Brewing Raw Materials and Wort Production
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| BIOS4154 | Biosciences | 4 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- BIOS4154
- School
- Biosciences
- Level
- 4
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
This module covers the following aspects of brewing raw materials and wort production:
- Barley:
- Introduction to barley as a crop
- Relevant aspects of growing barley for malting quality
- Structure and biochemistry of the barley grain - Malting Science & Practice:
- Introduction to the global malting industry, scale and significance
- Outline of the malting process: Intake, storage & dressing/ Steeping/ Germination/ Kilning/ de-culming/ blending.
- Malting biochemistry
- The main classes of malts used in brewing
- Malt quality and specification - Hops: cultivation, varieties, processing and forms used in brewing, specifications and analysis, introductory hop chemistry.
- Water: sources of water, water treatment, grades of water in the brewery, brewing liquor composition and significant quality parameters that impact on the brewing process.
- Adjuncts: commonly used alternative sources of extract; solid and liquid adjunct materials.
- The scientific principles and technologies of processes employed in wort production in the modern brewery:
- Materials intake, storage and handling
- Milling of malt
- Mashing (process control: principal mashing methods and mash schedules; influence & control of mash pH; mashing biochemistry (e.g. starch conversion, proteolysis, glucans/ arabinoxylans & mash viscosity)
- Mash separation; theory, technologies & equipment design
- Wort boiling:
. Rationale behind process & technologies employed
. Process control formation of colour and flavour (Maillard chemistry & polyphenolics; reductones)
. Evaporation/volatile stripping
. Protein denaturation & trub formation (protein-polyphenol interactions)
. pH drop & mechanisms involved
. Wort oxidation & redox state
. Hop (product) addition in the boil - Hot wort clarification
- The whirlpool - Wort cooling (cold break) & aeration
- Wort quality
- Aspects of Brewhouse design, utilisation (capacity planning) & energy conservation.
Target Students
Students enrolled in the MSc/PGDip Brewing Science and Practice or MRes Brewing Science. Availability to Subsidiary Students: subject to an interview with module convenor to ensure they understand the specialist nature of the module and determine their motivation for studying it and likely capacity to succeed in passing the course.
Classes
Blended learning including e-learning, directed reading, self-study and self-assessment, lectures, practical classes, workshops, collaborative group project including oral presentation, and coursework, revision and examination. Industrial visits to malting plant and/or brewery.
Assessment
- 15% Coursework 1: Conduct a literature review on set topic, assemble key information into structure for presentation (1,000 word).
- 15% Presentation: Prepare and present a group presentation in teams on set topic.
- 70% Exam 1 (2-hour): Online remote exam
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
To train students in the raw materials, practice and processes used to manufacture wort in a modern brewery.To develop understanding of the key quality factors of the principal raw materials and how these impact on the quality of wort produced in the brewing process.To develop knowledge and specialist skills related to the unit operations used in wort production and how the technologies are controlled to meet the operational objectives of a modern brewhouse (such as production schedule, wort strength and fermentability specified for a brand, and meeting environmental targets through minimising inputs of energy and water).Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module, students will:
1. Understand the production/sources and quality specifications for key brewing raw materials (malt/hops/water and adjuncts). [A2 & A5]
2. Be able to conduct a literature review on a specific topic and organise the information accessed into an essay plan. [A3, A4, C2, D2, D3]
3. Understand the processes used in a modern brewhouse to manufacture wort and the contributions of each step to finished wort quality. [A2 & A5]
4. Be able to evaluate data from a range of sources and deliver coherently in the form of a team presentation. [B1, B3, C3, D1, D2, D5]
5. Have developed laboratory skills associated with malt quality analysis. [C4]