How do you engineer a beer? Start with a high-quality Colorado State University education. Add interdisciplinary partnerships and industry expertise. Stir in a heaping helping of creativity, and two generations of Ram Pride. Mix, ferment, test, iterate, and toast your success. Repeat.
In the realm of industrial controls and automation, Steve (’75, ’77) and Dan (’02) Malyszko have brewed the right recipe for multi-generational engineering success in the fermentation technology realm. The father-son team and namesakes of Malisko Engineering (which uses the phonetic spelling of their last name) have created a niche expertise in partnership with CSU’s Fermentation Science and Technology Program in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.
Like father, like son
A first-generation college student, Steve was recruited to play football with the Rams from his hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri. Although his play was cut short by injury, he sustained his scholarship as a videographer for the team while he majored in electrical engineering. Engineering professor and Steve’s mentor, Tom Brubaker encouraged him to earn his graduate degree as well. This decision helped launch Steve’s career in the realm of automation and controls.
After graduating, Steve gravitated to applications in process industries such as the food and beverage segment with its clean environments and controlled temperatures, which has become a specialty for Malisko Engineering. Steve and his wife, Nancy, founded the firm in 1994. Today, Malisko employs a team of 50 in three offices in Missouri, Wisconsin, and Colorado. “When people talk about automation, they usually think about discrete applications like robotics that you see in the automotive and semi-conductor factories. Malisko’s ‘sweet spot’ is the process industries – making food, beer, pharmaceuticals, and many other common products that are part of our daily lives.”
Dan followed in Steve’s footsteps by attending CSU – it was his first and only choice for college – and studying electrical engineering. His first job after college was with Anheuser-Busch, where he developed a deep love for brewing processes, fermentation, and the control systems and other automation technologies that make a brewery work. Five years into his career in 2007, he left to help expand the family business and began growing the Malisko Engineering office in Denver.
Inspiration brewing
One of Dan’s first projects at Malisko was helping Oskar Blues upgrade from a manual brewhouse to an automated system to increase production. Jim Weatherwax of Oskar Blues enlisted Dan’s help with troubleshooting a kegging machine they had donated to CSU’s new Fermentation Science and Technology Program, which launched in 2013. Dan was inspired on this fateful visit to campus, where he connected with Jack Avens, professor of food science and human nutrition (now retired), and Jeff Callaway, who each played a critical role in the development of the FST major.
Callaway, who is now director of the FST program, shared the vision to build two breweries on campus. “From that moment, I knew I wanted Malisko to be involved,” Dan said.
Innovation on tap
The mutually-beneficial connection provides for experimentation and collaboration between Malisko’s team and fermentation science and technology students at CSU’s Ramskeller Brewery, where Malisko has to date donated more than 3,500 hours of engineering services – the equivalent of $450,000. “We could not have executed this vision without Dan’s partnership and Malisko’s investment,” Callaway said.
Dan explained that Malisko loves giving back to CSU because they can deploy, test, and train on new technologies in the Ramskeller Brewery, an educational setting that is also a real production environment. “Our engineers, customers, and students get to experience state-of-the-art automation that may otherwise take years to adopt in production-scale breweries,” he said. The Ramskeller Brewery is small but has the automation system of large-scale breweries, which typically run on rigorous 24/7 schedules. But the brewing schedule in the Ramskeller is much more flexible giving the team creative license to implement innovative technologies while supporting the production of world-class beer through the Fermentation Science and Technology Program.
CSU Alumni at Malisko Engineering
Steve Malyszko (’75, ’77) earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering at CSU and founded Malisko Engineering in 1994. The company employs 50 staff in offices in Denver, St. Louis, Missouri, and Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Dan Malyszko (’02) is Steve’s son and protégé, and the driving force that established and sustains the connection between Malisko Engineering and CSU’s Fermentation Science and Technology Program.
Briana Chamberlain (’17) studied chemical and biological engineering, which led to an internship at New Belgium Brewing and a senior project designing the preliminary automation for the Ramskeller Brewery alongside the Malisko team. Chamberlain is a Senior Automation Controls Engineer and Team Lead at Malisko.
Ben Meise (’15) was one of the key Batching and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) code developers for the Ramskeller Brewery and is a graduate in chemical and biological engineering; currently Senior Automation Controls Engineer at Malisko.
The value of their contributions includes an ongoing commitment to support the program into the future. “We wanted the system in the Ramskeller to not just be a state-of-the-art system circa 2018 when it was commissioned. We wanted it to continue to be a state-of-the-art system as the FST program grew and evolved,” Dan said.
“Malisko Engineering’s commitment to our program is a model for industry partnership with our teaching and research,” said Chris Gentile, head of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. “We are grateful for their expertise and commitment to quality and innovation that ensure our graduates are prepared to enter their careers with experience using state-of-the-art equipment and control systems.”
“What’s in the Ramskeller Brewery is a small version of what Malisko can do,” Steve said. “The automation and the controls really showcase what Malisko is capable of, not only in terms of fermentation industries, but also in dairy, food and beverage, specialty chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.”
Since 2018, Malisko has been able to use the Ramskeller as a recruiting tool and training tool for employees. It’s also a draw for students exploring the fermentation science and technology major in CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences and engineering degrees in the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. Minnie Piffarerio, associate professor of practice and design advisor for the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, noted the value of the partnership for student discovery in an interview for E-Days 2023.
Cross-functional partnership
“Right from the beginning, we knew a cross-functional partnership would be key,” explained Jeff Biegert, New Belgium Brewing-sponsored fermentation science and technology instructor and brewmaster. “It’s really important for us to use our world-class facilities to teach and to provide opportunities for students to gain hands-on, real-world experience,” said Biegert, who was recently honored with the CSU Alumni Association Best Teacher Award.
In 2018, the FST program hosted a grand opening party at the Ramskeller where all the donors came together to see how their collective efforts made the on-campus brewery come to life. The Malisko team expressed pride in their role at the Ramskeller.
“It was a beautiful full-circle moment for my dad and really, my whole family,” Dan remembered. “My dad was the first one in our family to go to college. For him to be at the grand opening party in 2018, with his son, and to see that the company he started is now a permanent part of the Ramskeller: it was emotional. We were both just so proud of our company’s role in making this brewery come to life.”
Ten years into the partnership and FST program, the Malisko team remains dedicated to supporting student success, engineering innovation, and the university. “CSU continues to be a great institution for learning and developing people into the best version of themselves.” Steve said.
The Fermentation Science and Technology Program is in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
Kelsey Burket contributed to this story.
