Can chemistry make beer taste better?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs, food tech clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 chemistry and food technology.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Ron Quinlan, an analytical chemist at Christopher Newport University. He is analysing the chemistry of beer and beer ingredients to help brewers brew the perfect pint.

• This resource also contains an interview with Ron and offers an insight into careers in analytical chemistry. If your students have questions for Ron, they can send them through the Futurum Careers website.

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Ron’s research and challenges them to conduct their own chromatography experiment to separate out the colours in inks and dyes.

• The accompanying PowerPoint reiterates the key points in the article and encourages students to reflect on their own aspirations.

This resource was first published by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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