Beer . . . At School?
It started as a joke. In June 2013, at the end of school party at Istituto Maria Immacolata (an Italian Catholic school in Gorgonzola, near Milan, Italy) I said to a teacher, “I see that here beer is sold to kids over 18 (the legal drinking age), why don’t you make some as a science project for next year’s party?”
I had been bitten years ago by the homebrewing bug, but I was certainly surprised when, a few days later, I was attending a meeting to evaluate the feasibility of that very idea. A brief discussion confirmed that there are several topics, taught in the fourth year of high school, that could tie in with beer: Science, biology, physics, economy, marketing, medicine and history, just to name a few.
The principal too was in favor of the initiative and at the beginning of the following year the project, christened “Beer: From biochemistry to responsible consumption,” was officially included in the teaching program and I was drafted to help teach it.
The kids were divided into four groups and, in the month of January, sat through two lectures on how beer is made, its main ingredients, the different styles, the equipment needed, etc. After that, each group was left to decide which style of beer they wanted to brew.
Getting the beer ready by a given date (the end of school party) was first of all an exercise in project management. All activities had to be planned, taking into account constraints such as the time for fermentation and maturation, the need to obtain supplies and equipment and the availability of the lab. Budget had to be considered too.
Two groups decided to play it safe and went for an extract-based Australian pale ale and a wheat with cane sugar. The others were more willing to take chances and opted for an orange flavored weiss and a tropical fruit Pilsner.
The planning phase went without major issues and in March the groups assembled for the first time in the
lab to actually make the beer. The fermentation was completed with only a few, “It stopped bubbling, what do I do?” calls and the second lab session was dedicated to kegging and bottling. The teachers decided to get involved too and made their own beers: A New Zealand bitter and a lychee Pilsner.
While the kegs and 300 bottles were safely resting in the school cellars, heated discussions took place on the names, the labels (prepared during art hours), and the price. The names were chosen from mythology: (Jupiter, Ambrosia, Pluto, Cupid, Ceres and Diana) and the bottles (after a brief “market survey”) were priced between 2–3 Euros ($2.60–$4).
The program ended with a lecture given by a physician (also me) on the acute and chronic effects of alcohol consumption by teenagers.
All the bottles were sold and the kegs emptied at the party. The brews were more than drinkable. It must be said, however, that everybody was a bit too liberal with fermentables because all of the beers were between 6 and 8% ABV, a thing that probably made the party itself a bit livelier.
From the “financial” point of view, all expenses were covered, including the purchase of the four fermenters, which will be available for future projects. The small profit the class made will finance other school initiatives.
We know some people may question the appropriateness of such a project when they see “beer” and “school” in the same sentence. Every-thing else aside, however, if this initiative helped teenagers to become more responsible and informed consumers; we will consider it a big success.
