I am going to be the new Head Brewer at Zauber Brewing Co. in Columbus. It's not totally official yet. I'm meeting with the owner to work out the details tomorrow afternoon, but he has explicitly said he is going to make me an offer.
This will be a great opportunity. It is a young brewery that has gone from a teensy pilot system to now having a really nice, brand new brewhouse. I'll be the guy in charge of all the brewing operations, with lots of creative influence, and someone else is handling the business/entrepreneurial brouhaha. The focus of the brewery is on traditional German and Belgian style beers with slightly American Craft twists, which is right up my alley. It's a brand new system, so I get to have the fun and excitement of figuring it all out, developing the SOP's, dialing in the recipes to the new system, and making it efficient. Basically, this is exactly the dream position I would describe for myself at the point I'm at.
I'm really stoked. It will be a few more weeks before the first batches from the new system are on taps. If anyone wants to come to the taphouse to share a pint, I'll let you know when they're on.
Thank-you for providing the world with a product that creates so much happiness!
Isn't that what you were looking for? Creative input?
Congrats.
Congrats man, sounds perfect.
So, drinks where and when?
aussiesmg wrote:
So, drinks where and when?
Zauber taproom. 909 West Fifth Ave. It'll be about another 3 weeks before we can enjoy any of the beers I made on tap, but I'm down to celebrate sometime in the next couple weeks.
N Sperlo wrote:
Isn't that what you were looking for? Creative input?
Darn skippy! Most of brewing (even as a head brewer) is not creative. Most of brewing is cleaning. But, I still get to develop and refine all those cleaning procedures and then train any future brewers.
Very close to OSU Medical Center which I happen to travel toward often for work deliveries so expect an impromptu drop-in some time in the future.
Congrats!
JohnRW1621 wrote:
Very close to OSU Medical Center which I happen to travel toward often for work deliveries so expect an impromptu drop-in some time in the future.
Congrats!
I'll look forward to it!
It is a very nice facility in a great location. Not a huge selection of taps, but genuinely some of the best variety of good beer I've seen around here, also wine and spirits. There will be a new patio opening up soon too.
For reference, it is directly across the street from the Moo-moo's and McDonalds.
Cool! Hope it works out for you!
Good to see you landing a spot doing what you put so much time and effort into doing.
bluej
SuperDork
7/22/14 9:51 p.m.
Sweet!!
We're flying in and out of Columbus the weekend of the 2nd/3rd for a wedding celebration saturday evening. Any big plans during the day on Saturday or Sunday?
Congrats man! If you guys ever get distribution into the sunny southeast, I'll contribute to your livelihood! Good on you for following the dream.
As an aside - someday when you've ironed out all those cleaning procedures I'd love to talk about what you clean and what chemicals you use. I develop new household cleaning products for a small company and I'm always looking for that kind of info.
Powar
SuperDork
7/23/14 7:29 a.m.
Dude. Awesome. If I make it back up to C-bus, I'll be sure to stop in.
Beer has been around a really long time...are we sure THIS isn't the world's oldest profession?
T.J.
PowerDork
7/23/14 7:40 a.m.
Congrats! That sounds like a great gig for you. My in-laws live about 2hrs outside Columbus, if I am ever in the area I'm stopping in for a beer.
trucke
Reader
7/23/14 8:04 a.m.
Congratulations!
I've never heard anyone describe their dream job with the phrase 'develop SOP's'.
I'm working on an SOP right now! 
I really do love my job too!
ultraclyde wrote:
As an aside - someday when you've ironed out all those cleaning procedures I'd love to talk about what you clean and what chemicals you use. I develop new household cleaning products for a small company and I'm always looking for that kind of info.
The chemicals will not change, although we might tweak concentrations a bit. Mostly it's going to be refining procedure to be most time efficient moving chemicals from one brewing vessel to another and being sure all the lines and everything get cleaned.
For chemicals in general: it's strong caustic to clean organic residue, sometimes acid to remove "beer stone" (mineral deposits from beer and wort), and then sanitize with iodine, another acid, and/or heat (I've used all three at different places for different applications). Feel free to PM me if you want more specifics.
trucke wrote:
I've never heard anyone describe their dream job with the phrase 'develop SOP's'.
Haha! Developing them is more fun than following them.
To me, figuring them out is like a game or a puzzle. It's like having a maze where you need to draw a line that goes through every single corridor and crosses itself the fewest times possible. And this is a fairly small and informal place, so it's not like they need to be typed up perfectly to distribute to several dozen people.
NOHOME
SuperDork
7/23/14 8:22 a.m.
Congrats on the new gig. Been there done that. Was an interesting 8 years.
You guys doing all ales or some lagers? With a three week schedule, I would think you are pushing it for lager unless you are doing what I call a "steam bear" that being a lager style with ale yeast.
As for cleaning, surprisingly similar to the dairy industry. Diversy and EcoLab both have you covered for cleaning systems.
There is a ton of chemistry that applies to brewing, however, the science (black art?) seems to come in the filtration and carbonation department.
Had two wild/contaminated yeast episodes during my tenure. Big hic-up in the business as it leaves you without product for a while.Actually started brewing pilot batches before using a new yeast pack.
Are you a doing solely bar distribution or individual customers? Bottle$ are a bitch. Best customers were keg clients and we went way out to supply keg systems at a big discount (under our cost) for those that were interested.
