A friend of mine was arguing that 'beer brewing has little

>>9196318
There's no depth to cooking either. That's why it doesn't pay well.

>>9196319

this is true only up to the point where you're good enough to get into cooking for entertainment (i.e., fine dining).

people don't go to a nice restaurant because they're hungry; they want to be entertained. it's the same as musician or dancer or any kind of performance art.

that shit pays well.. i make more as a high school dropout with no education than most people i know who went to college.

UMA

>>9196318
Why didn't you just repeat his argument back to him? Beer brewing IS cooking plus fermentation.

There are plenty of complexities to brewing that could make or break your beer. Like: duration of primary fermentation, amount of priming sugar, total attenuation, etc.

>>9196318
You're friend is under the assumption that cooking has depth.

Both are applying heat to ingredients and adding more ingredients at different times to achieve a certain flavor.

Professional beer brewing where consistency is the goal uses a great deal of science. Adjusting the chemistry of the water, for example is critical to achieving certain profiles. It becomes important for the mashing process as well to maximize utilization, and thus, profit. Reusing yeast cultures requires laboratory precision and sterilization to wash and grow the yeast for another batch. Rigid temperature control during all phases of the brewing is extremely important.

Having pointed out a few of the scientific elements to brewing, there is also a great deal of artistry to come up with the different combinations of grains and hops to create an ideal version of a particular style.