Dreamchasing?

[Wasabi]

Guys,

Just wanted to let you all know that I got into UNI today. What does this mean?

Well Ive decided to throw in my Telecoms Career and persue the dream of becoming a professional brewer. (Carlton here I come )

The Uni of Ballarat run a post-graduate course on Brewing. I know some guys doing it and it sounds great. Alas, as I found out, post-grad means that you already have a degree (which I don't).

They do however offer a food tech degree which has a whole range of brewing electives to specialise in. PLus they have two breweries on site. A large one that the uni uses to make commerial beer, plus a smaller one in the labs. I went down for the open day and met some really great people doing research on a whole range of brewing areas.

The only other option is the UNiversity of Edinburgh which offers a degree course in Malthing, Brewing and Distilling. As Unappealing as Ballarat sounded to my wife, it it suddenly looked great compared to Edinburgh.

So I enrolled earlier this year and was offered a position today. As I said although it is a Food Tech degree, it is one of the brewing centres of Australia. They hold the beer awards there, and Rob Greig is on their staff (an Australian who is one of the head beer judges in the USA), so I think for the opportunity to be around brewing professionals will be valuable in itself.

We're moving down in Feb (well, my wife will join me in May when she finishes her Diploma) and will be down there for 3-4 years.

I spent about a year researching the best option, and this seems to be it for me. Given that I also have an interested in cheeses, breads etc, the other stuff will be a bonus.

PLUS...Ballarat is a much better brewing climate that the Central Coast of NSW, and I might even finally be able to grow my own hops.

Getting use to living on 2 min noodles may be a challenge though. Telecomms pays way too well and I have been spoilt.

 

[Doc]

Congratulations Wasabi.

I wish you all the best.

Don't forget your hobby/amateur mates when you are a pro-brewer though will you :lol:

And I don't think it is chasing the dream. I think you will be living the dream.

All the best and good luck,

Beers,
Doc

 

[jayse]

sounds great wasabi.
good luck with the move and the few years eating noodles.
Keep us up to date when you start and let us know all the stuff you do and learn.

 

[Goat]

Well done Wasabi !

I hope it goes well for you.

 

[verynewtohomebrew]

Well done Wasabi

Eating noodles aint so bad

Going to uni can make you think some pretty weired things at one stage I thought tomato soup and frozen peas in the same bowl was part of a well balanced diet!!!

Congrats on getting the position tho mate its a good feeling when your lifes path starts to open up in front of you

Good Luck

 

[RobW]

Congratulations Wasabi

Ballarat's a great place but get ready for some cold wet weather after summer. It's also being promoted as an IT hub so you might be able to pick up a little work on the side to supplement the noodles.

 

[GMK]

Wasabi

Well Done.

Keep in touch - when you have finished - we can look into the Barossa Brewery.....

What do you think!

 

[joecast]

man that dream sounds familiar!!!

anyway, congratulations and good luck. i have no doubt you will be successful in your "chase"
joe

 

[Justin]

Wasa. You cry poverty and say you'll only be eating noodles but you neglected one vital point that I'm surprised that no one else has picked up on.

Jesus man! Your surrounded by a huge bunch of brewers and top notch brewing equipment. You my friend will be consuming the golden liquid amber in huge quantities. And all in the name of an education.

I think you may have died and gone to heaven.

Enjoy it mate.

JD

 

[crackers]

chase that dream
good luck wasabi


crackers

 

[Wozza]

Well done, Wasabi.

There aren't many with the balls to pack up a well paid job and start again. And full marks to SWMBO. There aren't many women who would even consider supporting that sort of decision.

Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Boots]

That's very cool Wasabi.

It's people (like you) who can pick up sticks and take what some might consider too much effort / risk - that always end up happy (and hopefully successfull !)

Also .. props must go to your missus for the support - that's a pretty big move.

All the best

 

[Gough]

Top darts Wasabi. Great move. Fortune always favours the brave. I've a mate who did a similar thing about 8 years ago with the wine course at Roseworthy(sp??) near Adelaide, chucking in a secure life to follow a dream and he is now doing really well in the local (Hunter) wine industry, having been a winemaker for Hope Estate and now just starting his own vineyard and winery under his own name. Hopefully you'll end up on a similar path. Good luck and keep posting your expanding knowledge here!


Shawn.

 

[big d]

B)
onya wasabi
i guess the rest of us will have to stick with miniature systems while you go the next step.

all the best

 

[Trough Lolly]

Congrats Wasabi on getting into Uni and doing a course that you genuinely want to finish.

Having done 9 years of study myself, I found the going tough at times - especially the assignments... You on the other hand will live for the assignments !

My Mum and rellies are in Ballarat - if it gets really tough, she can probably spring a roast dinner in exchange for some Robust Porter!!! :lol:

It's a great climate for cool weather brewing and the soil has been turned over and well sifted for the last couple of centuries (gold rush country) so Hop Rhizomes should be a doddle to grow!!

All the best with the studies / career change - I admire your courage in moving into a new field of expertise.

Regards,

TL

 

[Trev]

Wasabi,

The very best of luck with it.

Wasabi (Bradford) and I worked together for a while last year and I pleased to say not only was he a good workmate but he motivated me to improve what I was doing with my brewing. Up till then it was all K&K and mediocre results. Heck, I'm not sure if the results are better now but I'm sure enjoying it more.

There's got to be a way for the Sydney members of AHB to see him out in style. Can we look forward perhaps to another Nags Head evening, the first Friday in Febuary????

Trev

 

[deebee]

Well done Wasabi.

Don't knock noodles. There's a lot you can do with noodles. But my favourite memory of Balla - fucken- Rat as of 7 years ago is this great pub next to a railway line where you could get roast lunch counter meals 6 days a week. Full plate of dead cow and veges plus a pot of aussie draught for $5!!

 

[johnno]

Congrats Wasabi

All the best to you.
Hey by the time you graduate you might just be used to the weather.

 

[Murray]

Good luck with it. There is some interesting work happening in the brewing field at the moment. When I was at uni the uni had a contract to purify amylase from malt. The intention was to use purified amylase to speed and improve the efficiency of the conversion of starch in a mash, as much of the enzyme matter doesn't survive the process. The process started off with a low temperature (~50C I think) mash of 50 kg malt Although it is a crime to not process that into beer, hopefully it was going to a good cause.

 

[Wasabi]

Guys,

Thanks for all your support. I know it's a big step and I know how lucky I am to have such a supportive wife.

Everyone I have ever met who has been to Ballarat has said "It's a really nice place, but I bloody cold". I keep telling my wife, look your from Denmark, you should be use to the cold, to which she responds, "Why do you think I live in Australia!"

I'll definately be staying incontact, though I may disappear for awhile until I get settled down there. Hope I can catch up with some of you Vic boys.

I went down for an open day in August at the UNI and had a look around the town. I was expecting a Goulburn like ghost town, and was pleased to find it wasn't.

Do you think my lecturers are going to have a problem when reading my assignments, when they see a reference as
Jovial Monk, www.aussiehomebrewer.com, 5/5/2004