8 Facts About Brewmasters

Craft brewing, despite its skyrocketing popularity in the past decade, continues to grow. It can be hard to keep track of all the incredible micro-breweries popping up across the country. There are now small breweries, large breweries, and everything in between. Because of this explosion, many breweries are looking for passionate people who are passionate about creating quality products.

What is the name of the professionals who breweries are looking for? Brewmasters! These professionals combine passion and science to make tasty drinks.

Brewmasters are professionals responsible for all duties related to brewing beer. These duties include making beer, preparing beer mixtures, cleaning, and keeping an eye on fermenting processes. This profession is very physical because brewmasters spend a lot of their time cleaning tanks and equipment. Cleaning is an essential chore because it ensures safe, quality products.

In a more senior position, the brewmaster manages other brewery-related tasks such as staff schedules and ordering inventory. Brewmasters must stay on their toes while watching workers perform their daily duties, which include setting machines to the right conditions, tank cleaning, canning, and shipping/receiving.

The most enjoyable part of a brewmaster’s job is tasting. Throughout the beer-making process, brewmasters taste the beer and adjust it during the fermentation process. They check for texture, consistency, dryness, and cleanliness of the product.

The educational requirements for becoming a brewmaster vary by brewery. The title of “brewmaster” is typically reserved for someone with many years of experience, as it is a higher-level position within the organization. Often, becoming a brewmaster begins at an entry-level position, such as a keg cleaner or cellar worker.

While formal education is not a requirement for being a brewmaster, work experience in a brewery-related occupation is typically a must. However, some breweries may require individuals to hold a college or university degree in brewing, microbiology, food science, fermentation, chemistry, or even brewery operations management.

Alternatively, some people start their own breweries without any prior industry experience, simply by pursuing their passion for beer with a garage brewing kit. So if you’re not afraid of hard work and have plenty of ambition, applying to existing breweries is not your only option!

One of the most enjoyable parts of being a brewmaster for many is creating new beer formulations. There are many tasks that go into creating new beers, such as working with vendors and choosing the raw materials used in the brewing process. Additionally, to ensure that the raw ingredients have the specific attributes necessary for the beer in mind, the brewmaster likely will have to conduct specific tests required for brewing the beer. In addition to creating new beers, they also have to create new packaging and labels.

Overall, this process involves a lot of trial and error, but the end results are worth it.

Depending on the size of the company, brewmasters could be responsible for all operations tasks in a brewery. Sometimes they are even the owners of the brewery! These professionals oversee daily operations and ensure they meet scheduled production requirements. Not only do they focus on the quality of the beer, but also the health and safety of the employees.

Other management responsibilities include developing annual plans and budgets, arranging worker schedules, ensuring products meet legal compliance, record-keeping, and managing inventory.

There are many aspects involved in maintaining the quality of beer. Having intuition isn’t enough, as quantitative tests are also needed to assess the quality of products. In a brewery, these quality tests can be performed by a quality control/assurance technician.

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2): Beer by nature is carbonated, but if there is too much CO2, the beer will become flat. In contrast, if there is too little, the beer will have no foam at all. CO2 is tested by reading a pressure gauge on the vats of beer.

• Dissolved Oxygen (DO): Oxygen is something you don’t want in your beer. Oxygen causes beer to oxidize, which yields a paper or cardboard flavor over time, especially if beer is kept warm. DO is measured using a DO meter.

• Microbiology: Beer uses microorganisms like yeast to produce the fermentation required for beer. Brewmasters check for unwanted organisms using plating. An example of an organism they may check for is lactobacillus, as it’s an anaerobic bacterium that produces lactic acid, which sours beer.

8. Brewmasters communicate, teach and adapt

• Effective communication – Brewmasters work as part of a team, and the success of a batch of beer is dependent on the cooperation and understanding of others. They must adjust their communication style based on whom they are talking to. Overall, employees must be aware of their responsibilities and what has to be done when troubleshooting.
• Teaching ability – Brewmasters are facility members most knowledgeable about beer. So it’s their responsibility to instill this knowledge onto others by teaching well. Through their teachings, they can inspire their staff members!
• Adaptability – A well-rounded brewmaster must be capable of changing with the demands of a brewery as they occur. If a product doesn’t arrive on time or a staff member calls in sick, they should be able to rearrange schedules.