A day in the life of a brewer

Just what do they get up to all day? We sent Glynn Davis to find out.

The popular perception of brewing is of a rather leisurely pursuit interspersed with regular visits to the tasting room, but the job of a brewer is in reality a tough one that differs widely between breweries.

There is also no such thing as a typical day in the life of a typical brewer as it will be very different working at a small regional operator in the United Kingdom compared with a large modern multinational in America’s Deep South.

One of the more traditional breweries in the UK is Timothy Taylor in Keighley, West Yorkshire – the producer of multiple-award-winning Landlord and the less well-known but gaining in popularity Golden Best – where parts of the day for second brewer Andrew Leman will have some similarity to those of his predecessors.

So to run through his average day, it all begins at 7:30am with a bit of mashing-in to get him in the mood. This involves mixing the crushed malt with hot liquor (consisting of the brewery’s own well water mixed with brewing salt) while the temperature is closely monitored. “We play with the dials so we can increase the malt-hopper opening and alter the temperature so we can keep it at 150 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Andrew.

At 8:00am the mash tun and its contents are left alone for two hours while the enzymes get to work and turn the starch to sugar. At this point Andrew puts the kettle on for the second mash of the day.

Meanwhile he fills out the ‘brewery sheets’ for the next day, which include the recipes for the specific T.....

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By Glynn Davis

Section : Beer Production

Page number : 18