Summer is coming to an end, breweries are getting busy again and we are ready! The next few weeks will take Beer-o-Meter from Cologne to Rotterdam and then online, giving us plenty of opportunities to talk about fermentation, dry hopping, process control and, most importantly, beer.
First stop: Hopfendankfest in Cologne
We start on 5 September at Hopfendankfest in Cologne, a festival celebrating the hop harvest and bringing together international breweries and local home and hobby brewers.
We will be there demonstrating Beer-o-Meter and discussing how simple at-line measurements can help brewers follow fermentation and better understand what happens during dry hopping.
Dry hopping creates fantastic beers, but it can also make fermentation less predictable. Measuring fermentable sugars before and after adding hops gives brewers an additional piece of information that can help identify renewed fermentation activity and make better decisions about when a beer is ready.
Next: EBC Congress in Rotterdam
From 6-9 September, we will join brewing scientists, brewers and industry specialists at the 40th European Brewery Convention Congress in Rotterdam.
We will present our work on dry-hop control, explaining why fermentable sugars are an important parameter to follow when deciding when to start and finish dry hopping.
And if you are joining the EBC technical tours, there is a good chance you will also meet us at the new Kaapse Brouwers location, Kaapse Kaai. We are looking forward to combining brewing science with some good Rotterdam beer discussions.
October: Craft Beer Professionals Virtual Conference
Finally, on 5-6 October, we will participate in the Craft Beer Professionals Fall Virtual Conference. The event brings brewing education online and makes the sessions freely accessible to the craft beer community.
Learning together with brewers
Education is an important part of what we do. Beer-o-Meter introduces measurements that many craft breweries have not routinely used before. Putting a number on fermentable sugars is only useful when that number helps a brewer make a better decision.
That is why we see innovation as a journey we take together with brewers. Our goal is not to turn every brewery into a laboratory. It is the opposite: we want to make useful laboratory information simple enough to become part of everyday brewing. This is the message that we want brewers to remember!
Better information can mean more predictable fermentation, better dry-hop control, fewer surprises before packaging and more confidence that the beer reaching the customer is the beer the brewer intended to make.
We are looking forward to a busy start after summer and, as always, to plenty of good work that we can do for brewers.
See you in Cologne, Rotterdam or online!