USF Sarasota-Manatee partners with Brazilian university to brew better beer
Joe Askren, a professor in the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, is bringing a virtual global exchange to his popular "Introduction to Beer Science" course.
Askren has partnered with Priscila Veiga dos Santos, a professor of food science at the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil. The course introduces students to the science of beer, the brewing process, and food and brew pub operations.
“This is the first time we’ve ever collaborated with another university,” said Askren, who has been teaching the course since 2014. “The class is lecture-based the first four weeks. Then we make two all-grain beers from scratch in our brewing lab on the Sarasota-Manatee campus. Thanks to the support from donors, we’ve been able to acquire some impressive home brewing equipment for our lab sessions.”
Askren’s students collaborated Veiga dos Santos’ "Industrial Fermentation Processes" class via Padlet, a real-time web platform in which users can upload, organize and share content to virtual bulletin boards. The Brazilian students served as consultants, providing recommendations for how to modify and enhance the USF students’ recipes and produce a more robust final product.
“They have way more knowledge on these processes than I do,” said Pedro Abdo Breviglieri Nader, a fourth-year student in Askren’s course. “It was very interesting to see how deep you can go in the subject.”
After the beer is brewed, Askren teaches the students about conditioning, carbonating, packing and marketing. The class then tours breweries in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota. The students’ final projects take various forms, from studies of beer trends to research on the third-party distribution system.
“You have these students who come in, they know nothing about brewing, and some of them are excited, some of them are a little intimidated but want to learn about it. A couple of them don’t even really like beer,” Askren said. “And it’s funny — by the end of the semester, some of those students are ordering equipment on Amazon. They really get into it.”
In an effort to meet student demand, course capacity will double from 20 to 40 seats in the spring. Askren also plans to open it up to students under the age of 21.
Askren teaches a variety of food and beverage courses, including "Restaurant Management" and "International Food & Culture." For more information, visit usf.edu/business/schools/hospitality-tourism-management.
Submitted by Danielle McCourt
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 'Beer Science' at USF Sarasota-Manatee unites with Brazilian students
