Beer Careers in NJ

One place to look for brewery jobs is the classifieds section at probrewer.com.

 

humm home brewing would help, knowing about chemistry would be nice, typical things, smart, loyal, honest, trustworthy, good learner. etc standard crap anyone wants.

 

http://www.siebelinstitute.com/courses-a-programs/courses-in-english/brewing-technology

 

you see the prices for those?????

 

volunteer work for nothing is one way if you afford it...lots sadly do it. I would not myself. Once you work for free no 1 want's to pay you shit.

 

the old fashioned way know someone working there sadly. without direct school knowledge it will be hard, most have to graduate from a brewing school otherwise. small places just cannot afford to train yea really. plus you have to live near one.

watch this
http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/interview-with-ron-jeffries-of-jolly-pumpkin.33537/

 

Less than the cost of a 4-year degree.

You can get really far in life with a lot of experience and no schooling, or a little experience and a schooling... but no one is going to put piles of cash in your lap and entrust thousands of dollars worth of ingredients to someone with no experience and no education.

Even if you know someone and they let you in the door, you're going to be scrubbing mash tuns and fermentation tanks for a good long time, before you start brewing on a commercial system.

Everyone has to start somewhere - and if you want to spend less time at the low end grinding out experience, some schooling will help with that... Otherwise, you're going to have to likely start at brewpubs, and ask them if you can clean their tanks for free on evenings and weekends, until they trust you with something else.

You're not going to walk in off the street and get a cushy ultra modern office with a lifetime supply of free beer with an Aeron chair and Christina Hendricks.

 

oh I would agree totally, I was just trying to be helpful, I have no idea how, but starting at the bottom is the most common way in, but I still think you should never work for free. in fact there was a great episode on girls (HBO) about working for free. not only does it never pay but they figure they can replace you for FREE!

 

P.S. - If someone stumbles across a sweet job with a cushy ultra modern office, a lifetime supply of free beer and Christina Hendricks - I call dibbs.

 

what most need to do is work a day doing all the shit work a brewery does. Hell I hate to clean up after a home brew myself.

 

Indeed. At a microbrewery, there is no job too menial, too labor intensive, too hot, too sticky, too back-breaking, or too just-about-anything-else for everyone to get involved in getting it done.

 

Where in NJ are you? I can ask some contacts if they are looking for help.

It's tough to get these jobs brewing right away... breweries obviously have their brewers already and need some sense of comfort... "foot in the door" as you mentioned, is the approach you need... there may be need for volunteering if you truly want experience.

I get the sentiment people have of not working for free but the truth is, unless they are hiring based off of a true need (and likely not brewing), you are just an apprentice.

Speaking of which. Have you tried looking at starting at a homebrew shop? There's a ton of knowledge there and they may let you start brewing sooner than a brewery

 

I mention a homebrew shop as that's how one of my friends got hired to work with Carton. He was at Brewer's Apprentice and a hombrewer. Learned a lot working at the store and after volunteering on brew day a couple of times, he got hired full time.

I also have a friend in Bergen County who is in the final stages of getting cleared to be able to legal brew for sale. I'll ask to see what he says.

The issue in these places is that the places have their brewers. They live off of their brewers and like I said before, it won't be easy to just jump in and brew a beer when their business name is on the line.

 

There are many many people who think they want to do this. You should make sure. Check the Probrewer classifieds and read a bunch of them (even ones not near you) and you will get a feeling for what breweries are looking for in a paid person. There are a lot of requirements, as this type of job demands alot and in high demand.
You should be willing to volunteer until they get to know you. Unfortunately it is an employer's market in this business.
Also, don't be averse to taking a peripheral brewery job, say as an ambassador for part of the distro area (doing festivals and tastings and such). That could get your foot in the door.

 

I know in the past that Harvest Moon in New Brunswick has had people volunteer so that they can get some experience.