The Escarpment Labs Podcast

Why does a beer taste squeaky clean at final gravity, only to turn into a slick, buttery mess three weeks after it hits the can?
Diacetyl and its sneaky, odourless precursor (alpha-acetolactate) remain every brewer’s absolute worst quality control nightmare—especially during peak production season when cellar turns are tight. While dropping ALDC enzyme into the fermenter has become standard practice, relying on it as a silver bullet without fixing underlying yeast nutrition can leave your beer vulnerable to hop creep and post-packaging spikes.
In this episode, Mark and Richard break down the complete cellular biochemistry of diacetyl prevention, ALDC limitations, and cellar-tested QC checks.
We explore:
The Precursor Trap: How alpha-acetolactate hides in clean-tasting beer and oxidizes into buttery diacetyl after packaging.

Yeast Nutrition as Defence: Why Free Amino Nitrogen (FAN), zinc, and magnesium suppress precursor formation at the source.

The Limits of ALDC: How hop creep, bacterial spoilers, and low pH can overwhelm your enzyme insurance policy.

The Forced Diacetyl Test: A step-by-step walkthrough for executing a foolproof heat-forced sensory test—and why boiling your sample creates dangerous false negatives!

Featured in this Episode:
Learn more about ALDC from Escarpment Labs here.
For more information about Diacetyl, you can check out our blog posts "The Forced Diacetyl Test" & "5 Off Flavours Caused by Beer Yeast (And How to Prevent Them)", and our Knowledge Base "Troubleshooting Diacetyl in Beer".

Why do some bottle-conditioned beers carbonate perfectly in two weeks, while others stall out, develop mousy off-flavours, or turn into dangerous bottle bombs?
Relying on exhausted or stressed primary yeast after a high-gravity or low-pH fermentation is a gamble. In this episode, Mark and Richard break down the cellular science and step-by-step protocols behind reliable bottle conditioning. Moving past simple sugar additions, they explore how living yeast acts as a powerful antioxidant engine that protects beer from oxygen and cleans up lingering off-flavours.
In this episode, we cover:
Re-Yeasting Strains & Myths: Why Champagne yeast (like EC-1118) won't over-attenuate your beer, and how targeting 1 x 10^6 cells/mL ensures uniform carbonation.

The Acid Shock Protocol: How to build a 48-hour acclimatization starter to condition high-ABV or low-pH (<3.5) sour beers without killing your yeast.

Natural Oxygen Scavenging: Leveraging active re-fermentation to metabolize dissolved oxygen, protect delicate hop aromas, and clean up mousy THP off-flavours.

Commercial Packaging SOPs: Priming syrup calculations, homogeneous blending, and managing warm conditioning temperatures (18-22ºC).

Featured in this Episode:
Check out our article, "Best Practices for Bottle Conditioning", on our Knowledge Base, and the packaging guides on the Milk the Funk Wiki.
Learn more about the products mentioned: Voss Kveik, Hornindal Kveik Blend, LalBrew House Ale, and LalBrew CBC-1.

What does it take to oversee the yeast, science, and flavour profile of one of the world's most recognizable lagers?
In this episode of the Escarpment Labs Podcast, Richard sits down with Willem Van Waesberghe, Global Master Brewer at Heineken. Together, they trace the profound impact Heineken has had on global lager brewing, starting with the fascinating history and genetics of the legendary Heineken A-yeast strain.
Willem also takes us behind the scenes of two groundbreaking projects: the development of H41—a unique lager brewed using Saccharomyces eubayanus, the rare mother strain of lager yeast—and the Heineken Studio, where his team experiments with innovative blending techniques and mixed fermentations.
If you’re interested in scaling a clean lager, fascinated by wild yeast genetics, or curious about how legacy brands push the boundaries of modern brewing, this conversation will bridge historic scale with cutting-edge experimentation.

We're back with Part 2 of our interview with Master Cicerone & Keeping Together founder, Averie Swanson! In this episode, Richard and Averie get granular on recipe development, fermentation mechanics, and beer style philosophies.
They explore Averie’s renowned approach to brewing Saison, what it means for a mixed-culture specialist to approach "clean" beers, and the technical realities of managing Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus. Plus, they break down their recent collaboration brew and discuss fascinating biotransformation interactions—like how lactones influence hop aroma in mixed-fermentation environments.

Featured in this Episode:
To learn more about the effect of lactones on biotransformation, download our Brewer's Guide to Yeast Flavour & Biotransformation.
For advice on mixed fermentation, visit our Knowledge Base article, Mixed Fermentation and Sour Beer Advice.
Check out our saison, sour, and clean beer strains available for purchase at escarpmentlabs.com

At Escarpment Labs, we love connecting with beer’s brightest minds to help brewers make better, more impactful beer. In Part 1 of this two-part interview, Richard sits down with Averie Swanson—celebrated brewer, Master Cicerone, and founder of Keeping Together Brewery and Beverage Garden in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Averie shares her journey from Chicago to Santa Fe, detailing the triumphs and obstacles of opening a unique beverage space centred on connection, thoughtful brewing, and community. She dives deep into her philosophy on house cultures, the realities of brick-and-mortar execution ("it’s hard when everything goes right"), and how to design a hospitality concept that truly reflects its surroundings.