OK, final assignment is now open. I have 10 days to complete it which seems a lot but I think I’m going to need all of the time, I’m not predicting an early submission for this one.

4 questions all relating to DNA, microbial genetics and manipulation or engineering of yeast cells.

I had hoped for a somewhat more practically relevant topic to sink my teeth into but we are where we are.. and for me it is the only topic in the course that I didn’t study at all.. ah well, so be it.

3 of the questions have a max. word count of 500 and are worth either 10% or 20% of the total mark and the other has a max. count of 1500 and is worth 50% of the mark. The whole assignment makes up 60% of the course total.

I’m still awaiting the result of my 2nd assignment which I’m hoping will be shared soon.. but regardless, IF I can catch up on lost sleep from the past week then I can nail this final assignment.

I’ll need to register for next semester’s course which will be related to filtration and packaging.. I think.

I just received my mark and “feedback” for my first postgraduate assignment and I exceeded my expectations by some way.. 90%

Context: (from assignment mark return announcement) “40% is the pass mark, >60% is good and >70% is excellent.”

I was worried as I’ve never written a science-y report (I got a B in higher physics in 1993 and didn’t study since..) but feeling much less apprehensive now.. though I’m not going to rest on my haunches, it’s going to take considerable effort to achieve anything close to this again.

I was planning to upload my assignments to my website (unless humiliating failures) for anyone interested in the topic so am glad the first one is presentable.

Assignment 2, a poster about koji, done and dusted and shortly to be submitted (5 days early!).. don’t think I’ll be making any plans for a career in graphic design but it’ll do.

I’v just added my Session ID to my contact details at the side of the page. Hovering over the green S logo will display a QR code which can be scanned from within the Session messenger app to add me.

Session is a VERY secure and private end to ended encrypted messenger. Based on signal but without a reliance on ANY personal data, including telephone number. It also doesn’t collect any data!

Session is available for mobile or desktop and more information can be found on their site: https://getsession.org

I may be encouraging those that I convinced to join my xmpp server that this might be a better option..

First assignment of my PgDip course submitted several days early.. taking a day off from studying before I start researching my next assignment.

I need to find time to write up a blog post on my last two brews as well, but not today.. just biding time until the working day finishes and I can pour myself a nicely chilled imperial stout! Tick tock..

Learning about cellular chemistry this week and already (just finished watching lecture video 1 of 2) it is considerably more interesting than the previous section on cellular structure.

Last week was a breakdown of the names and high level functional overview of the component parts of cells from different groups and whilst undoubtedly important, was incredibly difficult to read about whilst trying to maintain even a minimal level of consciousness.

On the flip side, learning about carbohydrates, saccharides, linked carbon chains and rings etc. is actually helping me wake up this morning..

I feel like I may be naturally aligning more to the biochemistry elements of the programme over the microbiology elements.. or at least these elements are making more sense at this early stage.

Day 2 fermentation sounds more active than previous brews, a lot more rapid bubbling in the airlock! I have a good feeling about this, I’m expecting progress with regards to closing in on the elusive Final Gravity target but will it be enough to satisfy my ’exit’ criteria?

Delaying yeast dump 1 until tomorrow, then I’ll get the first glimpse of how it’s going.. fingers crossed that its 1.030 or lower (previous best at end of fermentation is 1.041 with this beer).

Today’s brew was (potentially) my best yet, which in all fairness is what you would expect in an iterative learning process.

I made some adjustments to make some of the processes more efficient but unlike earlier attempts they were a direct result of previous lessons learned.

This brew was perhaps my last before the lessons of my brewing & distilling programme settle in so it was personally important for me to use my previous message experiences and adjust accordingly before the bedrock of understanding the scientific processes was formed.

My original gravity target was 1.083, according to my hydrometer I hit about 1.0823 and my refractometer 1.083.. the latter may require tuning.. but if you’ll permit a slightly emotion fed response ‘ya fuckin dancer’

The big test however is the final gravity, the target is 1.016 and my last 3 brews of this same beer haven’t breached 1.041.. so whilst I’m happy with today’s brew and I did my best to oxygenate the shit out of the wort.. I’ll not be satisfies unless the FG is lower than 1.020

I don’t know what these numbers mean either, other than a measure of sugar to water density.

Another very smooth brew day is approaching the final quarter.. decided on a distinct lautering/sparging process separation today and shortened the latter process considerably.. will have to wait and see if this decision impacts my original gravity figure.

Slowly approaching boil, about an hour ahead of my last brew.. and 3 ahead of the brew previous to that.

Equipment all re-cleaned and re-sanitised in preparation for brew day #7 tomorrow!

If all goes well then I’m hoping this will be the last brew where I use a grain kit and will move on to actual recipes and ordering specific grains, hops & yeast.

The only criteria I have to satisfy is to hit or be very close to my final gravity target.. if I can do that then the brew will have gone well. In order to achieve that I’ll be utilising some kitchen implements (sieve and whisk) to try and increase the oxygenation of the wort before pitching the yeast.

First brew with my wife assisting, should be fun.