Fermentable Solutions

A bit about me...

I'm a fermentation chemist, writer, and educator exploring how microbes, materials, and meaning shape what we enjoy and why it matters. My work spans brewing science, food safety, cultural history, and creative nonfiction, connecting and educating on tattoo ritual, global fermentation tradition, water science, quality systems, and the social life of alcohol. I translate complex science into accessible insights, blending technical expertise with research. My goal is for readers to walk away with their world opened, assumptions challenged, and a curiosity to see how they connect deeper to the macro and micro world.

I have multiple projects in progress, and I look forward to sharing them with you!

Published Articles

Check out what I have been working on!

Hatchets and Hooch: Women Who Fought For and Against Prohibition

Prohibition is far more nuanced than history has made out. Learn more in this PRINT zine filled with other stories of fermentation!

Letters to a Pre-Scientist: How Mentorship by Mail Is Rewriting STEM Belonging

Middle school is a very identity forming time. Students are trying to answer the questions ‘Who can I be?’ and ‘Where do I fit? In classrooms across the country, simple envelopes from Letters to a Prescientist are meeting these questions head on, and yet, these envelopes contain something so much more meaningful than concrete answers.

Women Scientists Shape the Rules of Social Media

We no longer confine science communication to journals, conferences, or press releases. Increasingly, we offer it in sixty-second videos, comment threads, livestreams, and visual explainers. Many audiences, especially younger ones, now first encounter scientific discovery on
social media platforms, where it can positively shape their understanding. In this article, learn about some of the women shaping science communication on the platforms we use everyday.

Choosing Your AI Companion for Your Beverage Business

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are no longer a novelty for creating images of god-like brewers or a punchline to a poor marketing attempt, but are being integrated into operations workflows and beyond. From recipe drafting and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) cleanup to tank scheduling and Cost of Goods (COGS) modeling, chat-based AI systems can reduce hours of structured thinking to minutes, saving time and money. However, the key question for beverage producers isn’t whether to use AI, but which tool fits the operation and goals.

So, what are the AI chatbots out there, and how can they practically support the beverage industry?

Navigating Excess Brewing Equipment in an Industry Downturn

In a market of used equipment, what should you be looking for? Unlike previous downturns, much of today’s surplus equipment is relatively modern. Less than a decade old and built to contemporary hygiene and safety standards, these units offer buyers more options across sizes and configurations. With the rapid pace of closures and liquidations, secondhand equipment is available immediately for installation and use, avoiding months-long fabrication timelines.

Filtration Media: How it impacts labor, waste, and throughput

The composition of the beer entering the filter, in particular yeast, proteins, polyphenols, and hop material, can strongly influence filtration resistance and cycle length. In research on barley and beer composition, proteins and polyphenols contribute to haze formation and beer stability, demonstrating how upstream raw material composition ultimately affects downstream clarification performance.

Given this context, for production managers, the operational question is straightforward: Which filtration media actually minimize operational cost once labor, waste, and throughput are considered?

Ink & Drink: Uncovering the Historical Bonds of Tattoos and Fermentation Across Cultures

Tattoos and fermentation rarely appear in the same conversation, yet across the world, they share a quiet kinship. Both are practices of transformation, crafts that reshape raw material over time through care and relationships to the land, the spiritual, and the community. Tattooing inscribes identity and ancestry onto skin, while fermentation preserves, nourishes, and binds communities through shared taste and ritual. Both create change, brewing something more than themselves through embodied knowledge passed between generations.

Sustainability or Survival? When wastewater projects actually pay for themselves

Wastewater investments are no longer evaluated primarily as environmental gestures. The strategic question has become whether a given project delivers measurable return on investment (ROI) and protects long-term operational viability. Learn more about how to create a wastewater program that is more sustainable in this article.

Gender Inclusive Workspace

The industry continues to evolve with
individuals of varying backgrounds, identities, and more, so it has become a moral imperative and strategic business move to develop strategies to create a gender-inclusive workplace. This article includes actionable insights to help breweries build a gender-inclusive workplace with policy improvements, environment changes, education initiatives, and
opportunities for progress.

The Sanitation Jedi: What Star Wars Can Teach Us About Clean Fermentation

In thinking of sanitation as an underlying “Force,” the brewery becomes a Star Wars adventure. Not because everything in a brewery needs a lightsaber comparison, but because the concept of a binding, invisible influence is accurate. The cleaner and more controlled the environment is, the more confidently a brewer can trust the system. When microbial pressure creeps in, even slightly, the effects ripple everywhere as fermentation pace changes, sensory compounds shift, and consistency starts to wobble.

Woodcut of witches conjuring a shower of rain.

Boil, Bubble, Ale, and Trouble: Mythbusting Witches and Brewing Lore

Pointy hats, a broomstick, and a pyre to patriarchy make for a great story! Still, there is more to this blend of feminist reclamation, historical revisionism, and some really fascinating marketing, because many of these are myths that have been fermented over generations and are flavor-full of misinformation. So let’s dust off the cauldron and cast a spell for truth and transparency!

Oh My God, They Killed Off-Flavors! You Brewers!

A beer is a drinkable story created through understanding opportunities and challenges in bizarre twists and turns like yeast issues, temperature control problems, or cleaning SOPs. Off-flavors are often considered a flaw, but in the right situation, they can be helpful, much like the characters in South Park. They are irreverent, outrageous, and unforgettable. Still, they do drive compelling storylines of growth and improvement, so we are headin’ on up to South Park gonna see if we can’t unwind how to address off-flavors!

Hop Water: Functional Beyond Beer

In pursuit of relevancy in a growing beverage landscape that is focusing more on wellness trends, breweries find themselves looking at options that are accessible while straddling brewing and new opportunities. One product with a foot in both worlds is hop water: a non-alcoholic (NA), calorie-free, hop-infused beverage that utilizes brewing knowledge while targeting the modern consumer preferences.

Why Describing a Beer is Harder Than It Looks (and How Language Shapes Flavor Perception)

Sipping your favorite malty beverage may bring to mind fresh cut grass, perhaps summer campfires, or even band-aids, but maybe this isn’t what the label describes. If reading a beer label can be puzzling or just describing the experience in a pint is a struggle, this is totally normal. Describing a beer can be really difficult, and it isn’t just about vocabulary. Our ability to perceive and articulate flavor is complex, with an interplay of biology, language, and lived experience.

From Fads to Favorites: The Illusion of Trends in Craft Beer

From the dominance of traditional ales and lagers to the momentary spikes in popularity of hoppy IPAs, sours, experimental hybrids, and non-alcoholic options, brewing has always reflected the moment’s cultural, technological, and sensory zeitgeist. Instead of trying to peer into a crystal ball, let’s discuss something that is somewhat more tangible: the psychological trap that brewers, consumers, and industry experts fall into, known as the End of History Illusion.