Researcher Presentation: Developing Fertility and Pest Management Strategies to Optimize Hop Yield and Minimize Environmental Impact Growing hops in temperate climates, like the Northeast, presents both agronomic and environmental challenges to growers. Add an increasingly erratic climate to the mix and it becomes critical to provide farmers with strategies to manage for nutrient loss and pest damage. With support from the Brewer’s Association, the UVM research team has started developing soil management techniques that will help farmers maximize soil health. Building the health of the soil will help build farm resiliency through improved nutrient retention, soil drainage, pest management, and yields. Dr. Darby will provide an update on her current future research evaluating the impacts of soil health and hop production. 

Researcher Presentation: Diversity Versus Stability – What Is a Barley Breeder To Do? Unique, high quality beers are hallmarks of craft brewing. To be successful, craft brewers require ingredients that can provide diversity, while maintaining consistent quality. Learn what barley breeders do to meet both needs.

Researcher Presentation: Hop-Derived Dextrin-Reducing Enzymes from Dry-Hopping – Does Variety Matter? Enzymes in hops have recently been demonstrated to hydrolyze beer dextrins, produce fermentable sugars in finished beer, and pose significant safety and quality challenges for brewers. In an effort to mitigate beer refermentation following dry-hopping in the presence of yeast, an effect often called “hop creep,” brewers look to adjust recipes, selection of ingredients, and dry-hopping conditions. The enzymatic power of 30 hop cultivars was screened using specific enzyme assay kits (α-amylase, β-amylase, amyloglucosidase) on hops, as well as quantifying via liquid chromatography the non-fermentable dextrin degradation and sugar production in beer dry-hopped with different hops. Differences across all cultivars were found and cluster analysis revealed groupings that were not based on pedigree, genetic makeup, or specific enzyme activities. More investigation is warranted to determine the influence of growing and harvest practices, processing conditions, and presumably age post processing on hop enzymatic power. These findings indicate that the choice of hop cultivar may influence the degree of refermentation in finished beer as a result of dry-hopping.

Researcher Presentation: Of Barley Promises, Otters, Pints and Friends: The Contributions of Barley to Beer Flavor Your Brewers Association funds have generously funded barley research at Oregon State University (OSU) since 2016. Milestones include the OSU Malt House and the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists 2017 papers on the contributions to beer flavor made by Golden Promise, Full Pint, and some of their Oregon Promise progeny. During the presentation, Pat will share breaking news on the integration of sensory assessments and metabolomics, as well as details on how to access seed of the top three Oregon Promise selections so that you can determine what contributions they make to the flavor of your beers.