The biggest development over the last week is that my wife Judith made it down to California and is now living with me in our tiny apartment.  This makes me extremely happy!  I picked her up in San Francisco on the weekend and we enjoyed some nice weather by going mountain biking east of Sacramento.  Every single thing I’ve been doing so far in Davis is somehow related to beer and it was nice to take a break from that on the weekend. Having Judith here will help me hang on to a little bit of my sanity.

People in the course are getting to know each other more now and I’m finding myself out of the house more often and exploring Davis a bit.  We discovered a $5 beer and pizza special at Vito’s for example and I’ve been there three times in the past week.  But spending more time on social activities means I need to make an extra effort to spend the time I need on the course. We’ve gotten through the first module of the course, which is everything from barley to wort, technology and biochemistry, and we’ve started to receive some feedback in the form of marked exams. I’m pretty happy with how I’ve done but know I can improve. As we review the material now I’m starting to read more broadly and it’s really sinking in.  That being said we haven’t done too much work yet on the past IBD exam questions, which are much more difficult than some of our short exams we are doing now.  The information we are cramming in at the moment is just the foundation and we’ll need to expand from there on the exams to pass.  Dr. Lewis gave a pretty serious talk to the class this morning basically explaining that if we don’t get the information we’re learning now, then the IBD exams will be damn near impossible, so we better stay on top of it.  I’ve had a habit in the past of cruising through courses and cramming for exams and doing just fine. I don’t think that approach will work here.  Lucky for me I am really enjoying what I’m learning so staying up on it is not too difficult.

In terms of what we’ve been learning it’s very practical stuff that applies directly to producing quality beer efficiently, and all of the operations we as brewers need to perform in the brewhouse.  During our last two weekend brew sessions we managed to up our brewhouse efficiency from about 75% to about 82% because we gained an appreciation of the processes that occur during lautering, for example.  A take away from the past couple of weeks is that many people believe different things about brewing processes and as a brewer you need to decide what you believe and why.  Mainly due to tradition brewers have many methods that have simply been inherited and I think it’s important to know what any given method brings or takes away from the beer.  Using a method simply because it is traditional is not necessarily a bad thing, but you might be wasting your time (ex. on an unnecessarily long rest), or you might be able to achieve your goal more effectively by introducing a simple change (ex. increasing fermentability with a slower temperature ramp).

One of the more exciting course-related developments is that I’m starting to pick up on the sensory component. Over the past three weeks we’ve been given standards for defects (a pill opened in to a control beer – Budweiser) and been given some time to try and get the aromas to stick in to our mind. Then we taste a variety of beers and try to identify the defects present.  There were a few beers where I was immediately able to detect defects, and this has carried on to the pub where I’ve noticed some off flavours in beers that I wouldn’t have noticed (and didn’t notice) a week or two ago.  So far I am confident detecting beer that is light struck, has elevated levels of acetaldehyde, diacetyl, isoamyl acetate (banana), phenolic, and DMS. This last one, DMS, I can’t always put my finger on, so I plan to grab a six-pack of Rolling Rock lager (which intentionally has high DMS levels) and drink it to lock that flavor in to my brain.  So far I’ve only seen it in 30 packs though, and I’m not sure I want it that locked in.  Other off-flavours, like isovaleric acid and oxidation flavours, I still need to work on.

Judith helped me bottle the Brown Ale we brewed a few weeks ago and its tasting fine! Soon we’ll have multiple varieties of homebrew at home and on tap in the classroom.  I can’t wait to start tasting it and thinking of ways to improve my brewing processes.  For example I could smell a faint hit of acetaldehyde from the yeast cake of the Brown Ale meaning I probably needed higher yeast pitching rates (luckily I couldn’t detect it in the beer).

Anyway, I’m glad to report that after 5 weeks I’m still engaged and enjoying the Master Brewers Program.  I think it is a worthwhile course for people who really want to know the science of brewing and who want to be able to make the highest quality beer. It feels like a good course for people who want to be responsible for important decisions in a brewery, including everything from raw materials, brewery design to recipe formulation, processes and packaging.  We’re also getting good insight in to the business side of things through guest speakers such as the owner of Rubicon Brewing in Sacramento and an Alcohol Control Board law expert.  Next week we have our fist brewery tour at Sierra Nevada in Chico.  I probably don’t need to tell you how pumped I am for that.

So much of brewing is about balance. To produce good malt barley must be germinated, but not too much, and dried, but not too much, in order to balance modification (production of enzymes and release of starch) and malting loss (the amount of energy lost to plant growth).  A balance of temperature and pH is needed in order allow enzymes to do their work in the mash.  Beta amylase kicks in to action to convert starches to maltose (the main fermentable sugar) at an optimum temperature of 62 to 65 C, but it cannot work effectively before alpha amylase does its thing to chop down the larger starch compounds in to something the beta amylases can easily handle.  But the alpha amylases work best at 70 to 75 C, but once you reach that temperature the beta guys start to get deactivated and no longer work.  So you need to compromise and hit a temperature where both the beta and alpha amylases work but not at their optimum, typically between 65 and 70.  Not too cold, not too hot.  Balance.

Parallels can be made to this course and I suspect to working in the brewing industry as a whole.  There is no one skill set that will set you apart as a brewer. Sure you need to make good beer. But to do that you need to understand what is happening scientifically, while having the mechanical and physical ability to make it happen, and without endangering those around you.  And you don’t just need to know how to make good beer, you need to work well with people and be able to think and act on the fly.  You need to be creative but have an appreciation for recreatablility.

With regards to the course, and therefore my life at the moment, balance is key in order to get as much as I can from my time here.  To me the course is not just about passing the IBD exams (although that is one major goal). It’s obviously about getting as prepared as possible for a career in the industry.  It’s about developing relationships with peers, professors and professional brewers that are not only enjoyable but will be valuable for the years ahead.  It’s about taking advantage of opportunities to brew on the pilot system at Sudwerk as well as with the random guy I met playing foosball on Saturday night.  It’s also about taking time to exercise and spend time with my wife when she gets here (in less than a week!).

The course is getting busier, which I mentioned last time. But it is also getting more difficult. The engineering component of the class is getting tough and the only way to get good at it is to practice doing problems. I’ve worked with pumps and piping systems before but just looking at some past exam questions I would not know where to begin.  Some of the problems are taking up to an hour to solve something that we’ll only have a half hour to solve during the exam. I’m not overly concerned, I just know I need to put the time in to get better. I’ve been slacking a bit on the packaging portion of the course because to be honest it’s a little dry.  So I’ll need to find a way to focus on that more effectively.

We did our second batch on the pilot system this weekend and I’m pretty excited about it.  We split the wort to three 5 gallon fermenters and pitched one as a lager and two as ales.  Light in colour and moderately hopped.  We’ll do some different dry hopping on the two ales, keep the lager and one of the ales consistent in that regard.  We had another great brewing crew out. One of our guys works as a brewer at Rubicon in Sacramento and he had some really good practical input, including how to effectively control a boil over, which was damn near close to happening.  Fingers crossed but it’s looking like I’ll be able to get on to the pilot system fairly regularly.  I’m a bit surprised that more people aren’t jumping on the opportunity but if that means more brewing for me I’ll take it.  Brewing is a huge priority while I’m here and I intend to keep on top of it.

It’s late, sleep is important to balance as well. Good night.

What I really like about this course so far is the little tidbits of inspiration that are sprinkled upon us. Among the discussion on biochemistry, fluid flow and heat transfer we get a taste of what makes life long brewing professionals passionate about what they preach.  These guys are no bull-shitters and that adds a massive degree of value to the lectures.  They are not afraid to tell us what beer reminds them of “an angel weeping on your tongue”, or what beer they think is a waste of time “some Double Imperial IPA piece of shit”.  You know they mean it therefore when they come out with a statement like “without beer our society would not have been able to advance to where it is today”.

The meaning of that statement was explained to us as follows.  Beer has had the ability to break down social barriers and open lines of communication.  Highly people can talk to lowly people, lowly people can talk to the giants.  A level playing field upon which judgments are temporarily suspended can be created and people can develop an understanding of each other.  This promotes compassion for fellow human beings through a shared sense of euphoria.  This might sound a bit over the top but if you look at the history of brewing it’s not far off.  People have devoted their lives to brewing for millennia and the person who can make a beer that is recognized as having ‘good quality’ has always been a popular guy or gal.

But how is it that we are still churning out new beer styles and recipes all of the time?  What is viewed as ‘good quality’ is constantly changing, or being brought back to life. This brings us to the aspect of creativity in brewing.  But how can people keep creating different versions of something that has essentially four ingredients?  Everyone has heard that brewing is a combination of science and art.  There are many variables of brewing (and malting) that need to be understood.  The ranges of conditions in which a wide variety of enzymes can perform or be destroyed, the variety of base and specialty malts that add proteins, starches (and thus sugars and alcohol), flavour and colour, the endless variety of hops that can be combined and utilized under different conditions to provide bitterness, flavour and aroma.  Different yeast strains and what they need to in order to thrive.  Byproducts from fermentation, contamination or environmental exposure that can be viewed as negative or positive.  All of these aspects must be understood from a scientific point of view.  But once they are understood by the brewer they form a basis upon which there are virtually limitless possibilities for creation.  Or as Michael Lewis puts it, it forms the piano upon which we play our delicate tune (what’s more inspiring than that?).  I have worked as a scientist for almost a decade, but this added dimension of creativity is what I’ve been craving, and brewing has been an outlet for that.  The greatest thing is the more I learn, the more I fine tune my instrument. And the more I practice, the better I become at playing it.

Charlie Bamforth has a book called “Beer is Proof God Loves Us”.  The more I learn from these guys the more I’m starting to believe that statement.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to brew with four talented and hilarious classmates, along with a Sudwerk Brewer and his energetic border collie.  We brewed an Americal Brown Ale on Sudwerk’s B3 Brew Sculpture.  Before brew day we were tasked with doing all of our calculations by hand.  I spent way more time than I had planned on these calculations but I’m glad I did because it really gave me a good feel for where all of the numbers come from. A couple of years ago my brother gave me a copy of Brad Simth’s Beersmith software and I’ve been using it ever since to formulate recipes.  Doing the manual calculations gave me a good idea of the equations that go in to that software and the assumptions that are made. We began by choosing a desired ABV of 5.5% and choosing our grain bill. From that we worked backwards to work out our starting gravity, weight extract required, grain weight, estimated wort colour, amount hops for desired IBU, mash volume for desired water/grist ratio, sparge water volume, temperature for strike and sparge water, pre-boil and post boil volumes, evaporation losses, etc, etc.  The great thing about this system was being able to do a step mash in order to make our β-and α-amylase enzymes happy.  We opted for a 62-67-70 deg Celcius mash at 10-40-10 minutes, respectively, in order to promote a dextrine rich malt character to our beer. We were able to hit our temps, gravity and volumes spot on, probably the first time I’ve brewed with such accuracy.  After brewing just once on this system it’s going to be difficult going back to my mish-mash homebrew system that I brought down here (but I will). I can’t wait to have a permanent place to live just so I can start building something like this.

Brew day was also a ton of fun, as they always are.  Burgers were on the grill and we sampled some more great Sudwerk beer (great German style pils).  Dr. Lewis showed up and hung out for a little while, looked over our calculations then told us he didn’t have time for this nonsense (can I say I brewed with Michael Lewis now?).  Apparently I really sound “Canadian” when I brew too; must be all the excitement.  Our beer ended up being named the Fuckin’ ‘eh Brown Ale.

Besides brew day the course is getting busier. Lots and lots of readings that I struggle to keep up with. I’m feeling fairly confident with my understanding of the material, I just need to put the time in to it (i.e. must avoid laziness).  I’m realizing I’m fortunate to come from an engineering-oriented background, especially one that involves hydraulics.  My previous career choices had nothing to do with brewing but somehow they seem to complement it, at least so far.  I guess I lucked out on that.

We had our first sensory science session on Friday with Sue Langstaff. She is very talented at what she does, which is explain sensory science and try to help people describe what they are tasting.  For me this is going to be one of the most difficult parts of the course.  I have no previous training in this area and as Sue explained it’s not in our nature to be able to describe tastes and smells.  We are really good at describing things we see and hear, but taste and smell is processed in a different part of the brain.  What you taste and smell is really just a perception, it’s how your brain interprets the molecules entering your face and your brain can play tricks on you.  A bunch of us practiced tasting again tonight after class (below; such a hard life) with a fellow student who has been through BJCP training.  There were about eight of us standing around tasting the same beers and at one side of the circle we’d come up with totally different tasting notes than the people at the other side of the circle.  I think it’s really going to come down to getting to know certain terms to describe the tastes and aroma of different aspects of the beer (malt, hops, mouthfeel, etc.) and then going through them in your mind and deciding if you’re picking any of them up.  Anyway I’m a long way away from feeling confident describing what I ‘m tasting.  Good thing there are several weeks of training to come, along with many more great beers to be tasted.

My life has pretty much been all school right now.  I’ve been to my apartment and the brewery and back and forth and not much else.  I’m living the dream.