So you want to be a microbrewer . . .

A friend of mine’s brother in law apparently wants to take up brewing so I thought I’d ask Twitter for advice. As usual, people were fantastically helpful and gave so many good recommendations I thought I’d post the advice here together with a few links I unearthed myself:

Do some home brewing

Recommended by most including @broadfordbrewer. (I think he already does)

@sky_larking recommended Andy Hamilton in Bristol who runs homebrew classes

There’s a new craft brewing school called Learn2Brew in Essex run by beer educator Nigel Sadler, who also works as operations & commercial Manager of a microbrewery

And there’s a useful article on home brewing here

Do a stint in a microbrewery

Could be that they’ll appreciate an extra pair of hands

@andywilliamsoak recommended the Tiny Rebel Brewing Company in Newport and @chefmpennington the wonderful new Wild Beer Co near Shepton Mallet in Somerset. (If you could brew like them you'd be laughing.)

Go on a course

@3friendsbrewery, @brewdogJHLondon, @grainbrewery and @redemptionbrew recommended Brewlab in Sunderland which has a 3 day ‘Start-up brewing’ course specifically for people who are thinking of starting up their own microbrewery.

@francesbrace suggested Campden BRI in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire which has a similar course for £540 plus specific courses on subjects such as brewery microbiology and beer taint.

The World Brewing Academy runs a seven week master brewing course in Chicago (thanks @questiolina and @billsimpson19) The Siebel institure one of the partners in that collaboration also runs its own shorter courses, including some online courses.

The School of Artisan Food, recommended by @jessicasneddon, doesn’t seem to have one currently on brewing although it has done in the past and may again. It does however have an introduction to artisan cider-making

and an update: Hartingtons School of Food in Bakewell now runs 2 & 3 day courses on setting up a microbrewery as of October last year. (See comment below)

There’s an international list of courses on the Brewers’ Association website here

Go to college

Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has an International Centre for Brewing and Distilling which offers honours and masters degrees in brewing and distilling. They also offer short courses and workshops

Nottingham University offers an MSc in Brewing Science and short courses

and the University of Sheffield runs an MSc in Microbrewing in the department of in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

And read . . .

@redemptionbrew recommends Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head’s Brewing up a Business. @ArborBrewerJon suggests The Microbrewer's Handbook by Ted Bruning.

There’s also a useful article on tastingbeers.com how to set up your own microbrewery here

If you have any other suggestions or tips, particularly for readers outside the UK, do post them below

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