Is brewing beer a science, an art, or a bit of both? I would argue that for the macro-brewers it is essentially confined to science. If you are brewing millions of barrels of the same beer year after year, you are relying on automation and high-tech laboratory instrumentation for the requisite consistency in taste and quality. There is, of course, a human element with the tasting panels that evaluate the uniformity of the beer each day, but otherwise it is essentially purely science and technology. When I toured the Columbus Anheuser-Busch brewery several years ago, the plant manager and the head brewer were both Chemical Engineers, which goes to that point.
Craft brewers, on-the-other-hand, are much more clearly a blending of art with science. The development of new recipes and the use of new malts, hops, and yeasts all require imagination and vision. That is not to say that science is not also a big part of craft brewing, because that plays a critical role for them as well. You can learn about it first hand at Land Grant Brewing on Wednesday May 4th.
In conjunction with COSI’s four-day Science Festival, COSI scientist Joe Wood will join Land Grant’s Director of Operations, Chris Helderman to lead a pair of ‘Science Tours’ of the Land Grant Brewing facility. Helderman has the requisite scientific credentials himself with a B.S. in Food Science from Purdue University and a Certification in Fermentation Science from the University of California-Davis. While Land Grant already has free tours available on Saturday afternoons, Helderman describes this event as “the normal tour on steroids”, complete with a series of COSI led demonstrations featuring the application of science.
The tours will last 45-60 minutes and start at 6 PM and 7:15 PM. Each tour will be limited to 20, so you may want to come early, sign in, and have a beer. The Two Fat Indians food truck will be on hand.
Land Grant is located at 424 W. Town Street.
