LOVELAND — Three scientists from the University of Colorado talked with Loveland craft brewers Thursday about how they can apply the latest in biotechnology to an ancient craft.

“Brewing is probably the oldest biotech industry around,” said Jim Huntley, director of the Next Generation Sequencing Facility at CU’s BioFrontiers Institute.

At the invitation of the city of Loveland’s Economic Development Department, Huntley, assistant professor Robin Dowell and research assistant Phil Richmond met at Loveland Aleworks with representatives from three of Loveland’s microbreweries to talk science.

Grimm Brothers Brewhouse, Verboten Brewing and Loveland Aleworks participated.

The university scientists described the work they have been doing for the past several months with Boulder’s Avery Brewing Co.

Avery, which uses six strains of yeast for its main beers, was interested in finding a quicker way to determine whether a batch being fermented had been contaminated with a strain of yeast that didn’t belong.

“The wrong yeast can really crash the beer,” Dowell said.

Quicker Test

Avery has been using a traditional petri-dish test that takes 48 hours, she said. The CU lab used its equipment and expertise to determine the genetic profile of each yeast strain.

That gene-sequence information will allow for a test that takes only three hours, potentially saving Avery thousands of dollars.

“The reason this is becoming feasible is because the cost of sequencing is dropping sharply,” Dowell said.

Loveland’s brewers, much smaller than Avery, said the cost to run the tests still might be prohibitive. Richmond said if brewers collaborate to have many strains tested at the same time, the cost could be reduced significantly.

Mike Scholl, economic development manager for the city, added that his department might be able to help offset the cost to local brewers.

Josh Grenz, co-owner of Verboten Brewing, said he sees the value in such testing.

He said a new “pitch” of yeast costs $300 for a batch of beer at Verboten, and the brewery reuses the yeast several times on subsequent batches. But the yeast mutates, so the number of reuses is limited. “I don’t ever go past 10,” he said.

To be able to determine whether the yeast is still pure enough after multiple uses would be helpful, he said, and could save him money.

Building Relationships

The scientists said Thursday’s get-together was a good first step in establishing relationships with the brewers.

Huntley said the BioFrontiers Institute receives funding from the state and is expected to share its expertise and equipment with the business community.

“We work very closely with a lot of biotech companies in the area,” he said.

The beer connection is fun, Huntley said, and he hopes his institute’s relationship with the brewing industry will grow.

Although his scientists contribute to medical research involving heart disease and cancer and much more, members of the public often say to him, “Tell me more about the beer project.

“It’s tangible. It’s a context that people can relate to,” he said.

Contact Reporter-Herald Staff Writer Craig Young at 970-635-3634 or cyoung@reporter-herald.com. Follow him: twitter.com/CraigYoungRH.