Carsten Zufall (1); (1) Cerveceria Polar, C. A., Caracas, Venezuela
EBC Symposium
Monday, August 15 • 8:15 – 9:30 a.m.
Plaza Buiding, Concourse Level, Governor's Square 14
Already in 1957, the European Brewery Convention (EBC) identified the
requirement to form small, specialized expert groups covering specific
areas of brewing research in detail. As a consequence, several EBC
groups were called into being. The most well-known are the EBC
Microbiology and the EBC Biochemistry groups. The EBC Brewing Science
Group was founded in 1995 and gets together every even year for a
scientific and business meeting and every odd year for a business
meeting only, typically during the EBC Congress. It is not just another
platform for publishing papers and debating new findings. In fact, it
has a unique concept that distinguishes it from other brewing technical
meetings worldwide. The most important principle is that all
presentations given in this group are strictly confidential. This
implies that the group cannot have an open structure similar to a
congress, where everybody can register, but instead is organized similar
to a club with a limited number of members who meet on invitation by
the chairperson. Securing the presented information in this way is a key
requirement for many industry researchers who otherwise would be unable
to discuss topics and seek an expert opinion from fellow researchers
both from other companies as well as from research institutes. This
makes the EBC Brewing Science Group an ideal forum for scientific
interchange between the brewing sector and universities as well as other
research institutions, to the benefit of all parties involved.
Furthermore, the group serves as a scientific partner to The Brewers of
Europe and as a think tank for the so-called Issue Management Teams
established to address emerging topics relevant to the brewing sector.
For a broad overview of the activities of the EBC Brewing Science Group,
examples of members will be fielded and a cross-section of their
presentations given at the last EBC BSG Technical Meeting held in
September 2014 in Vienna, Austria, together with the highlights of the
EBC Symposium on "Sensory aspects and technology of beer-mix beverages"
as well as an outline of the results of the last business meeting held
in May 2015 in Porto, Portugal.
Carsten Zufall is head of technology and innovation at Polar
Breweries (Venezuela), where he is responsible for brewing processes and
technology, brewing materials, applied research, and new product
design. He graduated with a degree in brewing science from Berlin
University of Technology in 1990 and subsequently completed a Ph. D.
(Dr.-Ing.) degree. Following postdoctoral lecture qualification, he was
awarded Associate Professorship (Priv.-Doz.) in Brewing Science in 2001.
Carsten is chairman of the EBC Brewing Science Group and a member of
ASBC, MBAA, the German Brewmasters’ and Maltmasters’ Association (DBMB),
the VLB Alumni Association, the Berlin Brewers’ Guild, and the
Cerveceros Latinoamericanos Association. He serves with the editorial
boards of the Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Brewing Science, and the Journal of the ASBC
and he is a past president of MBAA’s District Venezuela. His current
research activities include beer flavor stability, flavor chemistry,
sensory analysis, microbiology, and environmental topics.
