Food pilot plant

The food pilot plant is designed for developing and exploring mechanical, thermal and microbiological methods and processes for the processing and manufacture of intermediate and food products. Another focus is on the development, commissioning and optimisation of plant prototypes. The pilot plant is used for research and development, teaching, seminars and workshops.

Brewing technology

The FH JOANNEUM Food Processing Lab hosts a modular small-scale brewing plant and several fermentation tanks of different volumes for experimental batch sizes. We experiment with different grists (pseudocereals, unmalted grain) and yeast strains as well as new plant designs for the brewhouse and fermentation cellar of micro and nano-breweries.

We are interested in the sugar profiles of different worts, extract degradation by different yeasts (including non-saccharomycetes), their flavour profiles, total and viable cell count, methods for IBU measurement in beer and processes for the extraction of hop ingredients. The different sections of the Food Processing Lab thus deal with cytological challenges involved in brewery plant design and chemical analytical methods related to beer brewing.