Master Brewers Podcast Episode 218: Including Fermentation in Your Beer Recipe
Apr 7, 2025
Tim Faith, the Global Cross Brewing Manager at Goose Island Chicago, shares insights into fermentation quality control. He emphasizes the importance of having a thorough fermentation recipe just like brewhouse recipes to ensure consistent beer. Tim discusses tracking key fermentation parameters, such as pH and cell counts, and highlights the significance of standardized processes and documentation. He also explains the role of yeast air contact time and how to optimize pitching rates for desired sensory profiles. Visual fermentation charts and digital SOPs help align global teams and improve processes.
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Fermentation Needs A Recipe
- Fermentation deserves as much recipe detail as the brewhouse to ensure consistency.
- Tim Faith says documentation and tracking turn fermentation from 'set-and-forget' into reproducible control.
Put The Flavor Profile On Every Sheet
- Include the beer's sensory profile on brew sheets, cellar forms, and packaging logs.
- Tim Faith advises tasting at every stage to add quality checkpoints through the brewery.
Measure Key Chemistries Regularly
- Track pH, AE, RDF, cells in suspension and diacetyl for fermentation control.
- Use diacetyl measurements as a primary indicator for beer completion in many styles.
