiled wort color measurement as well as starch gelatinization. The Sub-Committee Microbiology recently welcomed new experts and work has resumed concerning beer spoilers detection by PCR. The work on detection of wild yeast and Saccharomyces diastaticus will also resume in 2022. Finally, the Sub-Committee Sensory is also working on updating some Sensory methods and developing new methods on flavour stability assessment and drinkability. The next meeting of the EBC Analysis Group and sub-committee experts is scheduled in the lead up to the Brewers Forum / 38th EBC Congress in Madrid.

Publications

Two new International Methods published

Two new International Methods, developed in partnership with the ASBC, have been published early 2022:

The methods can be purchased individually (29€ excl. VAT each) or accessed as part of the annual Analytica EBC subscription (109€ excl. VAT /year).

The Beer Brewing Guide

EBC Publications on sales at InnBrew and the Brewers Forum/EBC Congress

The Beer Brewing Guide: EBC Quality Handbook for Small Breweries, will be available for sales at the booth of Cerveceros de España (booth 19), at InnBrew, Barcelona, 31 March – 02 April. The book will be available at the price of 49.99€ for non-members and 44,99€ for members of Cerveceros de España.

In addition to selling the Beer Brewing Guide at InnBrew at the end of the month, you will be able to also purchase the book at the same price during the Brewers Forum / 38th EBC Congress (www.brewersforum.eu), 29 May-01 June 2022, Madrid (IFEMA Palacio Municipal). In addition to the Beer Brewing guide, you will also be able to have a look at the Manual of Good Practice – Beer Filtration and Stabilisation and purchase it. Both publications will be available at The Brewers of Europe / EBC booth!

BREWERS FORUM & EBC CONGRESS 2022 – TIME TO REGISTER!

Time has come to register (https://brewersforum.eu/registration/)  to the Brewers Forum / 38th EBC Congress that takes place as an in-person event in Madrid, Spain, IFEMA Palacio Municipal, from the 29th of May to the 01st of June 2022. You can also have a look at the detailed programme on the event’s website: https://brewersforum.eu/programme/

Attendees interested mostly at the EBC Congress presentations should purchase a three-day ticket, as they are spread on Monday, the 30th of May, Tuesday the 31st of May and Wednesday the 1st of June. Two types of tickets are available:

  • Individual ticket, at 600€, which gives access to the conference only (participation in individual networking events and technical visits on the 2nd of June can be added)
  • Package ticket, at 643,50€, which gives access to the conferences and all social events, including a technical visit on the 2nd of June.

EBC Speakers and Poster Holders can register applying the “EBC Speaker and Poster Holder” rate.

We are looking forward to finally seeing you all in presence, listening to what science brings us and cheering around a glass of beer together!

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