Georgia Gwinnett College offering new fermentation program

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - Some students at a local college are learning about the science behind beer and wine. It's part of Georgia Gwinnett College's new fermentation program.

"We're very excited that we have started this fermentation program this semester. When you think about fermentation, oftentimes you think of beer and wine, but fermentation goes beyond that," Assistant Professor Misael Romero-Reyes said.

Romero-Reyes is one of the professors teaching the new fermentation classes at Georgia Gwinnett College. It's a first-of-its-kind bachelor-level program in Georgia and one of just a few in the nation. But the course offers a lot more than just bubbly and brew.

He said fermentation impacts many aspects of day-to-day life.

"Think about the breakfast that you had, for example, bread and butter, all of that has fermentation. The bread has a fermentation process, the butter also has a fermentation process," he said.

There's a beer and wine component that's part of the classes.

"The students are going to be able to make their own beer, and they're going to be able to taste it," he explained.

Students have to be 21 and older for that part of the classes, but other aspects will have wide-reaching impacts as well.

"They can also be in industries they might not even think of - like, for example, cosmetology or research or so many different fields where whatever you see, it's going to be fermentation," Romero-Reyes explained.

Grayson Watts is one of the first students to take the classes. He says he was interested because of his family business.

"My family are beekeepers, so we have made honey for a while, and my dad has always wanted to make mead, which is a fermented honey wine," Watts said.

He says the classes are also helping him with his new job in quality assurance.

The college offers a certification program, which is a two-year program anyone can enroll in if they have the qualifications. They are also offering a fermentation concentration for students enrolled in a chemistry bachelor's degree.

The courseload offers a thorough understanding of all aspects of fermentation.

"So we start with talking about the foundations of fermentation and kind of like how to analyze and do safety around fermented products and things like that, and then we go into advanced fermentation how to do the processes and how they can go into the industries and the products, how they can make it better, how they can make it taste better. We go from a holistic view of going through the basics until they can do it all by themselves," the professor said.

The professors behind the classes say they could help students who are interested in breweries or wineries, and they plan to introduce some business classes as well. They also could open doors in research or other pathways.