Heriot-Watt Brewing and Distilling course

[dtashmore]

@hoppyscotty - another possibility, if you are looking to reduce cost, is the re-use of dry hopping hops as bittering hops in a following batch. I have not tried it myself but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work provided you can adjust your recipe for using wet hops and you are happy to use your dry hop variety for bittering bittering. By using wet hops, you would also also be reducing wort losses compared with rehydrating dry hops in the boil. More faffing!

I have done this a few times when I am following one brew after the other, it works well and conserves precious leaf hops for me, I cannot obtain leaf hops in South Africa where I live so have to get them when relatives visit, that is why I do it. I also finger my trub, why waste precious ale, I also get more from my whirlpool hops with a squeeze, I just use very fine mesh bags nothing fancy and get good results.

 

[DocAnna]

This week I got my mark back for my packaging and filtration essay which I am sooo chuffed with.... ok allow me the wee bit of celebration but It's my second highest mark over the last 4 modules and some lovely feedback comments. It was an essay on the requirements for packaging a new ready to drink formulation of a gin and tonic mix, with a second part on considerations for sustainable packaging and manufacture. The sustainability part was right up my street (I previously had responsibility for NHS National services sustainable healthcare which helped). I was particularly nervous about this essay as I'd not had as long to write it as I'd have liked as I got the submission date wrong and only realised a few days before so had to write the essay from my notes into the early morning hours.

I now have to decide what my next two modules are to be for the start of next year. Cereals, malting and mashing is a core module so that's one, but I've options on:

• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Chemistry of Food
• Food Processing
• Management in the Food and Beverage Industries

I'd love to do the Chemistry of food but I realised in the previous module on wort boiling that I'm more a physics geek girl, so the environmental impact assessment might play more to my strengths.. .it doesn't sound all that interesting though. While yes I do a management job, do I really want to spend 12 weeks on management theory... umm that'll be a not really. So maybe food processing... hmm.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

It's my second highest mark over the last 4 modules and some lovely feedback comments

Hurrah

The sustainability part was right up my street (I previously had responsibility for NHS National services sustainable healthcare which helped).

...Cereals, malting and mashing is a core module...

• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Chemistry of Food
• Food Processing
• Management in the Food and Beverage Industries

I'd love to do the Chemistry of food but I realised in the previous module on wort boiling that I'm more a physics geek girl, so the environmental impact assessment might play more to my strengths.. .it doesn't sound all that interesting though. While yes I do a management job, do I really want to spend 12 weeks on management theory... umm that'll be a not really. So maybe food processing... hmm.

I think this comes down partly to why are you doing this - is it to make better homebrew, is it largely for pure intellectual interest, or - given that it's presumably costing you some ££ - do you want to get some career benefit out of it? And the other consideration is how hard you want to work - are you finding it a struggle to fit everything in so an easy option would help your schedule, or are you prepared to challenge yourself a bit, both timewise and intellectually?

If you've a background in sustainability then I assume EIA will be easy but even more boring than it would be for normal folk, it won't help your homebrew but could be useful on your CV, particularly if you found yourself applying for specific jobs with say a medical device manufacturer.

Similarly with the management course - it may be a bit more intellectually challenging, won't help your homebrew, but if you've not had much management training then it will probably have some immediate use in your current job as well as being A Good Thing on your CV for pretty much any job you might go for in the future. And especially if you ever went into F&B...

I think you've got to look at the other two in the context of your malt/mashing module. It's going to have a lot of (bio)chemistry so if that isn't really your thing, you might benefit from having the chemistry module that helps explain what's going on rather than doing something completely unrelated. Probably your best option from a homebrew perspective.

Food processing could be anything - could be very engineering led, again could have a lot of chemistry, I guess it may have a bit of tox and microbiology which may be more your thing, again I guess it may support the malt/mashing module but more on the commercial side.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Let your heart rule your head: you’re doing the course to enjoy yourself after all, not to please anyone else :-)

 

[dad_of_jon]

I'm always doing EIA's. I even stopped buying Fage Yogurt from Greece and buy locally produced Greek style instead. However, when I brew my EIA's go out the window. I don't (unlike a select few ) recycle my co2. And I did buy a Fage to make my latest sour as well as ordering a pile of NZ hops without even checking their EIA.

I'm calling it EIA-lite tm
Where you choose what you acquire based on a quick calculation of distance/quality/price.

 

[DocAnna]

@Northern_Brewer oh that’s a really thoughtful perspective. As to why I’m spending quite a bit on this and what I hope to get out of the course … that’s a difficult one .

I enjoy doing something so completely different from the day job, love the challenge, and the positive feedback is something that rarely happens in my line of work. I have this vague retirement idea of doing something with a brewery ... or maybe something with Diagio. Career wise I think I may have one more substantive move before retirement but that's all a bit theoretical. At the very least within the next 5 or so years I'd like to be brewing at the 4-6BBL scale and selling locally really.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

OK, that sounds like the EIA is out but all of the others could bring something useful (and don't underestimate the importance of management even if you're running quite a small business of you're own), it's hard to know without more detail on the management and processing modules in particular, but I think it's ultimately up to you to figure out what's best. I'll merely note two things :

the positive feedback is something that rarely happens in my line of work.

That in itself sounds a reason to ASAP at least start a few speculative applications to the likes of Diageo and other drinks businesses....

I'd like to be brewing at the 4-6BBL scale and selling locally really.

That seems to be a really tough part of the market, it seems to work better to either go smaller - say 3bbls for sale primarily through your own tap, or go bigger like 10bbls and you can afford to employ someone to do a lot of the sales work. Selling (profitably) to the trade is really tough in this market.

 

[Twostage]

I reckon you should make a gin and tonic sampler ready for packaging.

And then drink it .

If it wasn't for the last minute I'd never do anything.

Well done

 

[DocAnna]

Oh I haven’t posted for ages on this thread. I’m currently working my way through the cereals and malting module which I’m finding hard going. I struggle a bit with plant biology ….not my thing really. I prefer my biology walking and talking. The second half of the module on water chemistry, mash separation and most recently on adjuncts is far more engaging. My reason for posting today is I’m having a Doh! moment, and realising I’d not applied my rule of asking why something is called/name something with ‘invert sugar’.

Invert sugar is sucrose that’s been processed into its component monosaccharide sugars of glucose and fructose… but why ‘invert’? The optical rotation of polarised light of sucrose is to the right (+66.5°), but after splitting is inverted to rotate to the left (D-Glucose 52.5°, Fructose 92.4°). Which is in my view pretty cool . It means you can track how far the hydrolysis of the sucrose has progressed by how far the inversion of polarised light has progressed.

Ok last factoid for this morning … the dry mass of the resultant invert sugar is 5.26% more than the original sucrose since water is incorporated into the two sugars. This now seems incredibly obvious but it had never occurred to me before. Practically I’m wondering if this means adjusting recipes if using sucrose rather than dextrose due to the different contribution of sugars. Probably more complex than that as the yeast utilisation isn’t entirely equivalent for the fructose component but it’s got me thinking.

 

[Clint]

Just think....when you pass your brewing course and together with your other qualifications and experience you could get a big job at one of the massive brewing corporations that have nothing to do with brewing decent beer at all!

 

[Sadfield]

Practically I’m wondering if this means adjusting recipes if using sucrose rather than dextrose due to the different contribution of sugars.

Certainly for priming calculations. For recipes, I've usually other changes that makes the difference less obvious.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Oh I haven’t posted for ages on this thread. I’m currently working my way through the cereals and malting module which I’m finding hard going. I struggle a bit with plant biology ….not my thing really. I prefer my biology walking and talking.

Nah - that kind of biology sprays blood everywhere, give me plants any time!

Invert sugar is sucrose that’s been processed into its component monosaccharide sugars of glucose and fructose… but why ‘invert’? The optical rotation of polarised light of sucrose is to the right (+66.5°), but after splitting is inverted to rotate to the left (D-Glucose 52.5°, Fructose 92.4°). Which is in my view pretty cool .

Cooler still is that the main producer of invert sugar is called Ragus, and if you "invert" the word "Ragus" you get...?
[took me a while to see that for the first time]

 

[JockyBrewer]

Cooler still is that the main producer of invert sugar is called Ragus, and if you "invert" the word "Ragus" you get...?
[took me a while to see that for the first time]

Ragus don't list brewing sugar on their website any more. Are they still even making it? Is anyone?

 

[RichardM]

Ragus don't list brewing sugar on their website any more. Are they still even making it? Is anyone?

What do you mean by "brewing sugar'?

 

[JockyBrewer]

What do you mean by "brewing sugar'?

https://www.ragus.co.uk/brewing-sugar/

 

[RichardM]

https://www.ragus.co.uk/brewing-sugar/

According to that article they make it to supply to the brewing industry

 

[DocAnna]

Just think....when you pass your brewing course and together with your other qualifications and experience you could get a big job at one of the massive brewing corporations that have nothing to do with brewing decent beer at all!

Yes like a distiller.... I'm not sure I'll do anything in particular with the degree if I do ok in it, I know I've written about vague aspirations of working in the industry but right now my job is really full on and it feels like there's so much to learn in this space I'm working in. I like to think I'll have a better idea after my dissertation as that will almost certainly involve working with one of the local distilleries or breweries on the island. Highland park are closed to visitors this year as they are installing heat recovery and reuse equipment which I'd love to see as that is clever/good/responsible/all of the above.

 

[JockyBrewer]

According to that article they make it to supply to the brewing industry

But it's no longer listed on their current products page.

I'm pretty sure it once was listed on there.