What Is The Master Brewing Program?

So how does someone become a brewer? Well there are many ways, but one is to become certified by the Institute of Brewing & Distilling. These guys are based out of London and since 1886 they've made it their goal to educate brewers and, more recently, distillers. So, the first week of June I will sit for three exams on sequential days. The first is on Materials & Wort, the second is on Yeast & Beer, and the third is on Packaging & Process. Each one is 4 hours long and composed of 6 essays from within their designated subject matter. All in all it is pretty intimidating but I'm not too worried about it since my professors just gave me a bunch of books that should sum everything up.

The check I had to write on Monday to pay for tuition hurts a little bit less when somebody hands you a stack of books like this. For example, that book in the bottom left of the photo is only printed in Germany. From time to time a used copy pops up on eBay for about $250 but sometimes you can't even find it in the states. We all get excited for different reasons right?

I'll be learning about all of the aspects of brewing over the next 5 months. Each week follows the same pattern.

Monday Morning: Review of past weeks material

Monday Afternoon: Exam

Tuesday and Wednesday: Brewing and Malting

Thursday: Engineering and Packaging

Friday Morning: TA session

Friday Afternoon: Sensory session

Since this is the first week, we are sticking to the basics. Mostly catered lunches, story telling, tours, beer drinking, and slideshows...with a smattering of basic chemistry, biochemistry, and engineering review. I've met most of our instructors and they seem like pretty good guys. Here's a video of Dr. Charles Bamforth (we call him Charlie...his request) who is the head of the program:

Yesterday, we got an extensive tour of Sudwerk, the brewery in which our classes are held. For you brewery nerds, they operate a 15 bbl copper clad German made (c. 1980's) two vessel brewhouse and a 60 bbl US made (c. 1994) stainless steel three vessel brewhouse. They have both cylindroconical fermenters and open fermenters. Sudwerk's portfolio is mostly classical German beers. So they brew lots of lagers but they have a hefeweizen as well. Currently they are broadening their horizons and have started a more American series of production beers and a barrel program. All three of the brewers at Sudwerk went to the Davis program in the past and they're real good guys. I shared a few beers with them after class the first day. Sudwerk has an interesting past, as many breweries do, but I won't get into that now. Partially because I'm not exactly sure if I've got the full story yet.

On weekends we have the opportunity to brew on Sudwerks 75L pilot system. They provide all the ingredients, White Labs provides whatever yeast we need, and we take the wort home to ferment it. There happens to be a kegerator in the back of our classroom so we are encouraged to bring some of the beer in to test it out in class.

Which brings me to the last thing I wanted to say this evening. At the end of class (sometime between 3:00 and 4:00) we are encouraged to stay and enjoy a beer with our classmates. It's a good time to meet the other folks in the class, brainstorm the next homebrewing session, review what we covered in class, or...very rarely...talk about something other than brewing.

What Is He Thinking?

Welcome to Davis California. Tomorrow will be 61°F warmer than Rochester, NY. I know what you are thinking right now..."Why does he think his life is interesting enough to put on the internet. And I'm hungry." But before you decide to bail on me think about two things:

1. Right now, my life is pretty awesome on account of the whole learning-to-be-a-brewer thing.
2. I'll probably get too lazy or too busy to maintain this effort so you'll be off the hook.

Great. So now that I've convinced you I'm worth your time, let's start things off the right way with a picture of a cute puppy:

OK. Now that that is out of the way, lets talk specifics. As most of you know, for the past 3 years, I have been seriously considering a career change. I tried the engineering thing and the longer I did it, the less I liked it. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there is an engineering job out there that could make me happy but as I figure that its a much safer bet to go with something I know that I love. That is where brewing fits in.  Mom and Dad bought me a homebrewing kit for my 16th birthday and since then my passion for brewing beer (and drinking it) has grown. It has been a sustainable hobby for me. It hasn't broken the bank, I haven't burned out on it, it has taught me a lot, and of course, I end up with lots of beer to share with friends and family.

In Fall of 2011, I was chatting with my brother Sam about grown-up stuff and told him for the first time that I was seriously considering the idea of becoming a brewer. He asked me how somebody becomes a brewer and I realized I had no idea. My romantic side imagined burly bearded men slaving over hot copper for hours teaching the young apprentice the art of their craft. To an extent, much of that system is still in place and I firmly believe in learning from experience. That said, it is somewhat difficult to become that apprentice. You've got to convince those guys with the beards that they should invest their time in teaching you how to brew excellent beer while dozens of other people are competing with you. And since I'm incapable of growing anything more than a laughable goatee, Sam and I decided it would be a good idea to seek out a formal education.

I did some research and quickly came to realize that the UC Davis Master Brewing Program was something that I wanted to be a part of. It is world renowned and within the US, it is by far the most respected and thorough formal brewing education one can receive. I applied 4 days later and thanks my homebrewing experience a couple of Mechanical Engineering degrees, I was accepted. The only problem was that the program is so popular that a 2-3 year wait list is typical. So here I am, 2.5 years later. And I must say, it is quite refreshing to sit in a room of people and be able to talk about beer without seeing peoples eyes glaze over.

I'll try to keep my brew-nerdery and sarcasm under control but I can't make any promises.

Cheers,

Pat