Montana State University Adds New Brewing Research Lab To Campus

Going to college is a pretty big deal for lots of high school students and parents. For some, they will be the first one in the family to attend and that makes it even more favorable.

The big questions are always, "what will you major in" and "where will you go to college"? The answers to those questions are often the deciding factor in which college you pick. For example, lots of students choose MSU for an engineering degree and lots of students choose our neighboring state of ND and the University of North Dakota, as it has has one of the greatest aviation schools in the country.

If you have been up in the air with what college to attend, and you love research and data, a newly approved lab at the University of Montana may sway your opinion. Especially if you make it your goal to become part of this research team.

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In November, Montana State University was cleared by the Montana Board of Regents to apply for an academic brewer license and on February 28th, that license was approved. The research team will be lead by Jamie Sherman, head of MSU’s barley breeding program and an associate professor in the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology in the College of Agriculture.

Basically what this license will allow is for MSU Barley, Malt and Brewing Quality Lab to brew beer for their research. What was happening prior to this license getting approved was the research and data being collected on barley and malt samples, from MSU, were then sent to a U.S. Department of Agriculture lab in Wisconsin, which would then return data about breeding. This process added longer wait times to get much needed feedback for Montana brewers.

With this license, the MSU research team has the capability to collect any data needed for in-lab research and share it directly, as requested, to Montana barley producers. Local and state brewers will be able to send samples to the MSU team for analysis on everything from alcohol content and bitterness to the amount of gluten present.

If you have ever dreamed of being a part of the research that goes into creating the perfect brew, heading to MSU could be your first step.

cc: Montana State University