Brian Gibson

Professorship in Food Process Engineering (Beverages) www.hs-geisenheim.de/hochschule/s...

Munich lager as your last beer? Certainly could be worse.

Young Germans enjoy alcohol-free beer as lager sales fall flat Non-alcoholic sales have more than doubled in recent years, even though Germany's wider beer market has slumped.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Alkoholfreies Bier: Null Promille, aber voller Zucker Alkoholfreies Bier gilt als isotonischer Sportlerdrink. Doch Fachleute warnen vor ungesunden Folgen – zumindest bei manchen Sorten. Worauf Sie achten sollten.

Alcohol-free beer: 0%, but full of sugar. Health impacts of non-alcoholic beer, from Germany's die Zeit
www.zeit.de/zeit-magazin...

Latest edition to the vintage Berliner Weisse collection. Nice condition considering the age (40 -50 years).

Yeast domestication In this review, Jose Paulo Sampaio and Ana Pontes discuss the domestication of yeasts for food and beverage fermentations, with a particular focus on the Saccharomyces genus.

Yeast domestication: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

Diastatic Activity of German Hop Cultivars with Respect to Variety, Crop Year, and Separated Hop Cone Parts Dry hopping of beer can result in unintended refermentation, also known as hop creep, because of intrinsic hop diastatic activity. The objective of the work described herein was to determine the enzymatic activity across 16 different hop cultivars grown in Germany in crop years 2019, 2020, and 2021. Optimized enzyme kit protocols were used to quantitate hop α-, β-amylase, amyloglucosidase, and limit dextrinase activities, while a recently published method measured hop diastatic activity. Clear varietal distinctions exist, and hops of harvests 2019, 2020, and 2021 were subsequently classified into three groups depending on their enzymatic activity. With respect to different harvest years, the results imply an annual influence on the amylolytic activity of hops in principle, but more monitoring is needed. Processing methods such as pelletization and storage under different conditions showed a minimal impact on enzymatic activity. Based on further sampling from hops of the harvest 2022, it was observed that differences among hop fractions are pronounced, with the vegetative material and strig exhibiting higher enzymatic activity compared to the lupulin fraction.

What is hop creep anyway? A comprehensive study led by Philip Wietstock in collaboration with #Hopsteiner that examines the enzymes involved, and how activity is influenced by hop variety, harvest year and cone part. @tuberlin.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Dr. Eng. Jonas Trummer giving a lecture on processing aids in the brewery

I attended a talk at the TU Berlin from guest lecturer Dr. Eng. Jonas Trummer from Murphy & Son. The topic was the application of processing aids to improve beer stability.

It is still important for brewing students to learn about such products, even if their application in Germany is limited.

Largest haul of vintage Berliner Weiße beers so far. These mostly from the Hochschul Brauerei, W. Berlin, mid-70s. Starting to wonder if my obsession is getting out of control.

Screenshot of a paper titled "Genetic pre-adaptations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Andean chicha isolates facilitate industrial brewery application" by Juan Flores, Sarah König, Mathias Hutzler, Oliver Kunz, Kristoffer Krogerus, Florian Lehnhardt, Frederico Magalhães, Natalia Svedlund, Nubia Grijalva-Vallejos, Brian Gibson

There's a new yeast paper out with @briangibsontub.bsky.social and @suregork.bsky.social among the authors. They've looked at farmhouse yeast from South American chicha brewers, and the paper has a number of cool results I want to dive into in a thread here.

The Michael James Jackson Foundation Opens Applications for Next Cohort of Brewing & Distilling Scholarship Awardees BROOKLYN, N.Y. - May 19, 2025 - The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling (Th...

The Michael James Jackson Foundation is accepting scholarship applications for BIPOC professionals in brewing and distilling. Apply by May 30 to support career growth in the craft beverage industry.

www.brewbound.com/pr/2025/05/1...

Genetic pre-adaptations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Andean chicha isolates facilitate industrial brewery application Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae were isolated from a traditionally produced Andean maize-based chicha from Ecuador and characterised with respect …

Really excited to see this one out! I was involved in this joint study with @briangibsontub.bsky.social, Nubia G-V, Mathias H, helping with sequencing and genomics. We characterize strains isolated from Ecuadorian maize chicha, and found many diastatic strains carrying STA1! doi.org/10.1016/j.fm...

Herren der Hefen: Berliner auf der Jagd nach dem perfekten Bier Bierbrauen ist Wissenschaft und in Berlin kann man sie studieren. Besonders bei der Hefe offenbart sich eine ungeahnte Komplexität, die auch die Forschung in der Stadt beschäftigt.

'Lords of the yeasts: Berliners on the hunt for the perfect beer'
Tagespiegel article on @tuberlin.bsky.social brewing research and challenges in the industry.
www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/herre...

Can Germany rein in its academic bullying problem? Researchers and administrators are exploring ways to restructure a rigid hierarchy that can breed power abuses.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Wild chimpanzees filmed by scientists bonding over alcoholic fruit Footage of apes consuming fermented breadfruit leads researchers to ask if it may shed light on origins of human feasting

Chimps bonding over mildly alcoholic fruit. I'm a bit sceptical. Conclusion seems to overlook the many other advantages of fermentation (flavour, digestibility, etc.) www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Kölsch in Köln.

I'm trying Chinese elevator, I'm trying.

Why Settle? A review of yeast flocculation with a focus on the premature kind, from myself and Yang He of the Tsingtao Brewery. Our conclusion: we don't really understand PYF. jib.cibd.org.uk/index.php/ji...

Yes, the interest in fermentation fits with the alchemical studies. I was wondering if there was specific work on beer though. This is not something I had heard of before.

Yes, how many before he fell on his own head perhaps.

Isaac Newton’s beer mug to go on show in Royal Society exhibition in London Though scientist was not thought to be a great drinker, he may have used beer as an ingredient in the homemade ink in which he wrote his greatest work

Newton carried out 'beer-related experiments' according to this Guardian article. Anyone know what these involved?https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/01/isaac-newtons-beer-mug-to-go-on-show-in-royal-society-exhibition-in-london

Sounds like a good idea for our next collaboration!

Enhancement of dry-hopped cider aroma through selection of apple cultivar, hop variety and yeast strain Consumers increasingly seek more complex and tropical flavors in their alcoholic beverages. In beer and wine, yeast can release glutathione and cystei…

It's not just for beer. Natalia Svedlund shows how hops can be used to enhance cider flavour (with the right combination of apple and yeast). @tuberlin.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How beer sludge is being turned into vegan milk and leather Scientists and industry are finding unusual new uses for brewers' spent grain – the beer industry's largest waste product.

'Beer sludge...'
www.bbc.com/future/artic...

The diastaticus story Dr Nerve Zhou, Botswana, and Prof Brian Gibson, TU Berlin, are working with other researchers to track down the global population of diastatically active yeasts.

Why is contamination with diastatic yeasts increasing? An edited version of a Brauwelt article from last year by myself and Nerve Zhou. Our recent research on diastatic yeasts has already answered some of the questions raised in the piece. But more on that later...
www.drinktec.com/en-US/indust...

How the climate is changing the taste of beer With a fresh fizz and hoppy scent, a cold beer touches all of our senses. But as our climate changes, the flavour profile of one of the world's most popular drinks might too.

www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Arrived in Dublin just in time to pick this up on day 1 at Hodges Figgis.

Day-drinking, Dublin

A selection of Berliner Weisse beers from #Schneeeule. Both Mabel and I curious about the pickle and dill version.