Teaching Mom Goes to Brew School: July 2014

Thursday, July 31, 2014

The End (IBD Exams: June 9-11, 2014) and on to the Next Phase

This will be the final post for Teaching Mom Goes to Brew School as we've finally reached the exams. But I've come to really like sharing my brewing path so I will continue to blog as we work towards opening our own brewery: Next Phase Brewing Company!

For those of you that don't know about the IBD, let me explain. The IBD stands for Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London, England and is a members organization (or as they spell it, organisation: the letter 's' is not popular over there). "The IBD's Vision Statement is: The advancement of education and professional development in the science and technologies of brewing, distilling and related industries." They provide training, resources, educational opportunities, examinations, and events to achieve their vision. The UC Davis Extension Master Brewer's Program chose the Diploma Brewers exam as the evaluation standard for students coming out of the program.

During the program we learned the exam is well known in the brewing world in Europe and gives a huge career advantage to those that pass it there. However, in the United States, the exam is not well known. Because of this, some took it very seriously, some didn't. Even though I wasn't looking for a job at the end of the program and didn't need to pass it for any reason, I took it very seriously. I saw it as a personal challenge and prepared for it as hard as I could. I know that learning something just to pass a test isn't a meaningful way to learn. But I saw it as a way to push myself to learn more, try harder, and just generally get as much from the program as I could while I was there. For me, I think it paid off. Due to the pressure of the waiting exam, I think I learned more in that 5 month period leading up to the exam than I ever have in that amount of time.

Where the magic (hopefully!) happened

So the exams finally arrived. The format was 3 exams over 3 days. They were each 3 hours and entailed answering 6 essay questions. So we all sat in a large room at the UC Davis Extension offices. There were people there that were not from the class since it was an official testing center in Northern California and there is no prerequisite for taking the exams. Anyone can take any of the exams (at a cost of £245 each, about $400 US). We were allowed to flip over the exam and spend 15 minutes reading the 8-10 given questions without picking up our pencil. We spent that time deciding which 6 questions we would like to answer and organizing our thoughts. At the end of 15 minutes, we could pick up our pencils and then spend 3 hours answering the questions in essay format. Three hours sounds like a lot of time. It's not. I wrote as fast as I could for each exam all three days and always used every minute and wished I'd had more time.

For anyone interested in more details about past and future exams, including: pass requirements, pass rates, the syllabus, previous examiners' reports, application information and more, visit the Diploma in Brewing site.

The 3 exams were:

Module 1: Materials and Wort
Module 2: Yeast and Beer
Module 3a: Packaging Technology
Module 3b: Process Technology

Day 1, Module 1. It had the highest pass rate historically. It is the exam I felt best about. As soon as I read the questions, I knew I could answer all of them. I picked my 6 favorite, wrote as fast as I could, and felt really good walking out the door. I wish I could remember what all of the questions were, but I think I've blocked out the experience. When they post the examiners' reports, I'll share them here.

Day 2, Module 2: Initially I feared this exam the most. It's a whole lot of microbiology and biochemistry. It also has the lowest pass rate historically. For a little perspective, the guy that won the J.S. Ford award last year (the person with the overall highest score... in the world... of all the exams combined) got an 'A' on Module 1, an 'A' on Module 3, and a 'C' on Module 2! But when I turned over the exam and read the questions, I felt really good. I knew I could answer 6 questions well. When it was done, I walked out feeling great about it. Oh, and by the way, the J.S. Ford winner has been someone from the UC Davis Master Brewers Program 5 out of the last 6 years. No pressure!

Day 3, Module 3: This was the toughest for me. In fact, the night before the exam when I was taking a last look through previous exam questions, I completely freaked out. I had no confidence that I could answer any of the questions well. The packing portion (you are given 5 questions for this half of the exam and have to answer 3) is a lot of memorizing details. The engineering portion (again, 5 questions, you must choose 3) is a lot of calculations. The good thing about freaking out is the calm that follows. I made peace with the fact I'd done really well on two out of three exams and it was alright if I didn't do well on the third. I would just go in and do my best. But then I turned over the exam and read all ten questions and really got my hopes up. I believed I could answer 6 well. I wouldn't be able to knock it out of the park like I'd felt I had on the first two, but I now believed I could pass. I walked out feeling good.

Dr. Michael Lewis

I still don't know if I passed or not because the results don't come until September at the earliest (Oh, wait, that means one more blog post!). Some people think that's crazy, but if you think about how much reading the examiners will have to do (I estimate I wrote 25 pages for each exam, totaling 75 pages someone else has to read carefully) to grade 3 exams from candidates taking it all over the world, it's reasonable.

After the exams, we all went back to Sudwerk's for a celebratory luncheon and ceremony. Each student had the opportunity to bring guests and introduce them to everyone else. My husband was able to come and it was the first chance I had to recognize him in front of everyone for all his sacrifice and support over the last 5 months. That was really special for me. We had a chance to visit, eat, drink, take pictures and just revel in our freedom. No more studying!

Dr. Charlie Bamforth

Dr. Jim Brown

The absolute highlight of the entire 5 month experience (and there were a lot of highlights) came when I was (feeling all starstruck) introducing my husband to one instructor, The Pope of Foam himself, Dr. Charlie Bamforth, and the first thing Dr. Bamforth said to my husband was, "Tell me why your wife stopped writing her blog." My jaw hit the floor. No joke. I stood there, mouth gaping, shocked and speechless. Charlie Bamforth had somehow stumbled onto my blog and then read it. More than once. AND never said anything to me about it. It was seriously flattering and a little bit scary and also a very good lesson about how remembering that everything you put on the internet can be read by anyone.

I'm putting a seemingly random link in right below, because it makes me happy and it is quintessential Charlie Bamforth. Watching this you will get to experience the feeling we did every day in class. Above and beyond everything else, the best thing about this class was being in the company of these people. There the kind of people you just want to sit and have a drink with and talk. Good times.

"Pour with vigor!" ~ Charlie Bamforth

Steve Presley

So after that, it was time to leave, celebrate and not study anything for a long time. Since then, I've spent about 6 weeks relaxing and catching up on the life I'd been neglecting. And from here, it's time to research buying our own small batch brewing system, brew like crazy, keep reading, go back to my regular teaching job to pay the bills, teach my husband everything I learned and continue this journey towards our second careers and Next Phase in life: our own brewery. Thanks for reading about some or all of this experience. If you ever have any questions about the brewing program or IBD exams, feel free to comment. Otherwise, stay tuned!

The only future lady brewers in class. Represent.

One last visit to the classroom together.

The one I saved for this occasion. There's one more for the day I get the test results!

Friday, July 18, 2014

Session 3: 3 Weeks of IBD Test Prep (May 19 - June 6, 2014)

I can feel that I'm running out of exciting things to say. Probably not the best way to start a blog post. But I want to see this through until the end in case anyone ever reads this that wants to know how the class works. So I'll be brief. The final third session of the program was specifically for IBD test review. A few people that left for the second session rejoined us. We also got some new people that were taking a 3 week refresher for the IBD exams either to take it for the first time or to review before retaking it after previously not passing it. The first week was all review for Module 3: Packaging and Engineering. Tom Shellhammer came from Oregon State to spend the week helping us review. The second week was review for Module 2 (the cold side, yeast, fermentation, flavor, color, spoilers, etc.). Dr. Brown and Dr. Bamforth helped us review all week. I had to miss two days to go back to work and see my students promote. The final week was Module 1 (the hot side: barley, malting, mashing, the boil, etc.) review. I think we all felt module 1 would be the easiest exam to take. The truth is, by this point, I felt like I knew it or I didn't. Sometimes I was freaking out big time and sometimes I was resigned and sometimes I felt good. I think it was all a form of exhaustion.

On the Saturday after class was done, Dr. Lewis helped put on the Davis Beer Fest to raise funds for his charity and we were all "volunteers". Some people were frustrated that we were expected to volunteer all day on the last Saturday before our exams. But the truth is, I don't know how much more I could have crammed into my head anyway. But it was REALLY hot that day and we were on ashphalt under an over pass. The highlight was probably seeing Dr. Lewis get out with the band and dance. But a close second and third was being right next to the Russian River booth and pouring with the New Glarus Brewery pourers. Neither of them had any beer left after the first 30 minutes!

All that's left after this was 3-3 hour exams on back-to-back days the following week. No sweat!

I stepped out for a 5 minute break and these were the notes I missed in week 2. My neighbor shared these with me. So much information... so fast.

Davis Beer Fest 2014

The Raspberry Tart was SO good, and...

... didn't last long.

Davis Beer Fest 2014

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Session 2: 5 Weeks of Discussion (April 14 - May 16, 2014)

This is honestly where it gets a little boring. The second session of the brewing class is considered "discussion". So there would be no more new material (big relief!), just a review of material presented in Session 1. The general format was labs on Monday and Friday, either at the UC Davis brewing lab or working with brewers at Sudwerks Brewery. Both days were useful for seeing and practicing methods we'd been reading about in books, but if it was stuff you'd already seen, then they were good days to stay home and study on your own. Tuesday through Thursday were usually review with the professors. They would come in and re-lecture or quiz us or try practice questions. There was lots of talk from students as to whether or not this part of the course was as helpful as we would have liked. Some people thought so, some didn't. Some skipped lots of days to study on their own, and some were there everyday. I was there most of the time, but stayed home occasionally when I thought studying on my own would help me more. I was very glad that I'd spent one of the 5 weeks at my internship at Stone Brewing.

A common theme for all of us was that we started deeply questioning our readiness for the upcoming IBD exams. Since the test is so unknown in the United States, there was lots of negative talk about it's practicality or necessity. Some said they didn't care whether they passed or not and some really wanted to. One way or the other, I think everyone was hitting the brewing wall. There's only so much that can go in your head, then it starts to feel like it's all coming out. I went from knowing nothing at the beginning of the class, to feeling like I had a great handle on it at the end of Session 1, then spent Session 2 feeling like I was knowing less and less. By the time we got to the end of the five week Session 2, I just wanted to be done. There were only 3 more weeks to come in Session 3, one week for each of the 3 modules on the exam. I wanted it to be over but also knew 3 weeks wasn't enough to be ready. Fatigue was upon us all.

Separating sifted milled malt to evaluate mill settings.

UC Davis Brewing Lab fermenters

UC Davis Brewing Lab Brewhouse

Thursday, July 10, 2014

40 Year Old Intern (April 5-19, 2014)

Well, technically 38. But it doesn't sound as good.

So here's how the UC Davis Master Brewer's Program works at this point. The first ten weeks were considered the first session. Some people came for just that part and we said goodbye to them at the end of the first ten weeks. Then we took a one week break which coincided with the Craft Brewer's Conference in Colorado. Some students attended. I didn't because I started an internship. After the week break, we started session 2 which lasted for 5 weeks. It was considered a "discussion" session in which we would review material from the first ten weeks, have practice exams for the 3 modules of the IBD exam and have lab time at the UC Davis Brewing lab.

During the second session, students that were "doing well" and didn't have a lot of brewing experience were encouraged to seek internships. I think about one third of the class did. I pursued one at Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California.

I drove down to San Diego the day after the first session ended. I chose Stone for 4 reasons:

I love their beer.
They are the best of the best.
Their Master Brewer, Mitch Steele, went through the Fermentation Science program at UC Davis with Dr. Lewis. I really wanted to do an internship at a brewery that understood and supported the UC Davis program.
I have family in San Diego and would have a place to stay.

Saturday and Sunday I got to hang out with family. Then on Monday, April 7, I drove to Stone to begin my internship. As on the first day of any new job, I was nervous and intimidated. But those fears were put to rest right away. From start to finish, everyone I met at Stone was gracious and generous with their time. I shadowed people throughout all parts of their job and asked endless questions. And no one ever seemed to be annoyed with me. On the first day, I worked with the Brewer Trainer. He gave me an overview of all department SOP's (briefly) and then walked me through each department and introduced me to people. I met with the safety supervisor and went through safety protocols.

On the remaining 9 days of my internship, I rotated through all departments and spent either a half day, whole day or multiple days in each one. I could get involved as much or as little as I wanted to and had the opportunity to ask as many questions as I wanted. Safety was always the most important concern by everyone with which I worked. I rotated through the cellar (fermentation and dry hopping), filtration and centrifuging (including transferring to packaging), brewing, engineering, small batch and the barrel works program, packaging, sensory, two different labs (one more microbiology and one more biochemistry), water treatment... trying to remember if there was anything else.

It's too much to detail everything. But a few highlights and observations are:

Stone's facility is beautiful in every respect. The restaurant and grounds are amazing and the beer and food were fantastic.
Stone employees have an amazing "personal beer" program: 2 10 oz beers after every shift (brewer's only), a growler per day any day you work a shift, 1 keg per month and 2 cases per month. It's more beer than you can drink so working at Stone ensures you have lots of friends!
Brewing is very hard work that doesn't pay very much. I knew this going in but it was confirmed.
Stone's safety practices were extremely impressive.
I was old compared to almost everyone.
You walk a lot when you brew. You'd think you'd gain weight working in a brewery, but you're drinking less than you think and walking probably more than you'd think.
The only stress I perceived was that Stone is growing so fast, the place is constantly under construction which means working around construction workers and equipment in a changing environment daily. Other than that, everyone seemed happy to be at Stone.
What I'd learned in the first ten weeks at UC Davis was put to the test. Being at Stone helped solidify everything I'd been learning. It felt really good to understand what was going on in everything I saw in every department.
One of the most exciting days was a day they brought in a new fermenter and moved out an old bright tank to packaging. A crane was needed and it was moved in and out through a hole in the roof!
One day while working in the brewhouse, a film crew moved through. They were filming Lance Rice. I didn't know who he was before. Now I do. Check out the "Beer Autism Hope" story. Inspiring.
On the last day, I got to have lunch with Mitch Steele. On Friday's, he has lunch with 3 employees from different departments. I'm so glad they fit me into the rotation before I left for home. I was all star struck... again... and got him to sign his book for me, IPA.