Hi folks! Today I’ve got something a little different, it’s something from my archives that it turns out I never posted because I was writing other things at the time for the Ingredients series.
I emailed a brewery here in Brisbane, Australia, called Green Beacon Brewing Co. and told them of my plan in my previous Professional Series Post to get some interviews and advice from people in the industry and get their perspective on brewing as a whole and what they do on a day to day basis.
I chose Green Beacon because they were, and still are incredibly popular and going through a big expansion at the time. They have always seemed to have a great balance of approachable and drinkable beers while still exploring new avenues and trialing some out-there and experimental beers, especially with their Fathom Series of barrel-aged beers which are just delicious.
Because of this great balance of business strategies they built for themselves they gained a fantastic reputation worthy of attracting the attention of bigger businesses. This led to a partnership with Asahi that allowed them to expand and grow like wildfire.
I gave Johann Van Der Walt, Green Beacon’s Head Brewer, a list of questions. It was probably a bit longer than he was expecting! But he was gracious enough to find time to go through them for us.
Because this particular interview took place in the past there are many aspects here that we did not discuss, including their partnership with Asahi. I would very much like to have a beer and a chat with them about it so I can update our chat so Johann, if you’re reading this, please reach out! I’d love to shout you a beer and talk your ear off for a few minutes!
Sean: How long have you been brewing for?
Johann: About 10 years or so now.
S: Did you start out as a home brewer?
J: Yes I did, it all grew from there until I started down the professional path.
S: What’s your favourite thing about making beer?
J: Probably drinking it!
S: How did you get your start as a brewer professionally?
J: I started off at a homebrew shop doing all the work no one wanted to do, like cleaning and repacking hops. The owner bought a ‘brew for you’ premises and I started brewing “professionally” and moved into a job at a small brewery [Green Beacon] soon after.
S: What’s your day like? Run me through a day in the life of a brewer here.
J: There’s lots going on with large amounts of production over 2 sites so a big part of the day in my role is just making sure nothing gets missed.
S: What do you love about your job?
J: It can be very creative at times.
S: What’s one aspect of your job that you yourself didn’t, or a home brewer wouldn’t expect?
J: That yeast is one of the most important ingredients. It’s so easy to treat right and it will give you amazing results repeatedly. Unfortunately its easier treat it bad, but treat it bad and it will give you bad beer. Simple.
S: Are all breweries and brewing jobs created equal? That is to say, what’s the workplace like? Is an assistant brewer job in one brewery the same as an assistant brewer in another?
J: No, absolutely not! An “assistant brewer” could be anything from making wort to packaging of beer. The difference between roles can be vast.
S: How much experimentation do you get to do? Either tweaking current recipes or creating new ones for seasonal releases?
J: A lot. There is always some tweaking to be made, sometimes in the name of adjusting the taste of a beer but more often than not it’s small changes made to keep a beer tasting on brand because of differences in raw ingredients over time.
S: What does that process look like? Small scale vs scaling up to full production.
J: They are very similar. Equipment differences is the big one to know.
S: What considerations do you have to make when designing a recipe to make it work on a large system?
J: Once again, you have to know the differences between the big system and the pilot system. Boil off percentages, dead space etc. to ensure it’s repeatable on the bigger system. Once you know those differences it should translate well into the full scale production.
S: What is the beer industry like from the brewers aspect? From the home brewers aspect it is open, collaborative, enjoyable and sharing. Everyone loves each other’s beer because…it’s beer! Is that carried across to commercial brewers?
J: Sometimes, sometimes not. Some people love to share their knowledge about their role or experience, others are in fear that someone might be better than them!
S: What aspects of the industry or your role have you seen change over time? Is that good or bad?
J: I have seen an increase in quality, which I think is good. Something that has not changed is people relying on another person’s knowledge, not the knowledge in a good book but the kind shared at a BBQ, and not exploring themselves. I think to really gain as much knowledge as you can in this field it’s best to read and educate yourself then explore on your own terms. Advice is good, but one person’s opinion shouldn’t always be taken as read.
S: Where do you see it going next?
J: Who knows?!
S: With the rise in popularity of Brut IPA’s, NEIPA’s, Milkshake IPA’s, some barrel aged beers and the absolute explosion of sour beers recently, what is your prediction for the next popular beer?
J: I really hope we start seeing some good lagers!
S: Advice for home brewers joining the industry? What you tell them to focus on? Any qualifications? How to get a foot in the door?
J: Absolutely, focus on educating yourself. Go and get a qualification. Show initiative and the ability to work hard at any time. Be prepared to start a career on basic wages. Commitment and passion for the industry will be essential but I can’t recommend highly enough the value of going and getting qualified.
S: What’s the biggest difference between home and commercial brewing?
J: They are very similar…you get good/bad homebrewers, some that get a good thing and stick to it and some the never brew the same beer twice. It’s the same for commercial brewers.
S: How do the two industries influence each other? What can pro brewers learn from home brewers and vice versa?
J: I think that if you start your career as a professional brewer without the homebrewer background you can, sometimes, lack that creative aspect that home brewing helps you develop. Homebrewers also learn a lot about plumbing and making something from nothing from tinkering and just doing enough to get the job done with very little resources.
Big thanks to Johann for giving me these answers a long time ago and I’m glad I’ve finally gotten the opportunity to post them! Like I said above, I’d love to have another chat to Johann in the future and do a bit of a follow-up to see how things are going now they have been with Asahi for some time.
Thanks to you all, catch you in the next post!
Sean
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