Real-Life Decision Making
Brewmasters always have to make decisions on the fly. In the malting process,
they have to decide if barley kernels have sprouted enough and are ready to
be dried. They also have to decide how much sugar to add in for carbonation.
If a batch of beer doesn't taste quite right, they have to decide what to
add or take out of the recipe in order to make the beer taste better.
"Sometimes you will have to decide whether a yeast can be reused in a batch
or whether you are going to have to use new yeast," says Michael Hancock.
You're in your new brewery transferring a batch of ale into a brand new
keg. Previously you've only been using bottles, but now you're using a new
hosing system that will allow you to transfer the ale into the keg. But disaster
strikes -- the equipment you set up to draw the beer into the keg breaks.
You don't have any extra bottles to fill, and so you are stuck with filling
the keg. You find a long hose in your brewery that you're pretty sure is clean.
You use your mouth to suck on the hose to create a siphon, stick one end in
the primary and the other end in the keg. The beer starts to trickle into
the keg.
Your assistant walks through the door with a new case of bottles. You could
either throw away the beer that's already been siphoned and use these new
bottles, or continue with your siphoning method. What are you going to do?