Office Hours: The science of beer is on tap at UTA
Dylan Parks is an associate professor of instruction in the Biology Department and he leads UTA’s Brewing and Fermentation Science certificate program. Dr. Parks specializes in microbiology, and with Oktoberfest approaching, he offers his insights into beer-making.
Question: If you’re at an Oktoberfest celebration and order a beer, what should you taste or look for to know it was made well?
Parks: It depends on the kind of Oktoberfest. Now, the traditional Oktoberfest, which you’re going to see more of—the American Oktoberfest—is the Märzen-style beer, which is going to be darker in color, amber, copperish colors, and they’re going to have a bit more body and be a little bit sweeter than the newer fest beers.
So, if you’re having this American Oktoberfest, you want something that will taste a bit like toasted grain, biscuity, sometimes some caramel notes. Now, it shouldn’t be overly bitter, and it shouldn’t be overly sweet either. It should really come down to a crisp, clean finish and make you want more.
Question: You worked at Lakewood Brewing before leading UTA’s Brewing and Fermentation Science program. What made you want to take your brewery experience into the classroom?
Parks: It’s a lot more than just making beer. The science of fermentation can extend all the way past—not even food sciences, which it’s obviously relevant in a lot of foods that we have every day—but fermentation has ties to biofuels and medicine. And so, students that do have an interest in anything science-related probably can find something interesting about beer-making, fermentation and its relativity.
Question: What’s something about the brewing process that surprises people once they see it up close in a lab?
Parks: Oh, it’s—for me, it’s the science behind it that gets everybody. That’s what got me to fall in love with beer-making, was the fermentation process—that this is this biologically dynamic, intensive process that has so many working parts and variables that can change at any given moment.
So, if you’re following a regular recipe to make a cake, it can be pretty straightforward. That’s different than with beer because you have so many changes in the starting ingredients or varieties that can affect that overall outcome.
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Throughout the whole process, you’re constantly checking variables, taking temperatures, you know, making measurements, and each slight change in this can affect the overall product so greatly. And it’s just fantastic to see how a change in one degree or two can completely make a beer taste different.
Question: What do students learn in UTA’s Brewing and Fermentation Science certificate program?
Parks: So, in the UTA Brewing and Fermentation Science certificate program, students learn brewing start to finish, and they start with the history, too, because history is a big part of it. So, this is not just for someone who wants to be an expert in beer. This is for learners of all levels. Even if you are new to anything beer or you are experienced and you want to touch up some of your knowledge, you can start here.
And it teaches the basic sciences at first—not only the process of brewing, but those sciences that you need to understand what is actually happening in that process. So, they start out by learning the fundamentals, and as you advance through the program and the subsequent courses, you learn a bit more of the advanced topics, like fermentation science and why it’s important to properly handle and use the correct amount of yeast.
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And so, as they progress through each of these more advanced courses, they have the opportunity to work firsthand at our partner facilities to either shadow a professional or do something themselves.
Question: Can you tell us what’s next for brewing and fermentation science at UTA?
Parks: So, we have something really cool happening at UTA. The Life Sciences Building is currently being renovated, and as part of this renovation process, we are building a fermentation lab on the first floor.
Essentially, this is a microbrewery. We have a custom-built five-barrel system and associated vessels, and then a smaller one-barrel system that will be installed. Now, this is going to be a part of the brewing program certificate, but this will also bring students into the classroom, and the goal is to help undergraduate students learn a bit more about fermentation and the beer-making process.
There’s also opportunities here for master’s students to develop theses about things like brewing efficiency or maybe novel strains of yeast, research and development, quality control, quality assurance and even collaboration with other UTA departments.
About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)
The University of Texas at Arlington is a growing public research university in the heart of Dallas-Fort Worth. With a student body of over 42,700, UTA is the second-largest institution in the University of Texas System, offering more than 190 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Recognized as a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA stands among the nation’s top 5% of institutions for research activity. UTA and its 300,000 alumni generate an annual economic impact of $28.8 billion for the state. The University has received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and has earned recognition for its focus on student access and success, considered key drivers to economic growth and social progress for North Texas and beyond.