The majority of theoretical studies regarding brewery fermentation have been performed at laboratory, or at best, pilot scale. The results obtained have done much to elucidate the nature of the various genomic and metabolic responses of yeast to the conditions that it encounters during wort fermentation and the studies have provided useful signposts which have highlighted routes which when followed have resulted in improvements in fermentation performance. However, brewing at production scale using high capacity vessels fermenting very concentrated worts introduces many additional factors the effects of which may not be made apparent in such small-scale trials. An important aim, therefore, is to develop practical control regimes which when implemented allow large scale fermentations to proceed in a predictable and consistent manner. The aim of this presentation is to discuss what current best practice is and to identify areas where further development is required.
