Volunteering in Austin breweries.

I think that we often forget that a brewery is still a manufacturing environment. There is steam, lots of boiling water, caustic chemicals, and pressurized containers. There are a lot of hazards that are often over looked. There are a lot of ways that you can hurt your self if you're not careful or if you don't know what you're doing.

Just because you work on cars for fun doesn't mean that an automotive manufacturer will let you volunteer. It has nothing to do with them being snobby, same with breweries. Safety is the largest concern in that type of environment.

 

Well I guess when you go to law school, pass the bar and start practicing employment law I won't have to waste my time explaining all of that to you. You know, because there's no efficiency lost in the process of teaching.

 

My thought was to let this post die, but when people insult me I cant let it go.

I am an engineer with an mba and my best friend is a practicing lawyer in Texas. I wouldnt make my comments without asking him about it first. Also, signing a waiver seems to be the model practiced by Peticolas who is a lawyer too so you can take it up with him if you want if its so hard to explain.

Danielbt,

Not aure what is so "hilarious" about me having lived in Austin for 4 years. I have me 3 owners from Austin breweries. 2 were quite friendly and very cool. One of them was very dry and not friendly at all and makes me not want to buy his beer if it made it to DFW.

Anyways, seems like the OP got his answers amd I wish him the best of luck in his volunteering gig.

 

It's hilarious that you think that living in a place for 4 years makes you an expert in how a city is supposedly changing.

So, you get from meeting three whole brewers in Austin, two of which were "quite friendly and very cool", to stating "Seems like you just have to suck up to them and give them your time and money, not just your time." "Them" being, assumedly, the subject of the OP, which is Austin breweries.

Interesting logical process for an engineer.

 

I lived there 4 years but I have been around Austin for over 14 years visiting relatives and having spent most of my summers there as a teenager. Like I said i still go visit at least once a month. I think that gives me some reason to say the city has changed. I personally dont know anyone who would deny the city has changed.

The owners can be friendly but as the OP mentioned, emailing the breweries didnt get him much of anything. The only way to come accross a brewery owner is by spending your time and money visiting and touring said breweries. Seems pretty logical to me.

 

Here are my official tips for getting a job at a brewery:

• Valuable skills in a production brewery include: welding, plumbing, electric, carpentry, HVAC, etc. Being a skilled tradesman is one of the best ways to get a job at a brewery. Even completing a beginners course at a community college will set you apart from other candidates.
• Be willing to move. There are over 2,500 breweries in the country. Limiting yourself to 15 local ones greatly decreases your chances of getting a job.
• Most entry-level jobs are in packaging (cleaning and filling kegs, canning/bottling, etc). It can takes years to work your way up to production.
• Find the right fit. Working at a brewery involves very hard work for very little pay. At the end of the day, we're basically janitors who get free beer. If you don't enjoy the people you work with, the beer you help make, and what the brewery stands for, it's just not worth it. That's why it's important to get to know the owners and employees. You have to like them and they have to like you.

 

To think that homebrewering in any way shape or form prepares you to work in a production brewery is laughable, in itself. Do you really think you can learn the ins and outs of a production brewery with a weeks worth of volunteer work? In my experience, when people thing safety is "bogus," that is usually when someone losses a finger (I have seen it happen, in very mundane situations). I am not trying to pile on here, just don't think a lot of people completely understand what it takes to start a brewery.

 

Assuming you went to college, did college prepare you for your work? I studied engineering in UT and that didnt prepare me for working in my field. It is the same equivalent. Homebrewing will teach you the basics and give you the concepts, etc. Nobody is saying that its 100% the same. But having a homebrewing background is definitely better than not ever having been around brewing at all. Obviously there is a learning curve to operating the machinery like in any manufacturing role but there is risk in any type of work or situation.

 

how is it laughable? just like homebrewing, its a learning process that requires alotta time, knowledge and effort.

if a homebrewer is willing to sacrifice time (lots of volunteering time) to learn the ins and out of a production brewery, i'd say he has a good shot.

from a business standpoint, time is money. so no doubt, some production breweries wont even give the homebrewer a time of the day.

thats why building a relationship with the brewery (owner and employees) is important.

 

I believe champ is referring more to the fact that homebrewing does not 100% translate into brewing on a larger scale. Your award-winning homebrew recipe? You cannot just scale it up linearly. You're going to have to tweak it to come out correctly with the equipment you're using.

Most homebrewers I've seen don't even have a fire extinguisher handy. How do they expect to keep themselves and their employees safe if they aren't well versed, unless you hire someone to handle that?

One thing that homebrewing and larger commercial operations have in common: If you know how to DIY some of the equipment or building, you have the potential to save a ton of money.

Champ, if I mis-interpreted you, please accept my apologies and correct me.

 

Because the equipment you use in large-scale production brewing is so different from that you use as a homebrewer that it's not even relatable.

The basic process is the same: grain+hops=wort+yeast=beer, but how you get there is different. A go-cart and a sedan both use gas-powered internal combustion engines to turn wheels and go down the road, but building a go-cart kit ain't going to help you build a Camry.

 

Oh, the city has changed, for sure. Saying "Seems like Austin has really been invaded by the West Coast type of mentality." in relation to having gone to UT around in 2005 is highly amusing though. There are less West Coast people showing up here, as a percentage, than there were in the 90's.

New Yorkers in the 80's for the real-estate boom, Cali folks in the 90s for the tech boom, other Texans in the 00s, fucking everyone in the 10s.

 

not every homebrewer has the same setup, you know?

and i would hope a homebrewer would know its more than just homebrewing involved.

heck, im a homebrewer, and everything mentioned above is pretty much a no brainer, to most, i hope.

i would think most homebrewers are DIY, because equipment is pretty damn expensive.

especially if you are building a HERMS setup.

 

There might be some homebrewers who think that because they've made a minimash or two in their kitchen they can walk into a brewery and become head brewer straight away (I think most are smarter than that), I must respectfully disagree with the statement that homebrewing "in [no] way shape or form prepares you to work in a production brewery". Being a homebrewer is a definite plus for getting a position in a small brewery, although it's unlikely you'll be working in the brewhouse at first. You'll probably start off on the bottling line or as a cellarman and work your way up, but if you know what a diacetyl rest does and why, I reckon you've got a far greater chance of getting on the shortlist than someone who just needs a job.

 

Pretty much.

prlonghorn brought up college degrees. When you get your degree, from an accredited university, you can bring that to employers. It shows you followed a curriculum, and passed that. The proof is your certificate. When you say, hey I homebrew, that does not mean a lot. There is no proof, no curriculum in which you said I followed, understood, and passed a set coarse. There are accredited brewing degrees out there, and maybe that would be more impressive.

I wish everybody and anybody luck when they follow their passions, and don't let this ignorant idiot (me) tell anybody they shouldn't follow those.

 

I agree with you. But you don't really need a degree for brewing. The real way to learn is by being hands on and if you open a brewery bring in someone with lots of experince to help. I think the idea is to get experience somehow which gettin into a brewery and working. I dont typically talk education with the brewers, the only I know that studied brewing was the guy from Franconia up in Dallas (hes German, studied in Germany). Again, not knocking on anyone because I dont think you need a degree to work/have a brewery. Probably help for the business side.

 

There are a host of ways to get experience. Certainly homebrewering and volunteer work is a good start, as in the bare minimum someone can possibly do. My point was, someone is laughable unqualified to start their own brewery if their only experience is a week of volunteer work and a hobby done in spare time. If that is the case, I should have been a paleontologist at age 10

 

a weeks worth of volunteer work @ at brewery does not make one become all knowing. that is definitely laughable.

however, the beers we purchase from the store comes from the homebrewer who put in the time and effort to make it happen.

that is why i root for the homebrewer.