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Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Podcast

Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine Podcast

By: Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine
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 Listen to the podcast for those who make and drink great beer. Every week we talk to professional brewers and industry experts about practical brewing advice, in-depth coverage of brewing trends that matter to you, and tips for getting the most out of your homebrew.© 2026 Unfiltered Media Group, LLC Art Cooking Food & Wine
Episodes
  • 469: How Indeed Uses Data to Make Better Brewery Decisions, in Partnership With Encompass

    469: How Indeed Uses Data to Make Better Brewery Decisions, in Partnership With Encompass
    Apr 7 2026

    This special episode of the podcast is brought to you in partnership with Encompass Technologies, and explores how breweries are using data to create savvier approaches to distribution and growth. It’s no secret that it’s become harder to sell beer over the past few years, with two consecutive years where brewery closures have outpaced openings. Distributors are far less bullish on craft beer than they once were. Broader economic pressure has led to more price sensitivity in certain segments of consumers, while operating costs for breweries have skyrocketed, compressing margins and making it ever more important to forecast correctly. As things tighten, waste is just not an option, and breweries and distributors can’t afford to not get it right the first time. Breweries that are making great beer but also using data to drive decision making while managing distributor relationships with intention, are able to thrive despite the challenges in the current economic environment.

    Joining for this conversation on how breweries can use data to drive decision making and optimize their relationships with distributors and by extension retailers are:

    Ryan Bandy, Chief Business Officer, Indeed Brewing

    Patrick Tickle, CEO, Encompass Technologies

    Growth may be harder to find in the current macroeconomic environment, but it's not impossible, and with the right products, right strategies, and right tools, breweries like Indeed are achieving growth despite the industry headwinds.

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    1 hr and 20 mins
  • 468: Chris O’Connor of Prost and the Quest for Undeniable Helles and Pils

    468: Chris O’Connor of Prost and the Quest for Undeniable Helles and Pils
    Apr 3 2026
    Chris O’Connor, VP of brewing operations at Prost in Northglenn, Colorado, has built a career on being a process nerd. He spent a decade in engineering for the pharmaceutical industry before switching gears and following his passion for brewing. His analytical approach to colllecting data, testing, and questioning conventional logic is a big part of what drives quality at Prost’s award-winning lager program. The success spans three Great American Beer Festival medals in the past three years, including silver for Prost Pilsner in 2023 and two golds in 2025, for Schwarzbier and Viennal Lager. Despite that success, the production team recently made a leap, moving to a new house lager yeast—the Augustiner strain, instead of 34/70. In this episode, O’Connor discusses that careful process, plus: huskless endosperm mashing for a refined lager profiletaking advantage of Prost’s fully customized, five-vessel Kaspar Schulz brewhousean intentional, eight-step decoction process—and completely changing it to accomodate a new yeast strainwhy they use “marine-blade” custom rakes to agitate the mash and decoctionsusing a vacuum-evaporation process after the kettle to drive off DMS precursors and other volatilesopen fermentation and the impact of tank geometryusing blind tasting, polls, and sales data to evaluate lagers made with the new yeastthe palpable difference in sulfur impact from the 34/70 and Augustiner strains Ultimately, despite brewing traditional styles using traditional methods, O’Connor’s view is that no process is sacred—challenge everything, test, observe, and always be ready to change. G&D Chillers The Craft Brewers Conference is coming up April 20 through 23, 2026—and G&D Chillers will be there. If you’re heading to CBC, swing by and talk shop with the folks who know brewery operations inside and out. G&D’s biggest strength isn’t just the equipment—it’s our deep understanding of how a brewery runs. From cellar layout to production flow, our team brings decades of hands-on experience to every install and every conversation. Whether you’re running a single-stage 5H unit or scaling up with a Vertical Air Chiller, G&D builds systems that are reliable, efficient, and built to last. Because when your chiller’s solid, your beer stays cold—and your operation stays on track. Plan your visit at gdchillers.com/podcast—and come see us at CBC, Booth 1518. Berkeley Yeast Berkeley Yeast just launched Dry Tropics London! Our best-selling liquid yeast strain, now with all the ease-of-use benefits of dry yeast. Dry Tropics London delivers the soft, pillowy mouthfeel and juicy character you’d expect from a top-tier London Ale strain, but with a serious upgrade: a burst of thiols that unleash vibrant, layered notes of grapefruit and passion fruit. A lot of brewers love the clean passion fruit you get from Tropics, but they don’t want every IPA to be a tropical-fruit bomb. At the dry yeast price point, you can pitch and ditch without breaking the bank. Or, you can co-pitch with your house strain to adjust the intensity of the notes. And with nationwide free shipping, there’s never been a better time to try Dry Tropics. Order now at berkeleyyeast.com and experience the ease and impact of Dry Tropics London Yeast. PakTech This episode is sponsored by PakTech—delivering craft-beer multipacking you can trust. Our handles are made from 100 percent recycled plastic and are fully recyclable, helping breweries close the loop and advance the circular economy. With a minimalist design, durable functionality you can rely on, and custom color matching, our carriers help brands stand out while staying sustainable. Trusted by craft brewers nationwide, we offer a smarter, sustainable way to carry your beer. To learn more, visit paktech-opi.com. Indie Hops Taste the flavors of Indie Hops at CBC this year in Philly! Fourteen incredible beers will showcase Strata, Luminosa, Lórien, and Audacia—plus our most promising new experimental hop IH19082 in a single-hop XPA! Experience our newest hop, Audacia, in an IPA by Grand Fir, a hoppy lager by Meanwhile, and a hazy by Worthy Brewing. Explore the wonders of Strata in IPAs from Odell, Russian River, Grains of Wrath, and Grand Fir. Refresh your palate with the crisp summery flavors of Lórien in an Italian pils by Sun River and a Mexican lager by Hold Out. And bask in the “liquid sunshine” magic of Luminosa with an IPA from Fort George. Check out the full CBC beer lineup at www.indiehops.com and plan to stop by our booth #926. We’ll be as happy to see you as you’ll be that you made the effort! Indie Hops—Life is short, let’s make it flavorful. Midea 50/50 Flex If you’re like many podcast listeners, you’ve got a lot of beers at home, and your regular fridge is at capacity. Enter the Midea 50/50 Flex—the industry’s first dual compartment three-way convertible freezer. Here’s what all that means for you: options! The ...
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • 467: Adjusting the Thiol Dial with ISM, Ology, and Berkeley Yeast

    467: Adjusting the Thiol Dial with ISM, Ology, and Berkeley Yeast
    Mar 31 2026

    This special episode of the podcast focuses on adjusting the thiol dial and is brought to you in partnership with the innovative and industry-leading team at Berkeley Yeast. They’ve been on the forefront of fermentation-related science since their inception, and whether it’s Fresh strains that keep diacetyl ultra-low, NA strains that make nonalcoholic beer that actually tastes like beer, Flavor-series strains that target specific profiles, or Tropics strains that deliver a burst of thiols, they’ve got the yeast that will help you make better beer.

    This episode goes deep on the science of thiols, new research that busts myths about thiol expression in hoppy beers, useful ways that leading brewers are artfully integrating thiols into the overall profiles of their beer, clever ways to manipulate thiol expression and intensity, and much more.

    Joining for this conversation are:

    • Nick Walker of Ology Brewing in Tallahassee, Florida
    • Gene Wagoner of ISM Brewing in Long Beach, California
    • Tim Sciascia, brand ambassador of Berkeley Yeast
    • Nick Harris, cofounder of Berkeley Yeast
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    1 hr and 6 mins
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