In this seminar, we will dive into the multitude of microbiological media utilized within the brewery environment, plating and sampling techniques, as well as how to make sure you aren’t leaving any gaps in your microbiology program. Finding the best low carbohydrate beer might be an emerging consumer trend, but beer’s low carbohydrate and protein content, alcohol, and hops also contribute to making it one of the safest beverages in the world. As no known human pathogens have been found that can survive in beer, many producers have been lax in their testing for the microbes residing in their brewery. However, new products are emerging which don’t have some of these protective characteristics, and the need for testing is more important than ever.

With over a dozen options recommended by the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) alone and many others available, deciding what to put in your petri dishes and test tubes can be overwhelming! We intend to help you sort through which broth and plating methods are most effective for beer spoiling yeast and bacteria, as well as what to be aware of with new product types such as seltzers and low or no alcohol beers. We’ll address concerns with testing for PCR identification from a broth or petri dish, as well as what to use to best select for the organism of interest. We will also highlight a few high-risk spoilers to be aware of, and pit falls to avoid so they aren’t missed!

Learning Objectives:

• Distill down the large number of media and techniques available into a short list of recommendations Understand the differences between general, differential, and selective media, and when to use them Learn when to utilize filtration, spread plating, and swabbing for microbe detection