Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage
The Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage is a resource for testing and education that supports small and mid-sized breweries, malthouses, farms, and other craft food and beverage producers.
The Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage (CCFB) offers laboratory testing services for beer and brewing raw materials such as barley, malt and hops. We provide technical assistance and professional development opportunities and education. The Hartwick College CCFB is partially funded by a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission. Hartwick College was also awarded an incentive from Empire State Development Corporation through New York State’s Consolidated Funding Application process.
Product Quality & Improvement Testing Services
Grains must meet strict quality criteria to be acceptable for malt production. Maintaining tight specifications when selecting grains for malting is necessary to ensure good final product quality and processing efficiency the malthouse and brewery.
The testing lab provides convenient, reliable and affordable grain quality testing services to help determine selectability for malting.
Grains Selection Package (Moisture, Protein, Plumpness, Kernel Weight, Germination Energy, RVA, & DON)
$100/sample
Grain Moisture & Protein Content
$15/sample
Starch Content
$25/sample
Germination Characteristics (Germination Energy, Capacity, & Water Sensitivity)
$40/sample
DON (ELISA)
$35/sample
RVA
$25/sample
Cereal Extract
$125/sample
All testing is conducted using official methods of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.
GRAINS SAMPLE SUBMISSION FORM
(download includes shipping and payment instructions)
The testing lab provides convenient, reliable and affordable malt quality testing services to support craft maltsters. Having access to malt quality analysis provides the following benefits:
-Ability to fully characterize quality specifications of malt products to aid in communication
and marketing to brewing customers
-Ability to monitor production process to improve product consistency
-Ability to identify quality deficiencies in malted products and make improvements where necessary
-Validate in-house testing procedures
Full Malt Analysis – (Moisture, Assortment, Friability, Fine Extract, Coarse Extract, F/C Difference, β-glucan, FAN, soluble protein, S/T, DP, α-amylase, color, filtration time, clarity)
$150/sample
Basic Malt Analysis – (Moisture, Friability, Fine Extract, β-glucan, FAN, DP, α-amylase, color, filtration time, clarity)
$100/sample
Specialty Malt Analysis – for high-dried and caramel malt – (Moisture, Extract, Color)
$50/sample
Enzymes Only (Diastatic Power & α-amylase)
$50/sample
Phenol (for peated malts)
$85/sample
Predicted Spirit Yield (for distilling malts)
$125/sample
Glycosidic Nitrile (for distilling malts)
$225/sample
All testing is conducted using official methods of the American Society of Brewing Chemists. Additional discounts and subscription based pricing is available for large annual sample volumes. Please contact us for more information.
MALT SAMPLE SUBMISSION FORM
(download includes shipping and payment instructions)
Alcohol (ABV)
$20/sample
All testing is conducted using official methods of the American Society of Brewing Chemists.
BEVERAGE SAMPLE SUBMISSION FORM
(download includes shipping and payment instructions)
DON (Vomitoxin by ELISA)
$35/sample
Fumonisin (ELISA)
$77/sample
Ochratoxin A (ELISA)
$77/sample
Aflatoxin, Vomitoxin, Zearalenone, DON
$105/sample
Full panel mycotoxins
$210/sample
Water Activity
$45/sample
All testing is conducted using official methods of the AOAC International.
FOOD SAMPLE SUBMISSION FORM
(download includes shipping and payment instructions)
Our Service Partners in the Northeast, US
The Quality Control Collaboratory (QC2) of the University of Southern Maine
Microbial ServicesMicrobiology of Brewing Symposium
An immersive 2-day symposium with brewing industry members and leading researchers.
"Cultivating Innovation Through Research"
July 27-29, 2023
Craft Your Future with Real-World Experience
The Hartwick College CCFB offers work-study employment, research and internship opportunities for Hartwick students.
Student Laboratory Technicians
The Center for Craft Food & Beverage (CCFB) quality testing laboratory offers employment opportunities for STEM work-study students. The CCFB offers fee-for-service product quality testing to local New York, regional, and national craft food and beverage producers on a cost-recovered basis. Students working in the lab are trained in the techniques used in the industry, helping them to relate the classroom experience to the workplace more effectively.
Research Projects
Hartwick students in many different disciplines are engaged in providing technical support, problem solving and participating in collaborative research with industry and faculty members. Examples of recent research projects include:
- Analysis of the results of a survey of Otsego County farms.
- Development of a chromatographic method for determination of volatile aroma compounds in and distillate.
- Study of microbial communities in humulus lupulus cones.
- Next Generation DNA sequencing.
- Development of a mass spectrometric method to detect specific off-flavors in beer.
Internships
Partnerships with local businesses and organizations in the craft food and beverage industry create opportunities for internships for Hartwick students. Recent examples include:
- Microbiology major placed with Brewery Ommegang to work in their quality assurance laboratory.
- Business major placed with Northern Eagle Beverages/Cooperstown Brewing Company to gain experience with a regional beverage company transitioning into new market operations.
Stay Connected
Research Collaborations
The Hartwick College CCFB is currently supporting research collaborations involving students, faculty, and master brewers focused on the biochemistry of brewing. Download some of our presentations listed below:
- The Microbial Community of Hops by Next Generation DNA Sequencing
- Evaluation of the Beer SpoilerAlert™ Assay: Sensitivity, Specificity & Adaptability
- Quantitative lateral flow assays for rapid determination of deoxynivalenol in barley and malt
- Quality of malting barley grown in New York
- Rapid Automated Method to Measure Alpha-Amylase Activity in Malt
- Levels of glycosidic nitrile in North American Malting Barley Cultivars
Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage
