174. From Beer to Billions: Kevin Wenger Scales Microbes at Lallemand

Episode notes

Kevin Wegner, VP of R&D at Lallemand, joins Karl and Erum to share three decades of wisdom from the frontlines of industrial fermentation. From his gateway into the industry through homebrewing beer to leading global teams that deliver high-value microbial products at billion-gallon scale, Kevin reveals why a 1% improvement in ethanol yield translates to massive economic value, how his team engineered yeast strains that produce both enzymes and ethanol simultaneously, and why scaling from large to even larger bioreactors requires solving genetic and environmental puzzles simultaneously. The conversation explores Lallemand's century-long evolution from baker's yeast to cutting-edge synthetic biology, the untapped potential of xylose and complex sugars for expanding biomanufacturing feedstocks, and Kevin's vision for anaerobic fermentation, digital twins of cells, and biodegradable materials with perfectly tuned lifecycles.

• 186. N.Y. Tech Week Live Demo: Engineering the Future of Manufacturing with Roebling's Brentan Alexander72 / 100
• 185. Brick Happens: Chris Maurer of Redhouse Studio Redesigns Remote Living for Earth and Mars75 / 100
• 184. The Multiverse of Microbes: Henry Lee on Building Cultivarium and Training with Titans65 / 100
• 183. The American Biotech Blueprint: Senator Todd Young on Biodiversity as National Security
• 182. SynBioBeta 2026 Recap, It's Biologist Approved