Furthering Your Beer Education

OSU (Oregon State) has a program, not sure how the budget is for it though, and they also do some courses through Portland State as well. And you would get some awesome PNW beer that way.

 

BJCP is often overlooked as an educational resource ...even though it's certification and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee : )

 

ABG (American Brewers Guild) runs a few different online programs.

 

Metro state university of Denver has a class going on with Tivoli brewing I believe, CSU also has a brewing class as well. Another program through USC Pueblo involves a class that goes on once a week for six weeks or so, and you brew on premises with a local brewery. Of course there is cicerone and BJCP as well.

 

What are your ambitions with this further brewing education @scurvy311 ?

 

I feel like I have seen some academic brewing programs pop up at a few universities in southern states (he said, noting that you are from Louisiana). Maybe Auburn? And something in Tennessee? Details escape me, but google should help you.


You said something about opening a brewery in retirement. That sounds like a perfectly good way to lose what you saved for retirement without actually reaping the benefits of retiring. (He said, thinking about how hard it is going to be to retire unless one has saved and invested well).

 

While it's not online Ed, volunteering at a local brewery can increase you knowledge base fairly rapidly. It's good to note that you might be doing a lot of grunt work like unloading trucks, cleaning mash tuns/fermenters bottling and other low level work. But being around an active brewery one can,t help picking up a lot of info.

 

The one-week short course at UCDavis is fantastic! Bring your A-game because Dr Bamforth will fill you with as much brewing science as you can handle. I would love to take a short course in their yeast lab.

 

Who knew it was good for $2 off a cup of coffee!

 

Seibel Institute has many short courses. They are not cheap, and they aren't local either. Chicago Montreal or go all out and obtain a degree from the Chicago and Doemans Germany campus.

I took the draft beer class in 2006 at MicroMatic. That was well worth the tuition and I learned way more than I expected. Led to a small LLC based on the experience as well. MM has a few courses each year in 4 locations across the country.
Good luck.

 

I mean if you really enjoy the class room, you could get a degree in biochemistry. That will teach you nearly everything you need to know about the technical side of brewing.

 

A number of education options listed here: http://www.craftbeer.com/beer-studies/beer-schools

Cheers!

 

Gonna disagree on this...while you can learn tons on the technical side of brewing in biochem...there is a ton more of practical, hands-on stuff that you're never gonna learn in a classroom alone (coming from a former biochem person). You need to get out there, talk to those that have been brewing for years and get into a larger brewhouse yourself. If you enjoy the experience, then look into the brewing education. That's my 2cents

 

Find a mentor who likes to teach, brew, and drink...in that order : )

 

Of course. It's only half the tale. But he said he enjoyed classroom academia.

 

Scale has a lot to do with it. Smaller breweries benefit from cross training team members on most tasks. I think you'll find that most smaller craft breweries require most, if not all, members of the brew team to do those tasks in addition to making the beer. All four members of the brew team I'm a part of (including our head brewer) do. Larger scale breweries have more employees and hence more specialized work roles that they perform. That point aside, yes a volunteer at a brewery will naturally be given the least skilled jobs first. Prepare to fold boxes, wash kegs, carry stuff, etc.

 

I agree 100% and followed that exact path myself. I volunteered 3+ days a week at a brewery for a few months before starting my 6 month brewing certification program. I continued to volunteer at that brewery while going to brewing school. I knew going into that After 9 months of volunteering and graduating, I was offered a full time brewer position at a different brewery. Although I will point out that it's becoming more common for a brewery to require you to have the formal education in order to extend you a chance to do most of the practical hands on stuff. There will always be breweries who will let you volunteer to do some unskilled labor tasks, but most won't trust just anybody with brewing and cellar tasks. Nor will most invest too much time into training a volunteer on such tasks. An important factor is just how much time and effort you are willing to volunteer. A brewery is more likely to make the effort to give a volunteer an apprenticeship if you go in and work for free for 3-5 days a week, don't flake out and call out often, and actually get a lot done while working.