(U-WIRE) MISSOULA, Mont. – You don’t need an extensive background in chemistry to make an oatmeal raisin stout beer. Like peeling the layers from an onion, there is a process to brewing beer, but anyone can do it.

When Nick Madaffer, a University of Montana senior studying biochemistry, tasted his first homebrewed beer he knew he wanted to try making some himself.

“I’m a freakin’ chemist. I should be able to make good beer as well,” he said.

Madaffer is also the president of UM’s Chemistry Club, which is sponsoring a lecture Thursday night on brewing chemistry by Matt Long, the brewmaster of Big Sky Brewing Co. The lecture is at 7 p.m. in Room 131 at the Science Complex.

As brewmaster, Long oversees the packaging and processing of the beer the company makes. Checking beer for quality control and quality assurance is a large part of his job, he said. On an average workday, the company will brew about 5,735 gallons of beer, he said. This beer is then sold in 13 states.

“It’s not all fun and games and drinking beer all day,” he said.

Long’s lecture will cover Big Sky’s brewing process, which he said could be applied to home-brewing. He’ll also go through what he calls “Beer Chemistry 101,” a primer for chemistry students, faculty and laypeople on the chemical processes involved in making beer. “A science background helps to know the process,” he said. “You can understand more what’s going on. It (also) helps with troubleshooting problems.”

Anyone who enjoys cooking would probably make a good home brewer, Long said.

Water, yeast, barley extract and hops are the main ingredients used in brewing beer, Madaffer said.

The yeast used for brewing determines the flavor of the beer, he said. Choosing a particular type of yeast can mean the difference between the taste of a commercial beer and the taste of a historic brew.

Yeast uses the barley extract as food, which in turn produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. After this, hops are added to the mix, giving the beer a floral character and much of its flavor, he said.

Coriander, orange peels, pepper and just about anything else can also be used as flavoring agents, he said.

“You can never brew a beer that will kill you,” he said. “The worst thing that can happen to beer is that it’ll taste bad.”

Also required is a sanitizer, he said. Sanitizing agents include steam, alkaline disinfectants or acid disinfectants. The sanitizer helps the yeast grow and rids the beer of bacteria that produces a bad-tasting brew.

“Beer is great because you can brew it and two weeks later you can drink it,” he said. Fermentation time using high-quality yeast takes about four to five days. Carbonation occurs sometime after the seventh day of fermentation. The desired taste of the beer depends on the amount of time you let it sit, he said.

It’s cheaper to take the more difficult route of brewing your own beer, Madaffer said.

He had to buy a few giant jugs, a stainless steel boiling pot, a sanitizer and some high-quality yeast to brew his first batches.

Although he had to spend some money for the equipment, it paid off in the end, he said. Last Saturday he brewed five gallons of choice beer for only $23.

“Anybody can do it,” he said. “Anybody.”

Beer kits can provide you with the tools to instantly brew beer, but they can be expensive, he said. According to the HopTech Homebrewing Supplies Web site, a home-brewing kit costs around $92.

There are three types of brews – extract brew, partial mash and all-grain brews, he said. Extract brew uses an all-barley extract, while partial mash uses a mixture of one-half barley extract and one-half whole grains, such as corn, wheat, oats or rice. All-grain homebrew uses only whole grains.

“Taste is all a part of it,” he said. “(There’s) gratification because you made it yourself. I’m very picky, and I like to make things the way I like to make them. You can tweak it.”

The hardest thing is making a good beer, he said. His background in chemistry has helped; he’s able to vary the type and amount of hops in order to get the best possible beer.

“Chemistry helps to try to prevent off-flavors from getting in beer,” said Christopher Palmer, a UM professor of physical and analytical chemistry. “Knowing some of the compounds helps with taste. But a degree is not required to be able to brew beer.”

Desperate for a good beer, living in New Mexico as a professor in the 1990s with no nearby microbreweries, Palmer decided to brew his own.

Due to his busy teaching schedule, he hasn’t been able to brew for a year. When he does brew, it’s in his basement where the temperature is constant and cool. In the past, he’s brewed stouts, India pale and Christmas ale.

When you brew your own beer, you gain knowledge of the chemistry involved in the process, and you make beer that you can’t get anywhere else in town, he said.

For those who want a familiar flavor, Long said that people can brew their own homemade batches of his company’s popular beer, Moose Drool, and said such practices don’t hurt the company. The company also gives out packages of their yeast to people for use in their homebrews.

Home brewing in Missoula, Mont., hasn’t been as strong as it was in past years, he said. New people aren’t getting into it. Compared to previous years, fewer people are coming to the brewery to pick up yeast, he said.

“(There’s) no reason why people shouldn’t be able to do it,” he said. “It can give you more beer knowledge – a good thing.”

All types of people brew their own beer, he said. Long knows of two garbage men from BFI who get yeast from Big Sky to make their own homebrews.

“If you wanna save money and make something that tastes good, it’s the way to go,” he said. Even though home brewing isn’t on the rise in Missoula, Long noticed an increase in brewing and fermentation education around the United States. He cited brewing education programs at the University of California at Davis and Oregon State University as evidence.

As a microbiology student at UM, Long found he was the only person who wanted to make beer as a living. His previous brewery experience and his degree have helped him with his job, he said.

After working in a brewing company in California, he started working at Big Sky Brewing in 1996.

Although he doesn’t currently make homebrews, he’s made them in the past. He learned tips from a copy of The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, by Charlie Papazian, given to him by his wife.

The same book helped Madaffer begin home brewing when he received it from a friend last August.

He’s been brewing ever since and said it doesn’t really matter where you brew, as long as it’s clean, quiet and shielded from the sun.

“Anytime is beer time!” he said.

Meanwhile, Jack Minnich, a junior in forestry, first started brewing while he attended Appalachian State University when a friend introduced him to it.

“Personally (it’s) a lot of fun,” he said. “You get to think, ‘What do I want to brew?'”

The self-sufficiency and entertainment value of brewing beer is what turned him on to it. He tries to brew beer once a week with a friend. Currently, he has a cream ale brewed and he’s thinking of doing an oatmeal stout, he said.

Palmer said he likes home-brewed beer that’s been aged for more than two weeks because it tastes better to him.