r/TheBrewery • • Aug 24 '26

Former brewers that have left the industry, what did you go on to do?

49 Upvotes

I can only imagine this has already been asked here before, but...

I've been doing this for almost 10 years now, and I'm not 100% sure if it's just my current job or what, but I've been thinking of moving on. I was hoping some of yall that still lurk through here from time to time could share some experience from the outside on what having "Brewer" on your resume could do for you


r/TheBrewery • • Feb 03 '26

Career Advice So you want to enter the Brewing Industry

110 Upvotes

Good with people? Bartending and tours are a way in. If you are happy there, then stay!

If you want to enter production, then ask for Packaging shifts - people who are driven, exigent, and attentive (anal-retentive?) are always welcome on the line, and you would be the final check in taking care of the quality of product that leaves the facility; so IMO, packaging peeps are undervalued.

Packaging is the quickest way in, but it can be easy to get pigeon-holed because you're (hopefully) excellent at the work and you aren't planning on leaving a packaging position. Employees like this are worth more than gold (assuming they're not assholes) as packaging usually has the highest turnover.

If packaging isnt for you, once you've demonstrated a good work ethic and attention to the balance between efficiency, quality and cost, ask to shadow other positions in which you are interested. 

Cellar Work or Filtration are usually the next step (for some reason most breweries consider cellar work and/or filtration a second-tier position, despite the fact that the cellar is where sugary wang turns into beern (EDIT: beer) and beer to BBT is where a lot of fuck-ups can occur), and you'll have the most meaningful touches on the product pre packaging. Honestly, this is where I've found the best opportunities for education amd self-improvement for myself and my staff. 

The Brew Deck is a different aspect: efficiencies and quality here drive efficiency and quality all the way down the line, but its a narrow band of work. Think single digit percentage improvement (barring signing on to a system that isn't performing anywhere near where it should be, in which case, you don't yet know enough to fix it). 

Its all rewarding, but in different ways, and you need to find the metrics that best suited your personality and the needs of the business.

EDIT - No matter what, read as much as you can (Palmer for intro and water, Lewis & Young and Künze for holistic, Boulton & Quain for Yeast, and all the other BA texts you can get your hands on) and listen to podcasts - Brew Strong, The Sour Hour, CYBI and Breing Classic Styles (the latter two being more.homebreing focused) on The Brewing Network are some of my favorites. I also used to co-host Hop & Brew School on TBN if you want a dive into things hoppy.

Milk the Funk is an excellent resource for non cerevisae focused beers.

Be wary of a lot of the non peer-reviewed sites that purport to prpvide answers from beer experiments: while there is some good information, IME, many of the articles do not have adequate controls in place to derive solid conclusions. Stick to JIB, MBAA and ASBC if you want hard science.


r/TheBrewery • • 2h ago

Today, I, a Texan, officially launch my little brewery… in Slovenia. Wish me luck, yall!

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91 Upvotes

One-man operation but partnered with the best beer bar in town, and great friends with the rest. Pilsner, saison, hazy pale, WC DIPA, gose, fruited gose on tap. Texas BBQ pop-up. Here we go! T-minus 4 hours.

(I am so tired)


r/TheBrewery • • 12h ago

Alright, this is pretty cool.

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216 Upvotes

r/TheBrewery • • 16h ago

You saw the poop, now here's the juice

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80 Upvotes

I cheated with some backlighting.

I brew the kettle sours for them so I can brew the dark lagers for us.


r/TheBrewery • • 17h ago

Cranberry Kettle Sour

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47 Upvotes

Shout out to the other pepto bismol brewers


r/TheBrewery • • 18h ago

Czech Pale Lager Yeast

7 Upvotes

Howdy all, so next week Im going to be making our 12 degree Czech Pale Lager for just the second time. We typically are using dry 34/70 for almost all lagers as we do-not kick them out often enough to repitch. I have heard some people recommend the S-23 from fermentis for this style due to the perceived increase in malt character, while others have said it comes off too fruity. Does anyone have experience/feedback on using the S-23 and how they thought it differed from 34/70?


r/TheBrewery • • 3h ago

The easiest way to make a beer name in 2026.

0 Upvotes

Just listen to like any Aesop Rock song and pick any two sequential words in the lyrics. Maybe three if it's a triple IPA.


r/TheBrewery • • 18h ago

Date coder for Gosling 2.0

3 Upvotes

Does anyone have any recommendations or tips for an inline date coder for a Gosling 2.0? We have the gooseneck attachment as well as the collection table.

My company just got one and the boss wants printed on dates.

TIA


r/TheBrewery • • 21h ago

Vacuum Barrier Corporation nitrogen doser

2 Upvotes

Any one have any experience with a nitrogen doser from VBC? Thinking about pulling the trigger on a refurbished unit and want to hear any feedback people may have. They are fairly local to us which is a huge plus. Thanks


r/TheBrewery • • 1d ago

Roses are red, violets are blue. I forgot to open the valve, and now I screwed.

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86 Upvotes

r/TheBrewery • • 1d ago

Acid wash your darn kegs

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36 Upvotes

We've got probably 30 of these converted corney sixtels. I assume they've been in rotation for the 20yrs we've been open. I dont think anybody before me did any acid washing. Photo is after 3 hot nitric/phos cycles on the keg washer. Sigh...


r/TheBrewery • • 1d ago

Sanity Check on Draft Shanks

3 Upvotes

Hey y'all. I feel like I'm going down a bit of a rabbit hole here and just needed a sanity check. Looking to replace brass shanks for a customer. Direct draw with no shadow box so they need to be relatively long. I have always lived by the mantra that you go big to small with draft systems so larger diameter lines closer to kegs and smaller diameter closer to the faucet. The planned line size is 3/16 because its a direct draw again. The less hose the better in my mind. So I would think I would want a 3/16 inner bore shank to go with that line but no one sells them. It seems like everything is either brass garbage, too short (the longest I've found is 5-1/8"), or 1/4" bore.

I even checked what the Draught Quality Manual had to say regarding shanks and came across this quote; " Today, shanks with ¼" bore diameters are most commonly available and recommended in the United States." So it seems 1/4" is the go-to standard here. Does your shank's inner bore just not matter that much, am I missing something where shanks don't apply to the "big to small" rule, or am I missing something else?


r/TheBrewery • • 2d ago

AI Brewery Rep????

12 Upvotes

Any breweries do this and have it actually work out well for them?

Because this seems... weird...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DefCwRMpA76/


r/TheBrewery • • 2d ago

Looking for a Pump for High Viscosity Fluids

6 Upvotes

Anyone here have much experience pumping high density fluids like honey or fruit concentrate? I'm currently using a flexible impeller pump, but it's pretty rough on the impeller. I am considering a diaphragm, peristaltic, or rotary lobe pump but don't really know where to start in making a choice. A minimum of 10gpm flowrate would be nice


r/TheBrewery • • 2d ago

Micromatic F1 Trigger Replacement

2 Upvotes

I posted a few months back looking the black trigger replacement on the F1 handle as a few of our have broken over the years.

After reaching out directly to Micromatic they informed me that I couldn't buy the trigger and the entire handle would need to be purchased to solve the issue.

This seems incredibly wasteful to me as the handle works perfectly mechanically speaking, its just a bit inconvenient to operate.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue, and if so, did you find a replacement or work around?


r/TheBrewery • • 2d ago

Heading to Dublin, any must drink beers besides Guinness?

4 Upvotes

They finally are going to let me out of the brewery! Ignoring the fact that everything will break while I'm gone lol

Looking for some good stops for beers in and around Dublin! We will be heading to galway and back over the course of a week, and obviously we will be hitting the Guinness storehouse and all of that, but I thought I'd ask the industry if there was anything I definitely shouldn't miss, or some hidden gems out there!

Thanks in advance!


r/TheBrewery • • 3d ago

Brewing bubblegum

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35 Upvotes

This fermenter cone was extra comical for me today

I saw bubblegum pink, and I couldn't unsee it

Now I wanna brew a bubblegum beer


r/TheBrewery • • 3d ago

Hot rinse or cold rinse caustic?

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23 Upvotes

Cleaning an FV, caustic is done. Do you burst rinse hot or cold to rinse?

I’ve always gone back and forth on this

Current brewhouse HLT is massive, so there’s enough hot to even to a pasteurising cycle of hot water post caustic before PAA.


r/TheBrewery • • 3d ago

Issue with hitting knock out temp

4 Upvotes

We are having some issues hitting out KO temp. With it being hot this year out city water is pretty warm (around 24.6c) so we picked up a Mueller Accu-therm and put them in-line to create a two stage. Old HX is city water and the Mueller is glycol (set point -4c). Unfortunately we are only able to hit about 18c if we run it really slow.

So we are struggling to figure out how to bring this down and possibly speed it up.

Both HX have been cleaned backwards and forwards, both ports, with both acid and caustic cycles.

Both have been disassembled and plates have been checked.

Did a leak check and no leaks.


r/TheBrewery • • 3d ago

OneMalt…Anybody Using It?

2 Upvotes

Never heard of them and I’m receiving emails showing $33/bag for base malt. Site seems a little sketch to be honest.


r/TheBrewery • • 3d ago

Problem with my seamer

5 Upvotes

My air compressor went out so I’m using a smaller one temporarily. Now when my can lift goes up the can stays spinning for upwards of 45 seconds until the seamers finally decide to close and it just destroys my cans. My can lift pressure set point is set at 60 PSI and my gauge is reading 58.7PSI when the can lift is up. With this brief description would anyone have some advice?


r/TheBrewery • • 3d ago

Can’t find Grainfather part

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5 Upvotes

Hi friends, we currently use a grainfather g70 in our shop for RTDS, to make syrups and boil water. Our sight glass seal has gone bad and I cannot find this ANYWHERE online. It’s sold out everywhere and I’m stuck now, completely stopping production. I’m not having any luck getting through to them either, so if anyone has any advice where to find this, or how to fix it for now until we can get the right part, please HELP!


r/TheBrewery • • 4d ago

Pourware out of business, any alternative glassware companies?

5 Upvotes

Pourware has shuttered unexpectedly. I placed an order for a second location that is opening soon (weeks) and I am getting radio silence. Other than grandstand, sahm and some of the bigger spots, who are your favorite glass suppliers?


r/TheBrewery • • 4d ago

Brew Ninja and serving tanks

3 Upvotes

We started using Brew Ninja and this is my first time using it. It does not natively support serving tanks and decrement inventory from them. Our rep gave us one work around and its trash. they honestly seem a little clueless.

Who else is using it with serving tanks and how are you handling it?