Beerpedia
It takes a certain kind of artistry to brew a great beer, to mix and match all the ingredients into one balanced, body and soul pleasing drink. But without the scientific backbone the artistry cannot consistently come through. Brewing is a very precise line of work that requires a scientific approach. Knowledge, skill and experience are all traits of a great brewer. The process itself includes heavy preparation, great work ethic and constant control at every stage. Military-like discipline is required in the brewhouse or otherwise things can easily all go wrong.
Anybody can make a great beer. Once. But in order to consistently brew great beer constant observation and studying is required. This is where brewing science plays a key role. Each stage of the process, from recipe creation, ingredient selection, all the way to the bottling line has to be carefully studied. Measurement and notes are brewers best friends. They remind him what worked well and what can be improved the next time. This kind of experience is backed by knowledge about how exactly different ingredients complement each other and what does it take to bring the beer to the desired level.
As mentioned before, brewing process requires discipline at every single stage. If the mashing temperature is too low or too high it will affect the body of the beer. If the aroma hops are thrown in too early we will get a bitter and less aromatic beer. And so on. Each step exists for a specific reason. Each misstep affects the end product. Scientific methods ensure that the brewing outcome is predictable. Speaking from our own experience this is how we get to serve a great Staropramen beer year after year, decade after decade.
The best thing about brewing science is that it keeps constantly evolving. In example recent studies about late hopping additions to the boil turned out to challenge some common knowledge about its effects on beer bitterness. Yeast is probably the most observed and most mysterious ingredient. Water treatment could not exist without scientific studies and improvements.
Nowadays we live in an era of highly accessible knowledge about all walks of life. Brewing is no different. Thanks to the ever-evolving brewing science it is safe to say that at this point in human history, we are probably drinking the best beer of all time.
