By the Midland Section

Join us for the Midland Section AGM and Yeast Discussion: To Propagate or Not to Propagate, taking place on Thursday 27th March at Tower Brewery!

We will kick off the event with the Midland section AGM, and this an opportunity for members to help formalise the section committee and get a summary of the section activities. Please note that only CIBD members can vote.

After the AGM, we’ll dive into our Yeast Panel Discussion: To Propagate or Not to Propagate. If you’re interested in the pros and cons of yeast propagation and repitching, this is a session you won’t want to miss! We’ll be exploring key questions like:

• Why use bought yeast?
• How many times can you repitch?

We’ll hear from industry professionals, share insights, and discuss the best solutions for different brewing processes.

At the end of the panel discussion, all attendees are welcome to stay for a bite to eat (fish and chips) and continue networking!

Speakers:

• Chris Boulton
  Chris has literally “written the book” on brewing microbiology – he lecturers on “Brewing Yeast: Theory and Practice” at University of Nottingham and is world-renowned for his research into brewing microbiology.
• Andrew Paterson 
  Andrew is Technical Sales Manager for the UK and Scandinavia for Lallemand, He has earlier brewing experience with Brewdog and Dark Star Brewing Company after his masters in Brewing and Distilling from Heriot Watt. Lallemand supply brewing cultures from a library of over 3000 Saccharomyces strains and provide a comprehensive technical support for their customers.
• Alice Batham
  Alice is an accomplished brewer having worked for Brewsters brewing company, Thornbridge brewery and Daniel Batham & Son. She is a graduate of Nottingham University Masters in Brewing Science and Practice.
• Chris Capell
  Chris is a microbiologist-turned-technical brewer. He will host the panel discussion and hopes to get a better understanding of the challenges facing smaller breweries in deciding when to propagate, crop and repitch yeast, and to discuss the many influencing factors leading to the number of times yeast may be cropped and repitched.

Here are some discussion topics that the speakers are likely to cover:

1. Yeast Supply Choices:
   • Dry yeast vs Frozen Wet Yeast?
2. What is stopping you from cropping and repitching? (Stability of Yeast Performance over serial repatches)
3. Views on when it makes economic sense to propagate your own yeast. 
   • Costs of propagation
   • Equipment requirements
4. Objectives of propagation / quality of beer
   • Oxygen vs Air
   • Gravity of propagation wort
   • Supplementation of propagation wort
   • Yeast growth vs readiness to ferment
   • Dilution factors during propagation
   • Difference in quality of beer made from propagated yeast vs dry yeast.
5. Propagation beer flavours
6. Alternatives to cropping and storing yeast
   • Cone-to-cone pitching
   • Gyling/Krausening

Why you should attend:

• Share your experience and learn from others
• Understand others practices
• Gain ideas for improving your processes

Tickets: Maximum 50 places, so book early to avoid disappointment! To register for a place, please email Chris Capell Ccapell@hotmail.com 

Parking: Parking is available outside the brewery

Booking deadline: Monday, March 24th at 4pm.