I hate Chemistry

[Schmoltsbeer]

The college course that is. I just finished Chem 1 and I think I did alright, but it took entirely too much of my attention away from more important things... Like brewing beer. How abnoxious.

 

[EcuPirate07]

With my degree I never had to take college chem but a bunch of my friends did, funny they all said every professor was foreign and hard to understand, setting you up for failure. I don't envy you.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

Only thing I can say to that is, at least I don't have foreign instructors with difficult accents! I am taking it all online, which is probably the same.

 

[Yooper]

Ah, but................Brewing Chemistry is like a 500- class level. It least it seemed like it to me- but remember I have been out of college for 30 years. https://janux.ou.edu/course.chem4970.html was fun, but after the first few classes I had difficulty remembering my basic college organic chemistry, I have to admit.

Remember that chemist (and, ok, engineers) tend to make the best brewers!

 

[schematix]

I wasn't a big fan of chemistry when I had to take it in college. But now I typically read chemistry articles on wikipedia every night until I fall asleep. Weird.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

Sooo... chem 1 doesn't correlate to beer much, other than familiarization with vernacular. Perhaps Chem 2 will be beneficial? I start that in a week... I do enjoy chem related beer articles more now, however. At least, a little bit.

 

[govner1]

Ah, but................Brewing Chemistry is like a 500- class level. It least it seemed like it to me- but remember I have been out of college for 30 years. https://janux.ou.edu/course.chem4970.html was fun, but after the first few classes I had difficulty remembering my basic college organic chemistry, I have to admit.



Remember that chemist (and, ok, engineers) tend to make the best brewers!

I enjoyed the OU Chemistry of Beer course, even after being out of undergrad for 45 years. I really had to dig deep in my memory banks and go back and read up on a lot of the biochem. Key thing is that I learned a lot & its proved very helpful to my brewing.
Highly recommend the course!

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

Govner1, I will look into it as soon as I get passed all my upcoming trials! Thanks for all the input everyone!

 

[autobaun70]

I still have nightmares from chemistry, by far the hardest classes I ever took in college. For my major (agriculture), we had to take 101/102, which was the engineering/medical/pharmacy tract version of Chem 1 & 2. Needless to say, these were both way overkill for my major, which would have been more appropriately served by taking 105/106 (more basic version). The crazy thing was there were 3 other majors (other areas of ag) that had the same exact higher level soils classes that my major did, and they were able to use 105/106 as their chemistry prerequisite. For some reason the dean/department head would rather us suffer, than to take 5 minutes to review the coarse requirements.

 

[jstaas]

Hey now.

 

[bruteforce]

Not sure what Chem2 equates to. O chem was helpful though. Loved that class. But then again, I wanted to be a chemical engineer.

Then, the dark side. Computer science pulled me away from my beloved chemistry. I'd consider going back for another MS in chemistry, but the MS in comp sci was enough hassle. I'll just read for now.

 

[Natdavis777]

Aced chem in HS but never had to take it in college. Physics FTW

 

[mongoose33]

I've considered going back and doing a chem course or two just so I can better understand water chemistry.

I have a lot of years of college under my belt--what's one more semester or two? Especially if it helps me brew beer!

 

[treacheroustexan]

Luckily I don't have any chemistry right now, but I have to deal with microeconomics blah.

 

[strangebrewer88]

Ah, but................Brewing Chemistry is like a 500- class level. It least it seemed like it to me- but remember I have been out of college for 30 years. https://janux.ou.edu/course.chem4970.html was fun, but after the first few classes I had difficulty remembering my basic college organic chemistry, I have to admit.



Remember that chemist (and, ok, engineers) tend to make the best brewers!

So with a degree in chemical engineering I should be making really great beer? So much pressure!

 

[aprichman]

I have a minor in chemistry and a bachelor of science degree in food science and technology which is essentially applied chemistry. I found my first college chemistry (200 level general chemistry) course to be the most challenging of the series. I remember feeling really discouraged especially towards the beginning. I ended up with an A but it wasn't an easy grade and I'm pretty sure the professor curved the final pretty hard. The rest of general chemistry was quite a bit easier in my opinion, although each school will use different text books so YMMV. I think we used Pearson books for gen chem. Organic chemistry is a different beast where you get to think through a lot of 3 dimensional transformations. Analytical chemistry (called quantitative analysis at my school) was really fun IMO but requires great attention to detail. Physical chemistry is generally considered the most difficult undergrad chemistry sequence, but if you love math it's not too bad.

Keep on chugging it will get easier

 

[hopkincr]

Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry here, so I kind of like it. It gets a bad wrap as being hard, which it is, but most of that is the the way classes are taught which doesn't help. For most people, real world examples would be more interesting and informative. I'm in the drug discovery side of things and can explain that to most people.

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

Luckily I don't have any chemistry right now, but I have to deal with microeconomics blah.

I had a great time with microeconomics. Got a high A, and remember it seemed very natural to me. I just started Chem 2, three or four weeks ago, and so far it's less nerve wracking, though still quite challenging.