From the Lab Bench – A Blog

Buttered movie theatre popcorn displayed next to the chemical compound for 2,3-butanedione, aka diacetyl

Diacetyl

Brew Better Beer by Busting Butter Bombs! Ever tasted butter in your IPA? Unless you’re drinking a butterbeer from Hogsmeade, it’s not exactly a pleasant flavor to detect in your…

Yeast 101

The Four Elements: Yeast The beer… it’s ALIVE! Toiling away in a brewery nearby, mysterious, cryptic creatures are working hard at one of the greatest jobs on earth: making beer….

Hop flowers

Hops 101

The Four Elements: Hops All about the star of the IPA show! Picture this: you’re sitting at your favorite brewery with a friend drinking a beer after work. You’ve got…

Water 101

The Four Elements: Water How to use the power of water chemistry to level up your next brew! Water, malt, hops, and yeast. Together, the four elements combine and make…

Malt 101

The Four Elements: Malt The chemistry trick that makes beer possible! Have you ever wondered where the alcohol in beer comes from? It doesn’t just appear during the brewing process—it…

What Ferments?

What is fermentation? I’m going to keep it simple for you. Fermentation is when microorganisms “eat” sugars and produce byproducts. (Nerdy definition below.) These microorganisms could be yeast, bacteria, mold,…

The Brewing Process

How the four elements come together and make music in your pint glass! By Stephen Moxley The world of beer is a wide one. As one of humanity’s oldest beverages,…

hip flask vs Erlenmeyer flask vs round-bottom flask vs volumetric flask

Flask Faceoff

What is the first image that comes to mind when I say, “grab a flask”? Is it full of booze? Is it labware? Is it labware full of booze? 😏 …