SWC hopes on craft beer craze

Southwestern College is joining the craft brewery revolution in which San Diego is a leader.

Students can now register for BIO 151-Intro to Fermentation, which will be accepted as a general education course for students. The course will be team-taught by chemistry Professor David Hecht and biology Professor Charles Hoyt, who will fuse their knowledge of the sciences central to beer making. For the course, students will learn what it takes to craft a beer worthy of a high-end tavern and dive into the history of beer.

“The fact that it’s a GE course is going to place these ideas into broader context because that’s what GEs do,” Hoyt said. “We are also going to learn about brewing history, brewing around the world, beer styles, what beer flavors should taste like and things like that.”

SWC students interviewed by The Sun said they are excited about the new course.

“I’ve always wanted to learn what exactly gives beers its unique taste and how it goes down during the process of making it,” said Mason Ramos. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve even heard of classes other than a regular chemistry class, which I’m not fond of at all by the way, that teach you the basics on the process of making beer.”

Both Hecht and Hoyt said they are fully aware of how students tend to be nervous or unamused towards science-related requirements.

“Professor Hoyt and I were both thinking about how we could get GE offerings for physical sciences and biology that would be interesting and fun and not just the treachery of Chem 100,” Hecht said.

This class will fully engage students and give them the true science experience that most labs do not offer. Students will be responsible for coming up with the type of beer they wish to brew, the professors said. They will then have to do the research on the formulas and the procedures to put it together.

“There’s always going to be issues that they’ll have to optimize and troubleshoot, so this kind of gives a flavor for any engineering process or any scientific process,” Hecht said.

He added that the class will take a project-based learning approach that most classes tend to not offer. Both professors mentioned how students will have a say in which beers they will be learning to make. IPA’s and amber ales will be introduced to students. Sour beers will be excluded because the process of crafting sour beers involves different ingredients beyond regular yeast.

The class will feature brand new state-of-the-art fermentation equipment that is put together to mimic a real brewery. The only difference is that it will be scaled down in size and produce five-gallon batches instead of the 150-gallon or 500-gallon batches of beer that craft breweries produce.

There is also a chance for guest speakers, local brewers and even owners of breweries to come in and talk about how the business works. George Thornton from The Homebrewer came in and helped them out with setting up and familiarized them with the fermentation process. This will be a great opportunity for students who are interested in going into the brewing business. The class will offer a tasting component that both professors call “sip and spit.” Students would sip the beer so they can get an idea of its flavor then spit it back out. Students who are underage will not be able to take part in sip and spit.

“All, or close to all, community colleges are dry,” Hoyt said. “The fact that we got the sip and spit, we’re pretty happy about that because we didn’t even think we were going to get that.”

Both Hecht and Hoyt said they appreciate the school giving them the opportunity to teach this class and for being so supportive. Students should expect a hands-on experience with crafting brews and understand why certain beers taste the way they do.

“Don’t join if you just want to keep drinking Bud Light Or Miller Light,” Hecht said. “We’ll just spoil your palate.”