Until Dr. Andrew MacIntosh (BEng’07, MASc’10, PhD’14) came onboard at Dalhousie’s Canadian Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), the P.E.I. Brewing Company had to send samples of their craft beers all the way to Chicago to be analyzed. Since the company’s senior vice president of operations found out about similar capabilities at Dalhousie, the brewery has relocated its sampling much closer to home.

Many craft breweries like P.E.I. Brewing Company need an external lab to perform analyses of their beers, such as alcohol content, bitterness and colour testing. Due in part to the growing need from the region’s craft beer, wine and cider industries, CIFT now provides such fermentation services.

Dr. MacIntosh played a key role in CIFT’s expansion into fermentation services, and he analyses the samples that the P.E.I. Brewing Company sends in. He is also an assistant professor in Process Engineering and Applied Science at Dal. After a bachelor and master of biological engineering, Dr. MacIntosh completed his PhD in food science, studying the role of carbon dioxide in brewing operations.

The expanded services that CIFT is now able to provide, in large part thanks to Dr. MacIntosh’s expertise, will be a big help to craft breweries across Atlantic Canada. Instead of paying to ship their samples across the border, they will be able access fermentation expertise at home, without investing in the heavy equipment needed themselves. Dr. MacIntosh hopes that CIFT can continue to learn how to best provide services to local industries, all the while maintaining its commitment to training students with hands-on experience.

Read more in “Craft brewery toasts CIFT expansion into fermentation” in the latest issue of Dalhousie’s Engineering Magazine.