From Beer to Billions: Kevin Wenger Scales Microbes at Lallemand
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. Whether you're fascinated by the microbial diversity hiding in America's public lands, curious about why sour beer yeast is a game-changer for Brooklyn craft brewers, or wondering how fermentation could revolutionize water treatment and replace single-use plastics, this episode unpacks the science, strategy, and scale needed to grow everything.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) - Flux capacitor, compost heat, and New York City garbage as fuel
(00:03:10) - AI regulation and “synthetic beings”
(00:06:00) - Shoutouts and recent hangs (Paul Shapiro, Superorganism, The Wooly)
(00:09:40) - Longevity + a sauna networking event
(00:13:30) - Advanced Biotech for Sustainability report + introducing Kevin Wegner
(00:15:50) - Kevin’s origin story: chemistry, microbiology, and homebrewing beer
(00:17:00) - Early lessons in large-scale fermentation and scale-up realities
(00:22:00) - What Lallemand does today and who they serve
(00:33:40) - How legacy fermentation drives innovation (including sour beer yeast)
(00:37:30) - America’s Living Library Act, Molecule Manifesto, digital twins, and “anaerobic everything”
(00:46:40) - Quickfire round + plastics moonshot
(00:49:30) - Wrap-up and upcoming events (DC Climate Week, SynBioBeta)
Episode Links:
Novel Yeast- Mascoma, Lallemand Jointly Marketing the New Product
SynBioBeta Pass - Discount code: Grow Everything
