After the intensity of the course on the first day, I began to feel a bit nervous about how difficult this program would be. It was very reassuring to get to the morning review of the previous day and find that I could in fact answer the questions poised by the professor. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of information that I had been able to retain from the previous day's cram session. After a one hour review, we jumped right in with day two. Topics include: Steeping, Germinating, Biochemisty of Malting (Wishing I had paid more attention in college), and Kilning.
The lecture followed the same pattern as the day before. Right when I felt comfortable with the ease of the subject, our professor ramped up the difficulty... This time I was prepared for it though (It's not like we could talk about barley sitting in water for 2 straight hours without encountering some more advanced science). We discussed the different types of vessels used for steeping, the metabolic processes that occur during steeping barley, the Citric Acid Cycle, the effects of temperature/time on water uptake and germination, and about 4 hours worth of lecture on enzymes (alpha-amylase, beta-amylase, and beta limit dextrinase) and how they break down starches into sugars.
8 hours of studying later and it was time for bed. 6 hours later, we were ready to wake up and go back to class.
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