Campus brewery

A fully functioning £2m micro-brewery is to be built at Nottingham University to allow academics to research ways to reduce the amount of energy required in the brewing process.

The 1,000-litre brewing research facility is being built and operated by SABMiller, one of the world’s largest brewing companies.

Located in the School of Biosciences at Sutton Bonington, it will be one of the largest micro-breweries at any university in the world when it opens its doors in 2011.

It will also be used by SABMiller and university researchers to develop and rigorously test new processes that can enhance beer quality and shelf life.

Katherine Smart, SABMiller Prof of Brewing Science, said: 'Having monitored full-scale processes we have identified areas where improvements could be made. Our research in the lab has been really exciting, but to succeed in developing new technologies it is essential to have access to this kind of facility so that our ideas can be tested at a suitable scale.'

Brewing is a key contributor to the East Midlands economy, which boasts some 78 small or medium-sized micro-breweries, and this facility will also be used to provide training.

SABMiller’s group chief brewer, Prof Barry Axcell, said: 'It made complete sense to build the pilot brewery alongside Nottingham University's existing brewing facilities. We work very closely with Prof Smart and her team and this will allow for greater synergies in our research.'