Could I make your beer?
November 17, 2008 10:15 PM   Subscribe

What are breweries looking for in prospective employees? Alternately: What types of careers are available in brewing, and what makes one qualified for those jobs? Any relevant info helpful.

I've seen this, and this. I'm not particularly interested in starting my own company or homebrewer, more along the lines of a job at a regional brewery. I have no delusions about this being a job where all one does is drink beer. This is mostly an exploratory question. So:

What types of jobs do people have there?

What makes them qualified for those jobs, and how can I attain those qualifications?

Should this have been "food & drink" or "work & money"?

Thanks, Mefites.
posted by paisley henosis to Work & Money (13 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Brewing school seems relevant, no? I suppose those those might merely train brewer plus bartenders for local brewery restaurants, not necessarily the regional micro breweries. You can bet Sam Adams employs people with chemistry, chemical engineering, etc. degrees too.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:20 PM on November 17, 2008


I didn't notice so many Brewing schools were in the U.K. & Germany, some are probably farily serious.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:21 PM on November 17, 2008


Chem, biochem, microbio, process or chemical engineering would all be good.
posted by Good Brain at 11:26 PM on November 17, 2008


UC Davis has a fermentation science program.

Otherwise, Chemistry, Biology, microbiology or engineering.

I have worked in brewing for 12 years. I have a chemical engineering degree. It is nice for the problem solving/ quick thinking aspect of my job.

I work for a large brewer which may not be what you are interested in.
posted by beachhead2 at 3:37 AM on November 18, 2008


Just as a data point, the oldest brewery in the world is associated with a brewing college and is worth at least a pilgrimage.
posted by Jode at 4:39 AM on November 18, 2008


Best answer: My partners and I run a micro in the UK. I have a degree in chemical engineering and an MBA, both of which, as beachhead2 says, come in handy when it comes to running the business.

Our head brewer has no qualifications in brewing. He studied with the previous owner for six months and has been brewing for two years on the back of that experience. He is a capable and competent brewer in charge of his craft.

Depending on the type of job you are looking for, I would not say that a specific qualification is necessary, though the knowledge can come in handy. A lot of smaller breweries might be perfectly willing to have you come in as a sort of intern and learn by doing. If you're interested in the trade, this is a good way to show it. Being there and showing your value to the brewery would be a good way to get hired on.

A lot of brewing is about doing. It can be pretty hard graft. It can also be a bit like following a recipe. And within a specific brewery setting you will find that they have their way of doing things that you need to master.

I would estimate that for as much operational time as we spend brewing we spend about 250% more in handling all of the other tasks - sanitation, racking (kegging), bottling. It doesn't take a specialised degree to shovel out the mash tun. It might help to understand mash chemistry, but that isn't essential to following a recipe. I agree that a solid process understanding is useful to thinking on your feet when something unexpected happens.

In the UK, we have an organisation called Brewlab that offers many levels of training, from introduction to vocational qualifications. The more you know, the better brewer you will be, but you could start small and work your way up.

What you will learn by seeking training is how other people do things and how to think more laterally. But you would also learn a lot by shadowing a working brewer and earning your wings through practical experience. I suppose in that regard, beermaking is like being a chef. You can go to cooking school, or you can start as a plongeur and work your way up through the ranks. Both are an acceptable route to being a successful brewer.
posted by sagwalla at 5:30 AM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite]


I have a friend that is brews for a micro brewery. He started about 12 years by volunteering at a local micro, sweeping floors or whatever they needed on the weekends so that he could hang around and absorb knowledge. He also home brewed quite a bit. Then he went to the Siebel School of Brewing in Chicago and parlayed the experience plus education into a carerr brewing beer.
posted by COD at 5:47 AM on November 18, 2008


I worked in a very small, very succesful microbrewery in NY for a short time. In my experience they were looking for people able to get in hot tanks of mash and shovel it before it cooled, get inside tanks and clean them thoroughly, and drive a van with kegs in it. I don't know that much about it, but that's what I did.
posted by sully75 at 6:08 AM on November 18, 2008


Response by poster: Every single one of these answers was helpful, and all done while I slept! Marking every answer as "best" seems silly, so I didn't, but any one of them could have been. Thank you all.
posted by paisley henosis at 7:46 AM on November 18, 2008


I remember three different answers to your question on this Science Friday podcast. A brewing school instructor says go to brewing school, the microbrewer says work hard at the drudge work and be good at keeping things clean, and the yeast researching biochemist from Miller says there's always room in the industry for chemists, biochemists and microbiologists. Which is essentially what everyone has said here already.
posted by peeedro at 9:51 AM on November 18, 2008


I worked as a brewer about 13 years ago, for a small brewery (~17K bbl/yr) in the SF Bay Area. I got the job mostly because I was in the right place at the right time, but almost everyone else I worked with had been through the American Brewers Guild apprenticeship program. It's affiliated with UC Davis and is taught by some of the folks in the fermentation science program, but involves a LOT of hands-on stuff as well as theoretical classroom work.

The secondary reason that I was hired is that I am a chemist by training, which came in handy when I was asked to take over their QA/QC program, which was extremely rudimentary. (For example, I introduced them to the wonders of statistics. Before this point they had simply been accumulating data, and pointing to individual datapoints as "proof" of whatever theory was in vogue in the executive office at the moment.) So if you have scientific training or work experience, that's a good thing to play up when you're applying.

I've been out of the field for a long time now, but unfortunately the last time I checked some places (Anchor comes to mind) still had so many applicants that you had to volunteer like COD's friend for ~6 months before they would take you on, even part-time. It took a couple of years of showing up to get a full-time job. Hopefully the market isn't as saturated with would-be brewers like it was in 1995, at the height of the "microbrew" boom.
posted by harkin banks at 1:02 PM on November 18, 2008


Are there any beer brewing chains (like Rock Bottom) in your area? These tend to lack the prestige of other micro/craft breweries and consequently it can be easier to get a job there. You'd learn the basics of brewing and would possibly get the opportunity to show some creativity in creating your own beers from time to time.
posted by turbodog at 12:54 PM on November 19, 2008


Response by poster: Just to update anyone who may still be interested:

There are no chain breweries or brew pubs within a reasonable distance. I am willing to relocate in search of them, and have plans to relocate for other reasons, so hopefully that will change, but for the time being, that is the situation.

There is, however, a local homebrew supply/brew-on-premise shop, and on a visit there to find more information, I met a guy around my age who had the same idea I did, only sooner, and is currently volunteering part time at a brew pub a good distance away to get experience, while he works to save up money for brewing school. He basically gave the same advice that many of you did.

I picked up the book The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, by Charles Papazian, which is supposed to be a great primer on learning about the entirety of brewing. I also picked up The Brewmaster's Table by Garrett Oliver, for a wider overview, to learn more about beer in general.

Thanks again to everyone for their input, I really appreciated it all.
posted by paisley henosis at 3:42 PM on November 29, 2008


« Older Who are the Iron Chefs of Los Angeles?   |   Looking for a picture of a man balancing on a the... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.