Recently I reviewed the first part of my introduction to professional brewing. I have been keeping up with the course work without any real problems. The weekly chat sessions were condensed because not as many people were showing up as the instructors wanted which means I have to try to do the chats at work so I'm not getting quite as much out of them.

The topics on the life cycle of yeast, yeast management and control of fermentation temperatures were really useful and interesting. The material was presented in a way that the biochemical aspects did not make me feel like I was going to pass out. The filtration chapter was probably the hardest I have come across so far, I feel like the provided material was not terribly clear in describing how a filter operates (in terms where wort flows and where the filtration medium is deposited) but my instructor provided me with some additional information that cleared up my questions.

This week I finally read the module I was most interested in, recipe formulation. There was not a lot of hard data on formulation (there were some slides adapted from Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels). There were however a few good things to think about regarding the difference between professional and home brewing, like the focus of recipes and brewing in general "homebrewer: art and craft, professional brewer: craft and science" and "The process of consistently producing the beer within defined specifications separates professional brewers from amateurs". The chapter also gave some good tips on taking notes during brewday. It was not what I had in mind but it was still a really useful read.

Recently I started studying brewing science and technology with the Siebel Institute. Honestly American Brewers Guild was my first choice  I really liked the idea that they set you up with an apprenticeship but classes were filled so far in advance I could not have begun until 2014 and I wanted to get a start on my brewing education so I could enter the industry as soon as possible. That being said Siebel has the benefit of being Americas oldest brewing school and working with Dommens in Germany as well as the World Brewing Academy.

Siebel has a series of 3 modules (or classes) that make up the associates program in brewing science and technology (raw materials and wort production, beer production and quality control, finally packaging and process technology). The entire program can be completed at the Siebel campus in Chicago or online (online classes last 3 months each).


I chose to take an additional introductory class called the concise course in brewing technology.  It covers the basics of the material from all the other classes. This is ideal for me because I'm currently working on my scientific background at SUNY Albany. The online classes are a combination of reading materials video/audio presentations as well as weekly online chats. The reading materials (and extras) are very thorough but generally the videos are presented by Germans from the Dommens academy and are sometimes a bit hard to understand. The weekly chats are probably the best educational tool and I wish there were more of them, The instructor facilitates a discussion of the topics covered in the previous weeks and answers any questions anybody may have. Additionally at the end of each module there are a series of short answer questions that must be answered and graded by the instructor, the questions are not always easy (a lot of them are) but not hard either. The instructor always provides good feedback on the answers.

In summary I feel the course is good and I am learning quite a bit, I would like to see more discussions but that could be hard to facilitate. My instructor is great he has proven to be very accessible and answers my questions very quickly. He was even kind enough to issue me a letter of introduction to help me in my search for an entry level brewing position.

I have been writing this blog for a few months now and recently i have been being asked what the focus of my writing is. I thought this would be a good opportunity to think about what my focus will be, look at some past posts I have written and talk a little about what i plan on writing about in the future.
Its obvious I write a good amount on home-brewing and I plan on continuing with those posts. One thing I don't think I will continue with is reviews of my own beers. I don't post my recipes online so a highly biased review of the beer on my part is pretty useless. I will, however, continue with posts on my brewing in general or interesting processing of ingredients.
I want to expand the posts I do concerning the professional brewing industry. One of the most popular posts on the blog to this day is the one about New York state hops. I'm already in the process in expanding this portion of my writing.
Finally I have FINALLY started my studies at Siebel ! So there will be many more posts coming up on my experiences in getting a formal brewing education.
In short Im going to eliminate the tastings and beer reviews (I'm not great with reviewing my own product and beer reviews are all over the internet, not to mention taste is very subjective) Im going to keep up the brewing process and ingredient posts like normal while expanding the posts on news/ issues concerning the professional brewing community.
Thank's everybody for reading so far, There are plenty more good posts coming.

Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter the owners and founders of the Brooklyn Brewery is one of the best beer books I have read in quite some time. Hindy majored in English in college and did most of the writing for the book. Having written for the associated press for a number of years Hindy knows how to keep the writing easy to read and how to pepper in exciting details (like being robbed at gunpoint or the dangers of the whole organization going under) to keep the pages turning.

The book is intended to be somewhat of a guide for entrepreneurs in general, not necessarily just for those trying to open a brewery or get into the beer or brewing industry. Hindy and Potter chronicle all of their successes as well as their mistakes in an honest fashion.

While the book is not only intended for people opening a brewery it naturally covers many issues one may face when doing so. Hindy and Potter cover issues such as contract brewing, distribution, and building their new brewery starting from the time the two partners decided to go into business together until about 2003, Potter retried from the brewery in 2004 however this is not covered in the book.

Often books on beer and brewing, even ones that deal with the business side of things or telling the larger story of the brewery can get tedious at times. Beer School stays interesting and easy to read for the entire length of the book, probably due to the fact that Steve Hindy had been writing for the associated press for so many years. I managed to tear through this book in about a week which is pretty quick for me. The book comes highly recommended for anybody looking to open a brewery, go pro, become self employed or is just interested in beer and brewing.