National Homebrew Club Ireland

General Discussions => Education, Careers & Opportunities => Topic started by: RichC on November 01, 2013, 05:02:26 AM

Title: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: RichC on November 01, 2013, 05:02:26 AM
Copied straight from a thread on HBT
https://janux.ou.edu/landing/#CHEM4970-detail
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Will_D on November 01, 2013, 10:08:20 AM
Looks interesting!

Has anyone any idea about the format of these sort of courses - has any one done one?

What sort of daily/weekly comittment is there?

They could give out a bit more info!
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Padraic on November 01, 2013, 01:43:24 PM
The details are a bit sparse alright, but it might be interesting!
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Dunkel on November 01, 2013, 01:49:26 PM
Is this course free?
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: mr hoppy on November 01, 2013, 10:56:50 PM
Are you sure?
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: JD on November 04, 2013, 10:33:36 AM
I've signed up and no one's sought and credit card info nor asked for money yet. If there are mandatory course materials to be purchased, etc. I'll no doubt reconsider at that point.  ;)
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: barkar on November 04, 2013, 02:10:47 PM
Would this be suitable for getting brewing cert from revenue etc.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: johnrm on November 13, 2013, 04:11:59 PM
I signed up too, the course is next year.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: DEMPSEY on November 13, 2013, 04:15:52 PM
Quote from: barkar on November 04, 2013, 02:10:47 PM
Would this be suitable for getting brewing cert from revenue etc.
Not sure why revenue would have an opinion on you having done this course. They are only interested in money and not if what you brew is any good. :)
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: barkar on November 13, 2013, 05:20:51 PM
Is it not a requisite for going pro  - giving revenue money i mean  :)
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Tom on November 13, 2013, 05:39:55 PM
Just signed up, thanks for pointing it out.

I've taken a fancy to the 'History of Science to the age of Newton' course too... What a world we live in.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: johnrm on January 12, 2014, 08:54:27 PM
Starts tomorrow.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: DrowningManatee on January 12, 2014, 11:12:41 PM
There's a general Chemistry course as well thats up there already. They say on the site that a grounding in Organic chemistry (the last module in Gen Chem) could be useful so I reckon you could skip the rest except the first section (in Gen Chem) which is a general overview of terms etc to familiarise yourself. Lookin' forward to the course :)
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: St. Fursey on January 13, 2014, 10:56:33 AM
Signed up last night. Thanks for the heads-up

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Will_D on January 13, 2014, 11:12:03 AM
Quote from: St. Fursey on January 13, 2014, 10:56:33 AM
Signed up last night. Thanks for the heads-up

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Hi Enda,
Would be very interested in the feedback on this. I was sore tempted but totally full with BJCP stuff at the moment.

Please keep us informed or maybe a wekly blog? (Good way to sumarise what you've learned in the week ;) )

@Any one else signed on : +1 as well
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: barkar on January 13, 2014, 12:25:26 PM
Yeah i signed up as well , havent hear danything back from them since though , anyone else ?
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: johnrm on January 13, 2014, 01:30:56 PM
I received an email yesterday.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Tom on January 14, 2014, 07:39:06 AM
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.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: DrowningManatee on January 14, 2014, 12:45:52 PM
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 :)
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Tom on January 21, 2014, 09:22:25 AM
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.  >:D

The course is good, but it's full of whatever the verbal equivalent of a typo is.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: johnrm on January 21, 2014, 08:49:51 PM
Fermentable sugars. They must have typed it up on a 'Smart' phone.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Tom on January 21, 2014, 09:01:41 PM
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"?
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: johnrm on January 21, 2014, 11:01:47 PM
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.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Tom on January 22, 2014, 08:58:09 AM
I'd rather passive-aggressively complain on an entirely different forum! ;)
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: barkar on January 22, 2014, 10:39:33 AM
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 ,
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: Jonnycheech on February 09, 2014, 12:29:05 PM
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.
Title: Re: Beer Chemistry course
Post by: johnrm on February 10, 2014, 12:42:59 AM
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.