First Module complete

1/6 total modules are now complete! It was not easy. In fact, it was hard. Two / Six tests are complete and I believe I'm still holding over a 90 average. Last night was Friday, and while the guys hit the town I slept. I slept 10 hours which means I've doubled my sleep this week. I still feel exhausted but it's Saturday morning with nothing to do and that feels great. In the past two weeks we have covered Malting (steeping, germinating and kilning of barley before it gets to the brewer), Hops and hop products, Water Chemistry, Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, and Chilling of wort. Enzymes for this, enzymes for that, enzymes enzymes enzymes enzymes throughout the process. Did I mention that we can thank enzymes for making wort? Yep. I know enzymes.

For those of you who only look at the pictures, I'll add two more for you. After two full days of lecture from Ray Daniels on mashing, I bothered him for a picture for the homebrewers who read his material. He's mostly known for Designing Great Beers (which really is a fantastic book for those interested in what the title suggests). He's a cool guy; not only did he partake in our typically obnoxious lunch breaks, he did a great job breaking down mashing for us without making it too confusing.

Second is a delightfully cheesy picture of me after one of our Sensory Analysis sessions. This time it was styles tasting of English, Scottish and Irish beers. Lyn Kruger, president of Siebel, runs the tastings and helps us learn to identify the flavors we should taste as well as the flavors that probably shouldn't be there. Unfortunately we've learned a lot about how traumatic importing/exporting beer is. After learning to isolate oxidation and other side affects of failing beer stability, these beers were mostly gross. The only one we didn't pour out was Mackesons XXX (brewed in North America, less oxidized). I kind of liked the Scottish heather tips ale too because the spices almost hid the off-flavors. The worst was Sam Smiths IPA- it tasted like the smell of imported leaf hops. Yes, we poured out gallons and gallons of beer this day.