What do you do?

I'm just a techie who likes good beer and a hobby to do on weekends that doesn't involve computers. I'd love to work at a brewery, but I actually do enjoy my job as it is and I know I'd have to take a pretty considerable pay cut. I'll settle for being more knowledgeable about the specifics of brewing than the average BA.

 

I've actually been thinking about starting a thread asking this question. Based solely on my own observations, I'd hypothesize that the home-brewing community involves a lot of engineers and IT people.

As for me, I'm one of the latter. I'm an infrastructure admin in IT, working mostly with enterprise storage, server virtualization, and various Microsoft technologies. I've only been home brewing on my own since last fall, but I've helped friends home brew on a number of occasions over the past 7 years or so. I'm recently married and a recent new father. My wife, while not a beer-drinker herself, loves my hobby because it keeps me in the house.

 

I work in live music on the promoter's side - so dealing with the $$ aspect. please don't ask me why Ticketmaster has so many fees. I hate pop music - so most of the artists I work with's "art." Indie music and watching sports are my huge passions. I also like men's fashion, especially shoes. I work out a lot and also like girls, so no need to question that. I am probably the furthest thing from what people think of when they think of a beer brewer. You can't categorize me and I love that.

 

Nominally, I'm a senior scientist (Pharma R&D). I develop analytical test methods and conduct investigations for products that are suspect OOS, among other things.

My first exposure to homebrewing was sometime in the mid-90s when a friend gave it a go and I hung around to see how it was done. I've been brewing on my own regularly for 11 years and change, with all but my first 3 or 4 batches being all-grain.

I had a strong desire to 'go pro' (brewpub) after a few years of really immersing myself in all-things-brewing and racking up a decent collection of ribbons in BJCP-sanctioned competitions. Hired a lawyer, formed an LLC, had some investors with deep enough pockets lined up, and was scouting for potential properties at one point - but life threw a few curves my way and my priorities have changed a lot, at least in the short-term! So, for now, I'm happily sitting in the 'enthusiastic homebrewer/unlicensed nanobrewer' set with friends and family reaping the benefit of my over-production and inability to sell what I brew (read: I give away a lot of beer, lol).

I'm a BJCP recognized judge, but I'm not active in that regard. I really just took the exam on a whim to see if I could pass it.

 

Congrats and good luck with that, lol.

You'll be surprised how hard it can be to 'find time' for much of anything that doesn't involve diaper changes, feedings, and/or holding the baby - and it's not easy to brew with one hand! Not that it isn't worth it but, man, the first 6 - 9 months... you'll see.

-df (dad to an 11 mo. old and a 4 yo.)

 

I'm in sales, though I have a math and software engineering background. Brewing lets me nerd out on calculations when I want to. Also have young children(1 and 3). I've been doing this a long time, though I have taken some breaks and don't brew that often because of family commitments. I'm no expert, but I've probably made most of the mistakes that there are to make in brewing. I learned from Papazian but think more like Palmer.

 

I teach at a university (math/technical field). I spent roughly 15 years in the restaurant business (high school and college with lots of time off in between). The restaurant business taught me enough that I have never seriously considered a brewpub or brewery

Been brewing since mid-07, entered 1 local contest early on, 3rd place for an extract brown ale. I had fun stewarding for that contest and thought about getting certified. But, I have 3 kids (7,5,3) and not enough time/money to do more contests.

 

Husband to 1, father of 2 (3 & 6, both boys). I work in Admin for a local Credit Union making automatic deposits/withdrawals, checks, and wires clear, and also regulatory stuff. BJCP test score ranking is National but I haven't amassed the judging points to officially take up the title. Been homebrewing for almost 5 years now. In the midst of writing up a pro-forma and business plan for a production brewery. Desire is to go pro by late 2017/early 2018, but I need a business partner soon if I want this thing to get off the ground.

 

It is a great experience, though a challenge at times. I understand now why sleep deprivation torture is such an effective method for governments to extract information...

 

I work as an EMT full time, butcher part time and today I learned that I just scored a part time job at a brewery just off cape. 3 jobs and plus I'm going to full time school to get my paramedic ticket currently... Add in a full time job of being married to both my wife and my newly acquired hobby of brewing (been brewing for a little more than a year) and you've got me in a nutshell. I've recently acquired some nice equipment: a nice 16 gal kettle/mashtun, a reverse flow wort chiller and some fermenters. Just about done with my supply of cherry chocolate stout I made recently and now I'm gearing up to brew a farmhouse ale Sunday after next! Cheers!

 

IT development director for a specialty retailer. I was hard core into salt water reef keeping and transitioned into this hobby. I was able to re-purpose some of my equipment, (i.e. co2 tanks), and I am familiar with other hobby tools, (i.e. refractometer).
I started with some extract kits while reading and lurking and now I have around 8 all-grain BIAB's under my belt! Built my own keezer and am always lurking for corny kegs on the cheap!
Married guy with a couple kids in their 20's and a beautiful wife who puts up with my nonsense!

 

I sell home-appliances , my brother and I are the owners of the business . I live in a small town 130 miles from Buenos Aires(Argentina). I started to brew when I was diagnosed with Leuchemia, it was a hard time for me and I could have my mind occupied thinking and reading about brewing all day long . Now I am recovered, healthy again and have a gift of God ... Homebrewing !!!!!!!!.

 

I am a mechanical engineer at a combustion company. I engineer and support burner product lines for industrial use (steel, aluminum, titanium industries, air heating, melting, homogenizing, etc...). Have been into the whole “craft beer” thing for at least 7-8 years now.

About two years ago I decided I want to brew someday, so I start a long period of research, reading “how to brew” over and over, learning ingredients, recipes, etc… About a year and a half ago I dove right into all-grain brewing. I love the technicality of brewing and enjoy all the weighing, boiling, recipe formulation, etc… I must say, I have yet to have any bad beers honestly… All have been good to downright amazing. I have many friends and (beer) people at shares that I don’t know who try my beer compliment how it tastes as good as or better than comparable commercial beers. Very proud of that for have been doing it such a short time relatively speaking… But I credit that to a lot of research and paying attention to those fine details (fermentation temps, sanitation, ingredients, recipes, oxygenation).

Have toyed with the idea of eventually doing the brewery thing, but it’s a few years out at least. A few people have shown interest in “going-in” with me to help finance something. I have done the spreadsheets, costs, profits, etc… Pretty elaborate spreadsheet and a lot of research, but it’s a foundation for something if I actually choose to do anything.

Amazing hobby, fantastic people. Love the culture all-around and would love to be involved with it one day.

 

Great thread! I work in commercial real estate, but my focus is technology research for the business. My education was in fine arts, so I'm not sure how I ended up here.

I've got a great wife, and three dogs that have been the most successful form of birth control known to man.

I think what attracts me to homebrewing is the creativity involved. I haven't had a creative outlet for a long time, so I suppose this has filled the void. I also love the challenge of creating a beer that I genuinely prefer more than any beer I can purchase from the store. I've not made said beer yet, but it's what keeps me motivated to learn more and practice more.

 

I'll give you the real quick skinny:

• Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Tech, Class of 1997. Go Huskies.
• Worked at Point Beach Nuclear Plant as a Design Engineer since then (currently 17 years experience).
• They call me a "CAPCO" or "CAP Cop". I get to assign Corrective Actions to all the engineers and tell people when they've screwed up, and am expected to look for and evaluate adverse trends in performance. I also am asked routinely to extend their assignments for them when their boss isn't around, because if they miss a due date, oh my God the sky is falling and they have to report to the Site Vice President immediately, oh no.
• They also call me "the paint guy". I've been in charge of the nuclear coatings program at the Beach since 1999. I know just a little bit about epoxy and painting, and a lot more about inspection and writing specifications. Don't ask me about anything other than epoxy though, because that's just about the only thing we use.
• I'm a NACE Certified Coating Inspector - Level 3, Cert #7998.
• I'm a BJCP Certified Judge, #A0511. Started judging in like 2007.
• I brew like I'm from the friggin ghetto or in prison -- I boil on the stovetop, BIAB, a colander, buckets, no chiller, no stirplate, no pumps, just a guy with a spoon and a bag and a hose and some sanitizer, and the same hydrometer I've had since 1999.
• I've been participating on about a dozen homebrewing forums daily since I was bit by the bug in 1999/2000.
• I'm a founding member and currently the Competition Director for the Manty Malters Homebrewing Club in Manitowoc, WI. We started that up around 2005 or 2006. Currently ~20 members and growing. Membership is super strong with ultra mega nerdy tendencies. It's not for everyone. If a newbie wants or expects a tame club... we're friendly enough, but might tend to freak out the uninitiated and overwhelm with opinions and ideas and facts and figures. We'll tell you if your beer tastes like crap, but also why and what to do about it. It's both cool and not so cool at the same time. Resources and ideas and experiences galore. And so, of course....
• I am obsessed with the brewing process and how it might be optimized and simplified, and I usually have a strong opinion on every aspect and will share it as gospel even if it isn't and if nobody agrees with me. Some people appreciate it... not everyone, but some. I'll apologize if I'm proven wrong, but I try not to apologize when somebody just doesn't appreciate or understand the experience I've shared.
• I procrastinate at work by responding to homebrew-related posts like this one right now..........
• I'm also huge into cider, and also grow my own apples and obsessed over all that for like 3-4 years. I got over it to some extent but not entirely. I have a lot of opinions on making cider but you won't see any of those here. Go to other forums for that if you wish.
• I used to sing in a band a very long time ago, in college. I think I still sound pretty good. My voice is somewhere between Bono, Joe Elliott, Thom Yorke, and Howard Jones. It's been deepening a little more with age of course. I can now hit a few lower notes and I kind of like it.
• I also dabble playing guitar but I really really suck. I can play power chords but can't pick at all. But I do "write" songs.... in my head, anyway.
• I have a lovely wife of 13 years and 3 wonderful children who put up with all of my "damn beer crap" and other infinite misgivings, and who remind me of said infinite misgivings on a daily basis. I tell her it's her fault for marrying me and I ain't gonna change. And they're all still living with me in my house so I guess I'm good for something. The money or whatever.

And yeah. So. Anyway. That's the distillate of me, David M. Taylor, dmtaylor or dmtaylo2. Man, this all sounds familiar.....

http://mantymalters.org/meet-the-malters/dave-taylor/

 

I can't write that much with out getting arrested, but, here it goes:
Assist chief waste water plant/lab teck.
Water operator
own a farm and currently grow a lot of flowers, wholesale veggies seed garlic. dabbaling in hops. aint made a cent withthem yet
operate a suger house with a friend.
very part time helper at a brewery
weekend logger
new grandfather so that's gonna cut into the production
been home brewing for a little over 3.5 years. best hobbie ever.
married over 36 years