Teaching Mom Goes to Brew School: 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.