Gone Pro. Kind of.

I was just offered my first brewery job. I will be working in the production brewery for a national restaurant chain. Should be fun, starting off with lots of cellar work and slowly being brought in and trained in the brewery as well.

Cheers!

Congratulations on the new job!

Thanks! I start next Wednesday. In really anxious to be brewing on a 50 bbl system instead of 5 gallons.

That is awesome. You mind sharing your background, why you think they hired you?? I'm really jealous is all.

427Cobra said:

That is awesome. You mind sharing your background, why you think they hired you?? I'm really jealous is all.

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Well as I sated before this will be my first brewery job so my background is not too impressive. I've held many jobs from construction labor to million + dollar electrical wholesale project management. I will be starting at the very bottom and putting in my time with whatever grunt work and basic tasks the throw at me. I'm a quick learner and don't mind getting my hands dirty so I think that showed in the interview. I'm willing to haul grain, load trucks, clean tanks, wash/fill kegs, bottle, anything to to get a foot in the door.

I'll keep you and anyone else interested posted as far what it's like to actually brew for a living. It's definitely not a job you take for the money......

Cheers!

Awesome! Thanks for the response and best of luck to you. I would def be interested in hearing the trials and tribulations.

Quick update after my first day. First off, its awesome. Its tough, its either hotter than comfortable in the brewhouse or extremely cold in the walk in fridge where the serving tanks, lager tank and a couple of the 50bbl tanks are kept. Today i racked 50bbls of hefe, filled kegs and basically watched and tried to pick up as much as possible. I also learned that tri clamps and I do not get along. I'm sore, i'm sure I smell horribly and my hands and feet are going to be blistered. We had a shipment going out today that consisted on 32 pallets with 8 half barrels each that go on to the semi's via forklift but are pushed slightly uphill with a pallet jack the rest of the way in to the truck. Half of the pallets were stacked 2 high so it was really pushing 16 half barrel kegs at roughly 165lbs each slightly up hill with a pallet jack, good times. It's interesting to see the things that we do as homebrewers are pretty much the same but completley different at the 100bbl scale. It's a lot to take in in just one day, the brewer I work with says he learns something everyday even after 12 years as a pro. It's going to be a hell of a learning curve but I am excited to go back tomorrow.

Cheers!

Sounds like a great opportunity to do something you really love. Congratulations on the new position! :rockin:

FastAndy said:

Quick update after my first day. First off, its awesome. Its tough, its either hotter than comfortable in the brewhouse or extremely cold in the walk in fridge where the serving tanks, lager tank and a couple of the 50bbl tanks are kept. Today i racked 50bbls of hefe, filled kegs and basically watched and tried to pick up as much as possible. I also learned that tri clamps and I do not get along. I'm sore, i'm sure I smell horribly and my hands and feet are going to be blistered. We had a shipment going out today that consisted on 32 pallets with 8 half barrels each that go on to the semi's via forklift but are pushed slightly uphill with a pallet jack the rest of the way in to the truck. Half of the pallets were stacked 2 high so it was really pushing 16 half barrel kegs at roughly 165lbs each slightly up hill with a pallet jack, good times. It's interesting to see the things that we do as homebrewers are pretty much the same but completley different at the 100bbl scale. It's a lot to take in in just one day, the brewer I work with says he learns something everyday even after 12 years as a pro. It's going to be a hell of a learning curve but I am excited to go back tomorrow.

Cheers!

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That's awesome. I work at a very large LHBS. We also carry fresh grapes from South America, California, and Washington State. The grapes come in lugs on pallets. I can commiserate with pushing pallets up and down trailers at an angle. It's really tough work. The worst part is the spin. You learn quickly how to use the floor slats as leverage points like a climber. It's all good until you get your shoe stuck with a 1500lb pallet coming at you... Congrats on the new job. A commercial brewery is my next move.

So awesome. Great way to pickup things if you're thinking of going bigger yourself as long as the top guys there are cool and let you learn. Good luck and keep this thread going.

Thanks for the replies and encouregment. So day two. Every step at this capacity is a lot to remember, its not just "did i drop XYZ in the bucket of Star san?" Every step at this scale involes what will happen when i turn this valve? Where does it go? Is it beer in the line? is it caustic? Is it an acid bath? is it going to spray me in the face and make me sad, hot cold etc. Today i was racking 100 bbls of amber in to half bbl kegs. Our setup i a two station keg bench that washes/sanitizes one keg while filling another keg that is hooked up to a bright tank or serving vessel at the same time. Its a lot of lifting, basically you start with an empty dirty shell, load it to the cleaning side and start the machine. Then move the clean empty to the filling side and load a second dirty empty. The next step is to push a clean keg full of beer off of the machine and on to a tire on the floor, move the second now clean shell onto the filling side and load a dirty empty onto the machine in the cleaning side, move the full keg onto a pallet and repeat. We load 8 half bbl kegs onto a pallet and today I killed a 100bbl brite tank of amber into kegs so you can do the math. Its hard labor intensive work but it beats sitting at a desk. I can honestly say that at the end of the day when we I get to go sit at the bar and get to meet the regulars and see the restaurant full of people with a pint glass in front of them it makes my and the entire brewery crew's hard work seem worth while. We are closed this Monday for the holiday so until Tuesday night, Cheers and while you're enjoying your next pint try to think of the blood sweat and tears that go into making it.

Cheers!

Andy

If anyone is still listening it has just been a lot more of the same. I feel much more comfortable handing things that were once "complicated" to me like transfers from fermenters to serving and bright tanks. Checking carbonation and CIP/CUP cleaning processes are seem like second nature now. I'm getting more and more time in the brewery everyday versus just legging and service yard work. All in all I couldn't be happier with the new gig. I am working our first beer festival this weekend so I get paid friday and Saturday to pour beer, drink beer and talk beer with reno's finest craft fans.

Cheers!

FastAndy said:

If anyone is still listening it has just been a lot more of the same. I feel much more comfortable handing things that were once "complicated" to me like transfers from fermenters to serving and bright tanks. Checking carbonation and CIP/CUP cleaning processes are seem like second nature now. I'm getting more and more time in the brewery everyday versus just legging and service yard work. All in all I couldn't be happier with the new gig. I am working our first beer festival this weekend so I get paid friday and Saturday to pour beer, drink beer and talk beer with reno's finest craft fans.

Cheers!

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I just don't know what to say, just so jellous Have fun this weekend!
One question what's CUP, i know Clean In Place but not CUP?

Clean under pressure?

cthulu1975 said:

Clean under pressure?

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Makes sense

cthulu1975 said:

Clean under pressure?

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Exactly. CIP is caustic and should not have any CO2 present to be effective. As high tech as it seems we will actually just use a shop vac to clear out CO2 before a caustic loop on our tanks. CUP is an acid cycle and is good to go under a co2 blanket.