Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei in Berlin (VLB) e.V., an institute in Berlin that provides research, training, education and service for the brewing industry, will be conducting a seminar covering applied microbiology with relevance to the brewing, at Craft Drinks India 2019.

Beer is a fermented beverage that involves the activity of microorganism at nearly every stage of the process - from raw materials to the stability of the final product. This microbial activity plays a defining role in the development of many of the sensory characteristics in beer. This in turn contributes to its final aroma and quality of the product. While certain microbial activity is desired others can deteriorate the quality of the final product and must be controlled through careful monitoring.

The seminar will cover the basics in applied microbiology with an introduction to typical beer spoilage microorganisms. It also offers a basic overview on how to set up a quality assurance plan in relation to microbiology in a brewery; thereby allowing breweries to effectively address quality questions or uncover potential problems.

Some of the topics covered would include microbial quality assurance, setting up a microbial quality assurance plan, sampling, detection of contaminants microbial sampling in the brewery, weak points in breweries, practical block- sampling in the brew house and in the laboratory.

It will also cover an introduction to beer spoilage bacteria, characterisation, classification and identification of microorganisms with relevance to beer.

Presenters

Presenters at the seminar would include Gayatri Mehta, Research Assistant who currently works as a research assistant at VLB Berlin, an institute in Berlin that provides research, training, education and service for the brewing industry. She is involved in training and education for various courses at the institute including the certified brew master course.

Jan Biering, Scientific worker and consultant who has completed  a Dipl.-Ing Biotechnology/ Brewing science (1997-2003) from the Technical University of Berlin/Germany and has also done an apprenticeship as brewer and maltster (1995- 1997) at Kulmbacher Brauereien, Kulmbach, Germany.