Concise Course in Brewing Technology

Supplementary Course Content Information

Date Created: August 23, 2005

Module # # 3
Title of Module Basic Biochemistry

Question: If esters are a combination of an organic alcohol and an organic acid, shouldn't there be an -OH group
in the chemical formula?
Answer: It is difficult to show chemical formulas in a word document but I will try.
R1-CH2OH (an alcohol) joins with R2- COOH (an organic acid – note that one of the oxygen atoms is actually
double bonded to the carbon atom) and they form R1 CH2OOC-R2 plus H2O. The thing to note is that water has
been liberated from the joining of these 2 compounds and hence the –OH group you were referring to is actually in
the water molecule. Pictorially an ester molecule looks like this:

You should also be aware that in biochemical formulas the use of the capital R refers to some side chain of an
organic molecule.

Question: Page 8 of the biochem video shows a protein chain and a blow up of an amino acid. It says to note the
double bond to the -COOH group but shows a single bond.
Answer: Biochemists use simplified ways to talk about molecules. So when you see the combination “–COOH” ,
one of these 2 oxygen atoms is actually double bonded to the carbon. You will just have to accept this way the
biochemists communicate. I know it is tough. The good news is you do not need to know details about molecular
structure to be a good brewer.

Question: Also, how do the A.A's. bond? In the R- group? I'm not seeing the recurring NCC.
Answer: In my lecture I referred to the polymerization of the amino acids as a nitrogen atom joining to the carbon
atom of another amino acid.

This picture is a deeper explanation of how that “saw-tooth” looking chain of a.a.’s is
joined between the nitrogen atoms and the carbon atoms.

Question: Page 22 of the biochemistry module, talks about lipids as saturated and un-saturated. What does this
mean?
Answer: In organic chemistry, saturation refers to an organic compound having the maximum amount of hydrogen
atoms possible: i.e., no double bonds or when every carbon atom in a hydrocarbon chain is attached to two
hydrogen atoms. Another way to state this is that each carbon atom has associated with it only single bonds and all
are occupied by hydrogen atoms.

A saturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there are no double bonds between the carbon atoms of the fatty acid
chain (hence, it is fully saturated with hydrogen atoms).

As per the notes in the module, fatty acids have both positive and negative qualities in brewing. Oxidation of fatty
acids (i.e., the addition of oxygen atoms) can lead to negative flavour qualities in beer. In general in the step after
kettle boiling, we separate flocculated clumps of coagulated protein and polyphenols from the hot wort and in so
doing also remove a lot of fatty acids at the same time. It is considered good brewing practice to make sure that the
clarity of the wort going intro the fermenter is as clear as possible to minimize flavour deterioration.