By Meghan Howes, Contributing Writer for RadCraft Since transitioning out of the director’s chair at the Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage (CCFB), Aaron MacLeod’s work has morphed into a supportive, consultative role as he continues working with malthouses all over North America. “Without analytics that help with malting process optimization, maltsters are working blind,” said MacLeod. “And prior to 2015,…
Field to Bench: Colorado State’s Testing Lab Is the Newest Kid on the Block
By Meghan Howes, Contributing Writer for RadCraft Based in Fort Collins, on the Colorado State University main campus, the Fermentation Science and Technology (FST) undergraduate program within the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition is home to many state-of-the-art fermentation and brewing equipment and labs including a relatively new malt quality testing lab. Katie Fromuth, the…
Field to Bench: The State of New York Helps Support State-of-the-Art Lab
By Meghan Howes, Contributing Writer for RadCraft In the late 1990s, when Harmonie Bettenhausen worked for Odell Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado, she and founder Doug Odell often talked about the beer industry and where improvements could be made, whether it involved ingredients or equipment or fostering deeper relationships with local producers. “At that time,…
Field to Bench: Canada Led the Way
By Meghan Howes, Contributing Writer for RadCraft Located at the longitudinal center of North America, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Center (CMBTC) opened in 2000 with Yueshu Li serving as director. “I was the first employee,” Li said with a chuckle. Since then, the Centre has worked with breeders, farmers, seed companies, exporters/importers,…
Field to Bench: An Introduction to North America’s Malt Testing Labs
By Meghan Howes, Contributing Writer for RadCraft The malts finding their way into mash tuns these days vary widely. And more often than not, those barley kernels were coaxed and coddled from the second they hit the dirt until they found themselves packaged and headed out. In 2013, five craft maltsters were operating in the…