Beer Chemistry course

[barkar]

Yeah i signed up as well , havent hear danything back from them since though , anyone else ?

[johnrm]

I received an email yesterday.

[Tom]

Their Monday 9am course start is a little behind our own. I got my 'Start Course' email at 9pm! That's my kind of education. Yous should have it by now.

I'm also doing the Science before Newton course. Maybe bit off a bit more than I can chew there.

[DrowningManatee]

It's working now, the chemistry info on carbohydrates, proteins and lipids is pretty thorough and well laid out, great to get it. Production values are pretty high on the videos. Seems like a crackin' course.

The main guy walks back and forth like a man who knows how to think

[Tom]

Hmmm... proteins break down to become amino acids and enzymes which convert carbohydrates to produce formidable sugars that yeast turns into ethanol.

Formidable sugars sound intriguing. 

The course is good, but it's full of whatever the verbal equivalent of a typo is.

[johnrm]

Fermentable sugars. They must have typed it up on a 'Smart' phone.

[Tom]

Either way, you'd think the man would know not to read out formidable sugars. Whatever the reason, he had the good sense to look meaningful, as if formidable sugars was a topic we'd discuss in next weeks lesson.

Genuinely is an interesting course, but if I wasn't paying attention or didn't already know, the regular muck up between Amylose and Amylase would be confusing.

Did you see the 'discussion' on "What makes beer, beer"?

[johnrm]

I looked in on the very first session but no more.
You should feed this back to the organisers via the mentors our support (whichever).
It sounds like the people giving the course are just puppets.

[Tom]

I'd rather passive-aggressively complain on an entirely different forum!

[barkar]

I had a look at some of the videos and then the course docuemntation , then i realised its been a long time since i done Chemistry - Physics combined in the leaving , bloody hell !  completely at sea with some of the stuff ,

[Jonnycheech]

I've finished the first two units of this course and have to say it's pretty good considering it's a free course. There are 8 units in total and there is an online exam after each section. Some of the questions on the exams are tricky enough but they are not timed and essentially open book. It is very heavy on the chemistry but I suppose you could expect that considering it is titled "The Chemistry of Beer". Luckily enough I have a science background so I have covered most of this stuff before and know the lingo, it's just being applied to beer instead of human physiology, that's not to say that I didn't find it challenging. Each unit has videos from American brewmasters who give a kind of layman's intro to the unit. Then there are videos from the lecturer about the chemical concepts and there is also written content regarding the theory that needs to be studied.

Unit 1 - a brief history of beer, the brewing process and the biochemical constituents of beer: proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. Mostly organic chemistry in this section with structures and bonds covered.

Unit 2 - a look at the health impacts of alcohol and it's affects on the body which I found very interesting. There was also quite an in depth look at alcohol metabolism which was very heavy on the chemistry.

Unit 3 - I have only skimmed this but it's looking at beer styles. The chemistry aspect is looking at flavour and aroma compounds.

As I said i think it's good as a freebie course and it's a nice intro to those who may be thinking of taking on a masters or something like that in brewing. I'll review the other units when I have covered them if any one is interested.

[johnrm]

I started it, the bits about being were ok, but I hadn't a clue about the chemistry stuff.
It's a course for chemists learning about beer, NOT brewers learning about chemistry.