Crafty! Beer-testing lab helps students learn chemistry

A Maine professor is hoping to brew interest in her chemistry class by keeping the topic on beer.

University of Southern Maine professor Lucille Benedict tells the Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/2biPO5C ) it can be challenging to keep students engaged in chemistry, so she started using beer as a testing medium.

Benedict oversees the school’s new Quality Assurance/Quality Control and Research Laboratory. The lab has partnered with the Maine Brewers Guild to provide testing and training for breweries and brewmasters.

Students say the beer-testing lab allows them to use science to solve real-world problems.

Classes for brewers begin in the fall. They focus on how a flawed brewing process can contaminate or ruin beer. Brewers can also send samples to the lab for testing.

The lab charges $25 for basic testing.