Highland Brewing hosts meeting for hop growers and beverage producers

From a press release:

Register now for the April 19 NC Craft Beverage Regional Exchange Group meeting, held at Highland Brewing Company.

This will be a combined meeting for hop growers and beverage producers focusing on managing fermentations from a very applied and practical standpoint. Discussions will include basic yeast and microbial activities, propagation considerations, nutritional demands, fermentation kinetics, and quality aspects associated with such processes (e.g. sensory implications, attenuating ethanol output, minimizing time input). Everyone likes a clean and trouble-free ferment!

This will include a blind tasting of beers brewed with local, NC-grown hops to compare against beers brewed with the same varieties of hops grown in the Pacific Northwest. Your participation and input is highly valued at this meeting!

Commercial and aspiring brewers, winemakers, hop and grape growers, distillers, and anyone involved in fermented/craft beverage production are invited to the 2012 NC Craft Beverage Regional Exchange Group meeting series. Supported by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and organized by Appalachian State University, the mission of this Regional Exchange Group (REG) is to foster collaboration among members of the growing and dynamic fermentation/craft beverage industries of North Carolina. Meetings feature speakers focused on fermentation technologies and scientific practices for use throughout the production process.

Follow this link for more information and registration.

The meeting and presentations will run Thursday, April 19th from 12:30 to 5pm at Highland Brewing Company. There are no fees for this REG meeting.

Speakers and Topics for April 19, 2012

Hop growing resources and open discussion 12:30-2pm

Dr Jeanine Davis is co-leader of the North Carolina Hops Project through NC State University, led the NC Specialty Crops Program for eight years, and is closely involved with the hops effort in the mountains. She will lead a discussion on hops in NC as a continuation of our previous meeting. We encourage all hop growers, current or future, to get in on this discussion and make sure that the needs, concerns, and values of the hop-growing community are brought to the table. Stick around and compare several single-hop beers sourced from NC versus the PNW.

Managing Fermentations 2-5:00pm (Blind tasting and discussion at end of this session)

Dr. Eric Allain, a biochemist at Appalachian State University, brewing instructor and brewing enthusiast, will discuss the basic mechanisms behind bacteria and yeast activity with a focus on applications and tangents for grain-based ferments.

Michael Jones, a Fermentation Specialist for Scott Laboratories, has spent decades in the wine business, and is an engaging, practical, and informative presenter. He will lead a discussion on caring for your microbes to ensure successful fermentations and common causes and recommendations for stuck or troublesome ferments.

Dr Seth Cohen, director of ASU Enology / Fermentation Science, will moderate the event and contribute to discussions on managing fermentations.

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