2025 AIChE Annual Meeting

Developing a Brewing Elective with a Focus on Product Analysis

Brewing is a well-known chemical engineering process that allows for the reinforcement of various concepts in chemical engineering. Through the use of an interactive spreadsheet designed to assist with recipe formulation, concepts regarding mass transfer, reaction kinetics, and separations are related to each step of the brewing process. Students will develop and brew their own recipes, and analyze them to check spreadsheet model correlation, quantify off-flavors, and inform operating variable adjustment. Diacetyl concentrations can currently be quantified using HPLC, and pending budget approval, sulfide, acetaldehyde, bitterness, and sugar composition can be quantified using GC and spectrophotometry. This emphasis on recipe formulation, analysis, and iteration provides a unique opportunity to teach analytical techniques while reinforcing class concepts such as transport phenomena, controls, and reactor kinetics.