This group is for chemists and home brewing enthusiasts to discuss the science behind the brewing process. Share your tips, success (and not so successful) stories, recipes and the chemistry behind the stuff.
I will be offering a "Chemistry of Brewing" elective course at Lamar University for the first time in the spring of 2014 (lecture only, no lab...yet...). I currently plan on using a hybrid approach using Janson's "Brew Chem 101" (a little below most chemistry majors) and Fix's "Principles of Brewing Science" (probably intimidating for most students) plus other minor resources. Does anyone else have any ideas or experience in good resources for the chemistry perspective for a course such as this? I home brew myself (currently partial mashes, but moving to all-grain very soon) and hope to bring this experience to the class as well.
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The archaeology of beer and other inebriants is fascinating stuff!! I hope you will post more about your research into the Sumerian beer and ancient brewing techniques. I too have heard the theory about grains being cultivated for beer rather than bread, but it always seemed to me that "all grain" brewing was a tough way to generate sugar for fermentation by ancient civilizations struggling to survive. Mead usually lays claim to being the oldest fermented beverage due the ready made fermentables in honey, but the Sumerian beer would seem to predate most Mead origin stories. This was another interesting re-creation of ancient 'extreme' brewing techinque and a graphic illustration of the importance of the 'hot side' for sanitization as well as extraction and another example of early enzymologists! Peruvian Chicha
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As a chemist, what training, techniques and/or expertise have helped you the most in understanding the brewing process? How have you applied your knowledge of chemistry to improve your brewing skills/product?
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