Date Held: 19th January 2011 - Hosted by ICBD, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

IBD video link day has been very popular within the IBD network and outside. It has been a source for academics and industry from all over the world to meet, exchange and discuss cutting edge research in the world of beverages and related industries.

This year the event brought together Video Conference partners from Australia - Ballarat University, Germany - Weihenstephan, South Africa - SAB Miler, UK - University of Notting ham and Heriot Watt University. Around 88 people from backgrounds such as brewers, distillers, academics & students attended at the host site, ICBD Heriot Watt University. Our first attempt for live webcasting awoke an interest in many people and we also had around 50 online viewers. This year's topics were highly popular and the presentations were made available for download on request from viewers. The presentations can be accessed at http://www.abanik.webspace.virginmedia.com.

Prof Chris Boulton of University of Nottingham gave a presentation on 'Large capacity fermentations, problems and potential solutions'. The aim of his presentation was to discuss what current best practice is to scale up fermentation from pilot scale to large capacity fermentation and to identify areas where further development is required.

From ICBD, Heriot Watt University, Angela Bell presented her PhD research on 'Analysis of the Protease Spectrum of Malted and Germinating Barley'. She talked about Proteases, and it's important roles in the barley grains. Her interesting presentation enriched by figures and pictures showed that that serine class proteases along with reducing conditions are involved in the regulation of both α-amylase and β-amylase activity.

Frank Vriesekoop of the University of Ballarat, Austrailia , give a talk on 'Yeast management in whisky distilleries' while having his very early morning cup of coffee! He gave a talk describing the manner in which distillers manage their yeast in terms of supply, handling and husbandry. In general, it could be observed that large distilleries would have their yeast supplied as yeast-cream, while most others used pressed yeast cakes but none of the distilleries (involved in this project) used yeast that came from a brewery.

The evening concluded with buffet and wide variety of magnificent beers from local brewers like Belhavens Brewery, Tennents, Calidonian Brewery and Stewart Brewery.
IBD Scottish Section Video Link event has a seventeen years tradition and we are thankful to all the participants, partners, and sponsors for the support without which this journey wouldn't have been possible.

Abhishek Banik
Young Member Representative
IBD Scottish Section