Given The Arse Kinda......

[Robbo2234]

Hi guys,

Well I got the arse today, well a redundancy anyway.
I am calling it a sign and it has pushed me in the direction of brewing.

can some one tell me what's involved or how to get into brewing as a career?
I know I cant just walk up to the megaswill factory's "hey I home brew can I be your head brewer?"
but I would love a apprenticeship or traineeship, are these thing available?


Thanks

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

Hi guys,

Well I got the arse today, well a redundancy anyway.
I am calling it a sign and it has pushed me in the direction of brewing.

can some one tell me what's involved or how to get into brewing as a career?
I know I cant just walk up to the megaswill factory's "hey I home brew can I be your head brewer?"
but I would love a apprenticeship or traineeship, are these thing available?


Thanks

Can't help much mate as I'm just a hack homebrewer but I've often wondered about it.
Have you considering studying first Robbo? As in one of the degrees on offer in Oz. Last time I checked without industry experience or being an undergrad you couldn't get into the ECU course.

Or may be a short course and sit the IDB cert idb linky

I know some junior brewers who were brewing for a small Woolworths owned brewery that are only on a base of 45,000 and worked hard by the sound of it.

goodluck and sorry to hear about getting the arse.

 

[Wolfy]

The 1 or 2 year course at Ballarat Uni is likely a start if you're looking to get into the industry via study, many places will like that even if you're going to be employed as an assistant brewer. Otherwise the other option is get in on the ground floor, packing bottles, cleaning, driving the truck and work up from there.

 

[black_labb]

You will get some good advice from some here who are involved. You might benefit by letting us know what you did before and what other skills you have. There are alot of jobs at a brewery from programming and running the control systems, cleaning, maintenance, cleaning, chemical analysis, cleaning and many more things that are part of the business but not so much with the product.

If you go in with no useful skills it will be alot harder to find your way into the industry.

 

[domfergo]

I went threw the same thoughts as you between work 5 years ago. I hunted around for an easy option getting into the industry for a couple of months and didn't find it.

Ended up being a heli pilot, good luck on your search.... Never know where it will lead you!!

 

[pk.sax]

Blue Sky brewery in Cairns is looking for a new kettle muck cleaner.. oops.. assistant brewer, I heard. Their last one moved to Gage Roads in WA.

 

[Robbo2234]

I am from a sales / management background, getting evaluated at the end of every month was doing my head in!

I am 31 so got plenty of time left in the career job world.

I would love to go to uni full time, but with a new born and a mortgage I still need to get paid!

 

[Where's Jim?]

It might be worth looking into a course with Open Unis if you want to study further.

It's possible to do a Bachelor Of Science online (with a few days each semester of on site study). Perhaps this in your own time while maintaining a full time job (brewing related?) and a family, would be an ideal way to go. Maybe follow it up with a brewing course at Ballarat via distance learning or an IBD course.

Anyhow, good luck :icon_cheers:

 

[malt_shovel]

I am from a sales / management background, getting evaluated at the end of every month was doing my head in!

I am 31 so got plenty of time left in the career job world.

I would love to go to uni full time, but with a new born and a mortgage I still need to get paid!

Check out these online courses.

I looked at doing one of them as a precursor for brewery work but didn't apply due to other commitments.

I thought it would be a good option for those needing to work a regular job to keep paying bills but flexible to complete the course.

It would demonstrate a lot of commitment to a potential employer rather than just swinging in off the street.

Seibel

Best of luck with your new career, whatever it may be!

 

[newguy]

Friend of mine started out homebrewing - and was very good at it. Some years back his wife had an opportunity to move to a different city - a city with a microbrewery - so for the hell of it he wrote them a letter. He explained that he had been homebrewing for x years, had won y medals, and was willing to start off doing whatever they needed - washing kegs, scooping out the mash tun, whatever. He got a call, had an interview, and was hired as a keg washer/delivery guy. Within 6 months he was their head brewer. Now he's the head brewer at a much larger regional brewery.

Be willing to start off as a grunt and you just may end up becoming the head honcho. Good luck!