Brewmasters oversee the beer-making process in breweries of various sizes, ensuring quality and consistency. They gather ingredients, mix, boil, chill, store, and bottle beer, with cleanliness being crucial. Tasting the beer is a vital part of the job, and networking with other beer professionals is common. Becoming a brewmaster typically requires years of experience or certification from a school.
A brewmaster makes beer. This might seem like a dream job to some, but the brewing process is a highly skilled art that can be complicated, tedious, time-consuming, and even dangerous. Brewmasters work in breweries of many sizes around the world and often oversee the brewing process from start to finish.
The amount of work required for a brewmaster depends mainly on the work environment and the amount of brewing required. In a large production facility, such as a commercial brewery, the position may involve more of a managerial role that involves overseeing those who do most of the hands-on work. In microbreweries, where beer is produced in much smaller quantities, a master brewer will often have a much larger role in the entire brewing process. Homebrewers and amateurs are also considered master brewers.
The main duty of the brewmaster is to guarantee the quality of the brewed beer, which includes ensuring that batches of the same beer are consistent. There are several steps in the process that must be followed to strict specifications. They start with gathering the necessary ingredients, some of which must be handpicked by the brewer depending on the uniqueness of the beer. The unique ingredient possibilities are virtually endless, but include malted grains, hops, yeast, woods and fruits.
What follows is the complicated process of mixing, boiling, chilling, storing and bottling all of the beer ingredients. A more involved brewer is present during most, if not all, of these steps. He or she must ensure that exact specifications are met regarding the temperatures of the mixtures and the various times they must be treated and allowed to settle.
In the worst case scenario, failure to follow the proper protocol can lead to beer that is not fit for consumption; this product must be discarded and the whole process must be started from scratch. The most important consideration for a brewmaster is the cleanliness of fermentation equipment. Contamination, especially when the beer is chilled, will stop proper fermentation, rendering the batch useless. Mixtures prepared improperly or impatiently can also cause dangerous conditions, even leading to exploding beer bottles and other dangerous conditions.
After brewing a batch of beer, a brewmaster must taste it – which many consider the best part of the job. This is where their experience really comes into play; they must be able to taste the slightest variation between batches and ensure that a unique drink has the flavors, colors and other qualities he or she had in mind. Beer tasting can also consist of getting outside opinions of a product, allowing customers to test it.
Many brewers also network with other beer professionals for new ideas and business advice. Others are trainers and teachers tasked with showing beginners how to brew beer in both casual and professional settings. The requirements to become a brewmaster vary by brewery, but generally involve years of experience. Some schools offer certifications that can help an aspiring person gain employment under an experienced master brewer, where they can begin to gain the necessary experience to work independently.
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