Beer Forum

I’m a senior in college looking for ideas for a project. My major is Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Next summer I am going to brewery school and I would love to do a project that would relate to brewing in any way possible. Thanks.


The isomerization idea is great, but I would like to compile a bunch of ideas in case I hit a road block and have to go a different direction. Thanks for all the ideas so far!!!

Judging from your post, you should be studying English literature. Try the library. I'm sure it has the information your looking for.

How about something involving the isomerization of hop compounds. Specifically go deeper into the recent experiments done by Denny Conn on the effect of First Wort Hopping vs. the normal bittering hop additions. The basic findings were that in terms of taste, FWH seems to give the same bittering as a 20 minute hop addition. However, when lab tests were performed to determine the actual IBU's, the measured IBU's were higher for the FWH beer than for an identical beer (same batch of wort) with the same amount of hops added as a 60 minute addition.

Such a research project would look at how the hop components were isomerized during the FWH process to produce the lowered perception of bitterness. This could possibly lead to a new definition of what constitutes bitterness in beer. Possibly the current methods for determining bitterness are incorrect. Great possibilities in this investigation. Actually sounds like a possible doctoral thesis.

I need a beer! I get too intellectual when I'm sober. Good luck on your project.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

Great idea Bug-

ALso, extend it beyond FWH-- include Mash Hopping, whirlpool hopping, hopback hopping, and dry hopping.

Also compare the effects of early/late additions with respect to bitterness (ie, you can add a boatload at 15 mins to achieve the same IBUs as a small 60 min addition, but how do those IBU's compare chemically as well as perceptively).

Oh, yeah, you can always look at cohumulone levels and get some serious data on the harshness perception (or lack thereof) of high/low cohumulone hops. Does it or does it not make a difference? Everybody has an opinion, but who's right?

Good luck-

I think what what BugEater Johnson and what BDawg Johnson said is right.

That is exactly what I was thinking when I read the first post. Or another one might be batch vs. fly sparging. I still think if you can get the University to handle the bill that the isomerization project would be the way to go. Not only a fun experiment, but think of how much it would improve your brewing.

I see that it is your fist post, welcome to the family.

No matter what you pick, make sure you keep us up to date and we all expect a copy of the final report.

Cheers and good luck,

Brancid Johnson is right about Gabby Johnson being right!

LOL"I just wish all of our children could be here to witness this authentic frontier gibberish!"

There is a book I have at home, don't remember the author, called 'BrewChem 101' http://www.amazon.com/Brew-Chem-101-Homebrewing-Chemistry/dp/0882669400

It really gets into the molecular and chemical aspect of what goes on during the brewing process.

You might find some useful ideas in there.

BugeaterBrewing wrote:How about something involving the isomerization of hop compounds. Specifically go deeper into the recent experiments done by Denny Conn on the effect of First Wort Hopping vs. the normal bittering hop additions. The basic findings were that in terms of taste, FWH seems to give the same bittering as a 20 minute hop addition. However, when lab tests were performed to determine the actual IBU's, the measured IBU's were higher for the FWH beer than for an identical beer (same batch of wort) with the same amount of hops added as a 60 minute addition.

Such a research project would look at how the hop components were isomerized during the FWH process to produce the lowered perception of bitterness. This could possibly lead to a new definition of what constitutes bitterness in beer. Possibly the current methods for determining bitterness are incorrect. Great possibilities in this investigation. Actually sounds like a possible doctoral thesis.

I need a beer! I get too intellectual when I'm sober. Good luck on your project.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

you could separate out the hop components, possibly just do a "hop tea" w/ different boiling times, and run some samples through a GC-MS to find out how much and what you have at any given time point. This could be expanded to several different types of hops or narrowed to a single subtype. This is more along the lines of analytical/bio chem.

Since youre a senior bio major you could determine genetic variation of a particular gene with a high mutation rate within several species of s. cereviseae.

If your school has some super computers laying around you could map out the gene and determine protein folding patterns for, say, something like acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.