Brewers

Brewers perform a variety of tasks requiring different skills. Most of their time is spent in the brewery preparing the next batch of beer. At many small microbreweries and brewpubs, brewers are responsible for all of the brewery operations. Before preparing a batch of beer, they use hoses and brushes with a sanitizing solution and clean all of the kettles. Since sanitization is a crucial part of brewing, this job must be very thorough and is, therefore, often strenuous. Temperatures in breweries are strictly controlled, in some cases to as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

On brewing days, the brewer weighs and measures ingredients. He or she inspects the brewing equipment to ensure it is both properly sanitized and in working order. Frequently a brewer watches over several different batches of beer all at different stages of production. The most stressful part of a brewer's job is waiting for the beer to be completed and wondering if anything went wrong. Throughout various stages of the brewing process, brewers sample the beer to make certain everything is as it should be. Brewers generally produce the same one to four beer recipes each time they brew. With standardization of the brewing process, most errors can be eliminated. The size of the brewery dictates a craft-brewer's working hours. A small brewery can only produce a limited amount of beer at one time. Brewers may have days when they are not brewing at all. Instead they may perform maintenance on equipment, prepare yeast cultures, or even grow and harvest hops. Many brewers experiment with new styles of beer by brewing small five-gallon batches. Brewers spend a lot of time tasting many different styles and brands of beers to determine what qualities make the beer good and what qualities make it bad, so that they can improve their own beer. Brewers, especially those at small breweries, may work odd hours (until very late at night or very early in the morning) in order to move the brew from one stage in the brewing process to another. Brewers usually work about 40 hours a week. Those who own breweries or brewpubs, however, often work much longer hours than this to complete all the management tasks required of a business.