Research papers related to brewing

[jberg440]

My girlfriend thinks its sad I write every research paper on some aspect of brewing or beer. My most recent was on the antioxidants found in hops related to cancer research for my Plant Bio class.

The worst part is I'm already planning on writing my next paper on the carbohydrates in barley compared to oats, rye, and wheat. :rockin:

I hope I am not the only one who does this.

 

[bwinnie]

Lol, I'm obsessed with beer! It's comes out everywhere in my life, (school included.)

 

[Airborneguy]

Tell your girlfriend that you met a guy online who's getting a completely useless degree in beer and brewing history. I'm about to write a paper on pre-Reformation monastic brewing.

One of my career's promotion requirements is 64 college credits. They can be in any subject. Perfect for people like us

 

[ajdelange]

I hope I am not the only one who does this.

I worked for years as an electrical engineer in the up and coming field of digital signal processing. In my entire career I've only had 2 peer reviewed papers published in technical journals. Both on brewing science.

 

[BeerDoctor5]

My PhD thesis was on beta-amylase and all my peer reviewed pubs are on beta-amylase and brewing science. I'm currently writing a paper on the differences between malting and germination with respects to beta-amylase. You are definitely not the only one. You can actually get paid for it

 

[RJS]

Im curious, are these studies helpful to the homebrewer or on a much larger scale? Same question for The Journal of the Institue of Brewing and Distilling. They have some awesome papers but not much for the homebrewer it seem's. I suppose homebrewing science is much easier to apply?

 

[RJS]

Perhaps its just not worth the time since the scale is so small.

One of my biggest questions is beer health and nutrition. For example, is anyone promoting drinking regular amounts of homebrew because of its unfiltered, high nutrient content? I believe one to two homebrew's a day is better for you than had you not drank it.

 

[BeerDoctor5]

Im curious, are these studies helpful to the homebrewer or on a much larger scale? Same question for The Journal of the Institue of Brewing and Distilling. They have some awesome papers but not much for the homebrewer it seem's. I suppose homebrewing science is much easier to apply?

Disclaimer: I haven't brewed my own beer yet (Arrives today!!)

My studies have made it much easier for me to understand home brewing because I already had a strong understanding of malting and fermentable sugar production. However, I don't know how much practical use my research or other brewing science research is for the home brewer, especially the home brewer that does an isothermal mash. A lot of brewing science, or the part that I'm familiar with, has to do with predicting (e.g. fermentable sugar production potential of malt without mashing it). This isn't really important for the home brewer.

The water chemistry research could potentially help the home brewer but that's way outside my level of expertise. It appears a lot of threads in this category are water related.

It never hurts to know more about a process. The ability to understand what is happening biochemically during each step allows you to tweek your procedure with a strong theoretical understanding about what SHOULD happen. However, the home brewer doesn't need to know how beta-amylase hydrolytically cleaves the 1,4 bond thus releasing beta-maltose. They just need to know that sugars are produced during mashing and they produce them better at certain temps.

 

[Brewskii]

20 some years ago [groan] I did my micro senior thesis on the antiseptic properties of hops and did a study on the biological stability of unpasteurized "draft" style packaged beer versus standard production beer. Beer papers are the best!

 

[mabrungard]

Having a true interest and understanding of a subject makes it far easier to write a paper on it. Go for what you know!

 

[RJS]

Of course I havent forgotten about Dr. Bamforth's book "Beer: Health and Nutrition" but its $190!

 

[RJS]

My studies have made it much easier for me to understand home brewing because I already had a strong understanding of malting and fermentable sugar production. However, I don't know how much practical use my research or other brewing science research is for the home brewer, especially the home brewer that does an isothermal mash. A lot of brewing science, or the part that I'm familiar with, has to do with predicting (e.g. fermentable sugar production potential of malt without mashing it). This isn't really important for the home brewer.

The water chemistry research could potentially help the home brewer but that's way outside my level of expertise. It appears a lot of threads in this category are water related.

It never hurts to know more about a process. The ability to understand what is happening biochemically during each step allows you to tweek your procedure with a strong theoretical understanding about what SHOULD happen. However, the home brewer doesn't need to know how beta-amylase hydrolytically cleaves the 1,4 bond thus releasing beta-maltose. They just need to know that sugars are produced during mashing and they produce them better at certain temps.

I agree with everything you said here. And, naturally, im now interested in finding out what an isothermal mash is, and when i can use the word hydrolytically in a sentence.

 

[BeerDoctor5]

And, naturally, im now interested in finding out what an isothermal mash is

Mashing at a constant temperature

and when i can use the word hydrolytically in a sentence.

You just did:rockin:

 

[BeerDoctor5]

Of course I havent forgotten about Dr. Bamforth's book "Beer: Health and Nutrition" but its $190!

Bamforth does have a lot of books!
http://www-foodsci.ucdavis.edu/bamforth/BookLinks.html

He's also the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists. This guy is extremely busy. My old advisor absolutely loves Bamforth.

 

[JohnMc]

The worst part is I'm already planning on writing my next paper on the carbohydrates in barley compared to oats, rye, and wheat. :rockin:

I hope I am not the only one who does this.

I'm pretty sure folks in the animal feed industry would be interested in the carbohydrate composition of the various cereals. Cheers!