I want to work in a brewery

[BreadMurderer]

Hello!

First post so please be gentle...

The title says it all really but let me elaborate. My name is Dan, I'm a 27 year old male from Scotland with a passion for craft beer. I've dabbled with home brewing (started with a partial mash then moved to all grain) since the start of this year and love to make, research and drink good beer.

My main background is IT as I have a degree and worked in it for 5+ years. But I'm bored.

I'm looking into working in Australia (I'm currently in China but that's another story) via the 'Working Holiday Visa' at the start of next year and was wondering on the possibility of jobs in a brewery (Melbourne as I have friends there).

Is this ricidulous?

Your advice is very much appreciated as my research into it is early and continuing but I am very keen on doing this. I realise details are bare so just ask me what you want to know and I'll do my best in answering.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Forever Wort]

Having lived in China previously and being encouraging of new experiences, I say you should go for it. Melbourne is a brilliant city, a really wonderful place to live.

In terms of how one gets a job at a brewery there though, I have no idea. Sorry.

Of course the general rule applies - trying to organise such a job, without direct experience, from overseas, is going to be very difficult. You'll be much better placed when you are already in Melbourne and networking.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Hello Dan and welcome, don't know how you will go getting a job in a brewery in Melbourne, will you be allowed to work in Melbourne? There is a big home brewery company in Beijing if you are interested in checking it out I will give you the address.

 

[WarmBeer]

Timely link, perhaps: Assistant Brewer, Mornington Peninsula Brewery

Hope you can sound convincing during a phone interview.

 

[Toper]

Without wanting to be brutal Dan,your chances are virtually nil.Without official qualifications and with no production experience at all,I doubt very,very much any brewery would even consider employing you.No brewery is going to invest time,effort and money in training,just for you to finish your holiday and disappear.Jobs in the industry here are limited,and there's a lot of prospective employees with a heck of a lot more experience than you.Sorry to be blunt,call it tough love

 

[gordo_t]

Dan,

Your story is all to familiar. I'm the same age and have worked in IT for over 5 yrs now and am as you say 'bored' (very bored). The idea of leaving the sensible money behind and working in a brewery seems like a fantasy on par with being a rockstar or space cowboy. I have a daily search of SEEK.com that sends me any job related to beer , and get the brewing magazine's that advertises jobs nationally. Unfortunetly none have appeared (that wheren't either for an experienced 'Head brewer' or just Bar staff at a pub) in the last yr and I don't expect them to show ever really, this is an industry with less demand than supply. You either have to know your Sh** or know someone to get a foot in the door putting caps on bottles. And be prepared to go anywhere in the country to wedge that foot in the door.

I'm not saying you won't find it, but instead saying Good Luck and wish you all the best.

 

[BreadMurderer]

Without wanting to be brutal Dan,your chances are virtually nil.Without official qualifications and with no production experience at all,I doubt very,very much any brewery would even consider employing you.No brewery is going to invest time,effort and money in training,just for you to finish your holiday and disappear.Jobs in the industry here are limited,and there's a lot of prospective employees with a heck of a lot more experience than you.Sorry to be blunt,call it tough love

Toper I completely agree with what you say, and I need to hear the realism of my request. My issue was the investment on a person that isn't there permantnty, but I would be happy cleaning floors, bottling and getting knee deep in a mash tun.

Thanks for ALL the replies so far (@Legless can you send me the details? I know of Slow Boat and Great Leap here. @WarmBeer thanks I'm looking into that!)

I completely appreciate it's difficult, especially for an outsider. When I do return home its something I want to do full time. Any more suggestions welcome and I'm going to get in touch with as many breweries as I can.

Thanks again.

Dan

 

[lukiep8]

I would expect breweries that bottle need help on the bottling line which is a quick entry into the brewery and you can possibly progress from there if the brewer is interested in training someone up.

Toper, I must be the only lucky one than. Being trained from scratch as a brewer

 

[Toper]

I would expect breweries that bottle need help on the bottling line which is a quick entry into the brewery and you can possibly progress from there if the brewer is interested in training someone up.

Toper, I must be the only lucky one than. Being trained from scratch as a brewer

I'm not saying it can't happen,just the chances are very slim if Dan's only got a limited time here,and from bottling line to brewery is a long time step usually. No harm in trying ,and I wish him success.Maybe after he gets back to the greatest small country in the world he could consider formal training,he's close to one of the best brewing courses anywhere http://www.undergraduate.hw.ac.uk/programmes/C980/

 

[BreadMurderer]

I'm not saying it can't happen,just the chances are very slim if Dan's only got a limited time here,and from bottling line to brewery is a long time step usually. No harm in trying ,and I wish him success.Maybe after he gets back to the greatest small country in the world he could consider formal training,he's close to one of the best brewing courses anywhere http://www.undergraduate.hw.ac.uk/programmes/C980/

Haha! Thanks for the praise, I wish I could take the credit. ;-) The course is supposed to be fantastic, so it's definitely possible, if maybe intitally hard to fund. I have a few breweries close to home (BrewDog anyone?) and would be hitting them up first.

Again thanks for the feedback it's be amazingly helpful.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[lukiep8]

Yeah I have to do the General Certificate in Brewing through that course. So much reading!

 

[Edak]

I wonder how many people will apply for the MPBrew job listed earlier, it's a nice little brewery and the beer is mostly good too. I think they are expanding, which is good. The peninsula is a wonderful place to be, I'd like to live there but my current job lands me nowhere near mornington. I am heading there today, might drop in at the brewery too

 

[razz]

I wonder how many people will apply for the MPBrew job listed earlier, it's a nice little brewery and the beer is mostly good too. I think they are expanding, which is good. The peninsula is a wonderful place to be, I'd like to live there but my current job lands me nowhere near mornington. I am heading there today, might drop in at the brewery too

MP is closed today Edak.

 

[Edak]

I didn't make it anyway, why would hit have been closed? due to grand final?

 

[razz]

I guess so, one of the owners is a big Hawks fan.

 

[mje1980]

Volunteer to shovel out the mashtun at a micro. After 2 or 3 times youll know if you want to continue with the dream

 

[manticle]

I love cooking and worked for a long time in commercial kitchens.

Would rather brew at home when I want than either cook professionally or brew professionally.

Good luck with it if it's what you want to do though.

 

[lukiep8]

Volunteer to shovel out the mashtun at a micro. After 2 or 3 times youll know if you want to continue with the dream

I shovel out the lauter tun twice a day when we brew and still love it!

I haven't done it in summer yet, so this may change.

 

[lukiep8]

Homebrewing and brewing in a brewery are absolutely nothing alike.

All I do all day is play with boiling water, haul arse 3 tonnes of grain, and shovel out the lauter tun.

It's amazing.

 

[krausenhaus]

Homebrewing and brewing in a brewery are absolutely nothing alike.

Apart from milling grain, mashing, boiling, adding hops and fermenting. How do you make beer at home?