A. Specific Learning Outcomes. At the end of this course students will be able to:
- explain the essential compositional features of barley, water, hops, yeast and other ingredients as they pertain to brewing process performance and product quality
- explain the chemistry, biochemistry and physics underpinning the processing treatments that are used to render barley, water, hops, yeast and other components into forms suitable for brewing
- illustrate and describe the unit processes leading from barley to packaged beer
- name and give examples of the key microbial threats to brewing and beer and outline how they are detected and dealt with
- summarize the basic principles of plant cleaning and sanitation
- name the key contributors to beer flavor, outline the pathways by which they arise and discuss the factors that influence the levels at which they are found in different beers
- explain the chemistry, biochemistry and physics of quality attributes, notably foam, gushing, color, haze and physical stability
How this course addresses IFT Core Competencies:
Senior-level course:
Taught in the Fall Quarter of the student’s senior year. FST 102A is a 4 unit lecture course addressing the science of malting and brewing. FST 102A builds on principles taught in other classes to further competency in Food Chemistry and Analysis whilst primarily addressing Applied Food Science.
B. Tools used to assess program outcomes.
Bloom’s levels I-VI.
This is a class covering a diversity of complex scientific principles from a range of disciplines (chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, physics, etc.) and the importance of them all to the successful conversion of grain into beer demands testing that comprehensively assesses the students’ knowledge of all the material. This is assessed using two midterms and one final examination comprising multiple-choice questions
C. Brief summary of assessment results to date.
Malting and Brewing Science (FST102A) had been taught by Charles Bamforth (Professor Emeritus) for 15 years before Dr. Glen Fox took over, and draws substantially on Dr. Bamforth’s long-standing presence within the brewing industry. The course features extensively “real world” interpretation of the science and how it is applied and relevant to practical scenarios. Each year students are asked to complete a course evaluation form for the course. The numerical scores using a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) for specific questions and verbal comments are also compiled. The course and the instructor are evaluated separately. The mean scores for the course and instructor evaluation have continually remained in the high 4’s.