Progress Report on the Publication of EBC Manuals of Good Practice

The European Brewery Convention was established in 1947 to encourage malting and brewing science, to ensure the development of the analytical methods necessary for the production of good quality beer and to promote high levels of consistency of raw materials, processes and products. Over the years the achievements in these areas have been substantial, leading to ever-improving consistency underpinned by continually increasing standards of food safety and process hygiene.
Against this background the EBC established in 1990 a Technology and Engineering Forum with the responsibility of developing technical manuals of good practice in relation to malting and brewing. The objective of these manuals was the dissemination of best performance, practice and standards coupled with a description of the underlying science and technology. Sixteen topics for manuals were identified at the outset covering:

• Water in Brewing
• Malting Technology
• Hops and Hop Products
• Milling
• Mashing
• Wort Separation
• Wort Boiling
• Fermentation and Maturation
• Filtration
• Beer Pasteurisation
• Waste Water
• Brewery Utilities
• Management of Energy
• Process Quality Assurance
• Computer Aided Techniques in Breweries
• Research and Development

For each of these topics committees were established from among the European brewing industry in order to progress the production of the manuals. The work stated in November 1993 and has been carried out in association with the European Union as part of the AIR Concerted Action Programme. Management of the programme was carried out by Brewing Research International in the United Kingdom.
The texts of the manuals are now complete and are in the process of being prepared for publication. So far 5 manuals have been published and the remainder will he going on sale during 1999. They are proving of value to the brewing industry and sales so far are most encouraging.
Additionally, during their deliberations, the writers of the manuals have identified research targets for each of the areas under discussion. These targets have been consolidated into the Research and Development Report in which a number of research priorities have been identified under the general headings of Added Value for the Consumer, Wholesomeness, Environmental Impact, Application of New Technologies and Economics of Production in line with the themes for the Fifth RTD Framework Programme. Within these headings a number of priorities have been recommended as suitable areas of strategie research for public sector funding in collaboration with companies in the brewing sector and its suppliers.
The reports on Research & Development and an Computer Aided Techniques are available from Secretariat of the European Brewery Convention, The Netherlands. The remaining manuals are available from the publishers, Fachverlag Hans Carl GmbH & Co. KG, Postfach 990153, 90268, Nürnberg, Germany.
Enquiries about the project should be addressed to the co-ordinator, Dr. J.R.M. Hammond, Brewing Research International, United Kingdom.