CSU prepares to sell student-made beer

This article has been clarified from its initial version to better explain the projects' scope and funding.

Colorado State University is still a couple of hops away from selling student-made beer to the public.

The beer’s availability depends on getting a brewing facility up and running in the basement of the Lory Student Center. University staff anticipates the roughly 1,300-square-foot brewing facility will open August 2016.

Students will be able to perfect their brewing abilities in a state-of-the-art facility planned for the Gifford Building. The 3,000-square-foot space will include a analytical lab, sensory room and research kitchen. The space is also expected to be complete around August.

The facilities were originally expected to open during the current semester, but funding and construction caused a delay, said Jeff Callaway, director of industry outreach for CSU’s Fermentation Science and Technology degree program.

CSU’s FST program started in 2013. Junior Lauren Sandell is now one of about 125 students enrolled. The new facilities will prepare more students like her to enter the food research, beer and other related industries.

“When I bring up my major to other students they say, ‘Oh, the beer major. Do you guys just drink all day long,’” Sandell said. “I don’t think people realize the high level of detail involved and how many processes go into make this one beverage (beer).”

Students study the processes involved in fermented food — cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut and more — in addition to the science behind beer. Both planned facilities are aimed at expanding students’ research capabilities and practical knowledge.

“What we’re learning is how to consistently produce a quality product batch after batch,” CSU senior Kyle Lenane said. “It’s one thing to know the science behind beer. It’s another to actually use the equipment.”

“Having real hands-on production experience will transfer directly to the working world.”

Students like Lenane are working with brewing equipment at home, at jobs, during internships and in the classroom.

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“We’ve been brewing in (brewing) science and technology class. We actually have a smaller (brewing) system the Odell Brewing Co. donated to us,” Callaway said. He described the equipment as “essentially a glorified home-brewing system.”

“This isn’t a home-brewing program, and it’s important that the equipment we have is reflective of what’s in the industry,” he said.

The Odell-donated system is capable of brewing a half barrel or 124 pints of beer at max volume. The facility being built in the Gifford Building could make about 2 hectoliters of beer — 424 pints.

The facility in the Lory Student Center will be even bigger and brew about 10 hectoliters — 2,114 pints.

The only pints the public will be able to purchase from CSU will come from the facility in the Lory Student Center, said Robert Peters, director of business and dining services for the center.

One of the 20 taps in the Ramskeller, a pub in the basement of the Lory, will serve student-made beer, Peters said.

“That’s huge,” he said. “What greater experience can you present to a potential employer than to say, ‘I did my course work, I did my lab work and I also created a beverage that sold.’ ”

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New Belgium’s “talent sage” Greg Churchman said the industry is looking more and more for beer program graduates to fill open positions.

In April, New Belgium donated $1 million to the FST program. Part of the money is reportedly being used to get the lab installed in the Gifford Building. Not including equipment, rough renovation costs are estimated at $700,000.

Donations and $100,000 in student fees are being put aside for the Lory Center brewery. Complete cost estimates and breakdowns weren’t immediately available for either project.

“The thing you’re gonna get from the students coming from these programs is a baseline knowledge,” Churchman said.

Programs like CSU have up the standards for those in the brewing industry, he said. In coming years, more brewers may require certain employees to have an educational background in beer.

“Would you rather have this (program graduate) or someone with maybe a home-brewing background,” Churchman said. “I’m going to take the guy with practical, hands-on experience.”

Clarification: This article has been clarified online to better explain the projects' scope and funding.