VSAR302 Corey Esoldi
Dorothy Chance
My topic of passion is about brewing and beer. I have recently become a home brewer and have really gained an interest in the science and the culture behind the beer. I find it fascinating that such a wide flavor profile can come from such a few list of ingredients. The main ingredients in beer are water, grain, yeast and hops. Yet beer with those 4 ingredients can vary, you can get fruity flavor all the way to sour flavors, even smoky and chocolate flavors. Learning how to home brew really peaked my interest in this process. I am also going to look into the beer culture, more specifically the craft beer movement.
Home brewing is the process of buying the ingredients and equipment and brewing beer at home. It is a pretty simple process with pretty simple ingredients. From the simple process can come really big and different results. The equipment to start home brewing is very minimal but can get expensive and extensive as your skill level increases. The basics of the process are to mash the grains, which is the process of steeping the grain at a certain temp for a extended period of time, then boiling the wort – the liquid produced from mashing-. Once the wort is boiling you add the hops and any other adjuncts. Then you need to cool the wort once it has boiled for at least 60 minutes. Once it is cooled to around 80, transfer into the fermenter and add the yeast. Then you wait for a set period of time depending on the yeast and on the style of beer that you are brewing. The idea of home brewing always intrigued me. I had a kit bought for me that’s what really got me started and I have really taken off with doing this hobby.
I am also intrigued about the craft beer movement. The difference between craft brewing and big beer brewing in the world of beer drinkers is becoming further and further apart. I want explore how each market and portray their beer to current markets. With craft beer I want to see how the labels and bottles and imagery they use differs from big beers like Bud, Coors, and Miller. The way a company like Stone Brewery uses Gargoyles or puts its self out their unabashed by what their beer is intrigues me. Stone openly says that they aren’t for everyone and doesn’t produce a beer that is “commercial”. I want to research into what is “commercial” and what is appealing and why it is appealing. The craft beer movement is very prevalent in Southern California but isn’t in other places in America. I want to look into why is that, why is it so prevalent in San Diego but not in other cities. What makes San Diego different? The idea of appealing to the public as a whole or appealing to a limited market also is a big thing that goes on in craft brewing. The culture of craft brewing is also something that really excites me. I feel like I am in the current craft culture that is growing in San Diego. The idea of culture is something I would not usually attach to an item like beer, but I think that craft beer has created a culture. I want to explore what the culture is, what it looks like, what it feels like, how those inside and outside of it react and live with it, and the people who are moving the culture. The way the culture exists in society both in San Diego and other places is something I will look into as well.
