On a rainy Friday morning in November a trio of undergraduate student teams gathered in the Knight Campus Brewing Innovation Lab for their first brewing session. Students arrived in waves to make efficient use of the new Fermentation Innovation Lab, an interactive setting to explore science, design, history, innovation and communication through the lens of brewing and beer.

"I've been having lots of fun. I think the hands-on learning is really cool," said Kieran Galvin, an economics major enrolled in the first cohort of the program. "A lot of things I do as an econ major are theoretical. Having the opportunity to be in a lab and work is really cool, it's a good mixup."

Galvin's team was focused on brewing an American pale ale. Another team tackled a stout and the third took on a Belgian farmhouse ale. 

To determine what kinds of beer to make, students in a previous session of the class conducted "mini mash" tastings in which they steeped brewing grains in warm water. Absent of any fermentation and the addition of any hops, the mashes provided a general sense of each brew's eventual flavor profile.

"We all loved the Belgian beer the most," said Hailey Sandler, a member of Team Saison and a business major specializing in operations analytics. "I'm from Wisconsin and beer is such a huge part of the culture there. It's been really cool to learn a lot more about it and get an in depth look at what's behind the beer you're being served." 

For Sandler and most students in the cohort, it was their first time making beer, and the brewing innovation team guided them through the process — reminding them to pay attention to temperature trends, keep the brewing area clean and providing expertise on everything from avoiding "channeling" when pouring water over grains to overcoming brewing mishaps. 

"When things go wrong, it's best to remain calm and just solve the problem," said Jim Hutchison, senior associate vice president at the Knight Campus and the co-founder of the Brewing Innovation program. "Charlie Papazian, the godfather of homebrewing, had this phrase, 'Relax, don't worry, have a homebrew.'" 

For more information on the beers brewed during BRIN's first session, visit the Brews page.