Just a few pics

My last brew day at Doemens

I can not believe how fast the time has flown by! It seems like just yesterday I started to learn about brewing on  a professional level, and here we are on my last week of school. Officially the class ends on Dec 4 but class ends this Friday 11/19. We then tour all of those lovely places I previously listed. This week will be a lot of studying as well as a lot of drinking at the end of it. In  any case on my last brew day, I milled grain, cleaned tanks, made adjustments, pitched yeast, and delivered spent grain to a local farmer. Guess which of those deserved a picture? ALL of course, but there was no time for that! Here it is, a picture of the cows who will enjoy my spent grain.

A few pics

Hands on

Wow, it has been pretty hectic here! I brewed beer on a system just as complex (100% computer controlled) the Budwiser plant, yet hundreds of times smaller. The day before brewing we had a nice long day in the lab. We plated 17 different bacteria and yeast cultures. After that we learned how to determine which bacteria or yeast is causing issues in a brewery. I thought for sure we were all done, but then the professor handed each group 4 unknown beer spoilers. It was now our task to determine what each one of the samples were. I had learned all of this back in Chicago, but I didn't really make much of it. After doing the lab work I can see how useful it is to know how to plate and determine unknown samples.

I know everyone learns different, but I think almost everyone can agree that we all learn a bit better by actually doing the work.

I have a few pictures I would love to post, but there are about 300 people on a connection that was likely intended for a house hold. There are some on my flickr account.

Quick posting

macalnc - Flickr

So I have been taking many many photos, and I realized the blogger site is not ideal for this sort of thing. Facebook is not accessible to everyone so this seemed to be the best solution.

more to follow
hopefully tonight...

If link above does not work

http://www.flickr.com/photos/macalnc/

First Day of Class

I have to apologize I didn't take any pictures of the Doemens school today. I was overwhelmed with trains, and a sleepless night, professors starting promptly at 9am and no breakfast. I spoke far too soon, my body and mind decided it was a good idea to fight the time change. Last night was hard.. Today I am so tired, all I want to do is sleep. I am not going to sleep as early as I wish instead I am going to push myself as I did the first night to stay awake until about 10pm. Then hopefully I will be fully converted to German time. 

At school today we were pushed hard. I am shocked to see how demanding the instructors are here, compared to how they were in the US. So incase anyone is wondering, this is the practical side of my brewing education. Here we will brew, ferment, bottle, keg. Oh yeah and maybe a little bit of cleaning. Due to the large size of the class we have been broken up into two groups. Tomorrow my group will be doing some lab analysis work, and brewing Thursday. 

Heres the link to the place I am staying http://www.wombats-hostels.com/munich/

Here the google maps link Link

Munich

I had no idea how easy it was going to be to adjust to the 6 hour time change! Plane left at 9:45pm on 10/30 we arrived at noon on 10/31. Basically slept a few hours on the plane, then forced myself to stay awake until 10pm. The plane had all of the bathrooms downstairs which was really neat. Across the street from the hostel I am staying at the is best pizza I have in a 2 months. Yeah says a lot about the pizza I found in Chicago. Today, is a German holiday so everything is closed including school. Sort of a free day.. I am going with a few classmate on a walking tour and we will figure out how to make our way to school. (no one told us how to get from point a to point b. I have a feeling it might not be as easy as it was in Chicago, but there are many public transportation options.

Friday, Stressful Friday

The past 5 Fridays have been very, very challenging. Not only have we completed some 32 hours of classroom time, but we also have our tests Friday morning. By the time 3pm rolls around most of the class has a beer at their desk. The real problem with Fridays, is that after the test we dive right in to information that will be on the next test. Well this last Friday something unique occurred. We technically had our last test at Siebel. So most of the lectures afterwards were not likely to be taken seriously. Well I was right, but I was also very wrong. We had a long lecture on automatic systems with wireless devices taking measurements and giving feedback with zero human interaction (Ok for bud or coors) however I wouldn't call either of those breweries very artistic. Although interesting, almost pointless for someone like me who wants to be there to turn the valves. After that, Randy Mosher Author of Radical Brewing presented beer and food pairing as well as treating us to 8 unique different pairings. My favorite was the Hefe with the mozzarella cheese. Below are a few pictures from the event. This was also our farewell to those students who will not be coming with us to Germany.

Yes, I said Lots of news

Yesterday, finally we were given our flight information! It was a bit stressful knowing I would be flying to Germany but uncertain of the exact date or time Friday10/29 night or Saturday10/30. Well that has all been sorted out.
We will be flying
Lufthansa Airlines Flight # 435 10/30 @9:45pm Arriving: Munich Germany 10/31 @12:30 pm

        Returning
Lufthansa Airlines Flight #434 12/4 @ 3:30pm Arriving: 12/4 @ 6:20pm (Same Day)

So what have I been up to? Well plenty of studying, in fact those days are close to being over. I just finished the first portion of the International Diploma Brewing Course called the associate Course.  The next week, I will partake in an in depth study. There are two parts to this, its basically is a crash course in business operations and problem solving. This week is all group work, it is a competition, with presentations on Friday.

All in all, this has been very educational, well worth it. Now for the fun part.

Lots of News

About a week ago (I know, I know) we were given the list of places that we would visit on the European Study Tour that takes place for 2 weeks after we finished our education at Doemens Academy. There is one location missing on Dec 3rd, because that is a still a surprise :).

Nov. 22

Hotel National

Luitpoldstraße 37

96052 Bamberg, Germany

 

Nov. 23

Hotel Brauerei Keller

Hauptstrasse 66

63897 Miltenberg, Germany

 

Nov. 24

Best Western Premier Park

Clevisscher Ring 121

51063 Cologne, Germany

 

Nov. 25

Hotel Ibis Tilburg

Hub van Doorneweg 105

5026 RB Tilburg, Netherlands

 

Nov. 26

Hotel Ibis Leuven Centrum

Brusselsestraat 52

B-3000 Leuven, Begium

 

Nov. 27-Dec.1

Royal National Hotel

38-51 Bedford Way

London

WC1H 0AP United Kingdom

 

December 2

Hotel Thon Residence Parnasse

Idaliestraat 8

1050 Brussels, Belgium

 

Local Oktoberfest

So...Last weekend, my friend Sam and I made our way to the local home brewers club (HOPS)Oktoberfest. I felt a bit left out missing my clubs fest, last year was one of the best fests I have been too. I was very surprised to find out that ASH my club is about 10 times the size of one in Chicago. A few pics from the fest.

Study.Study.Study

These binders each represents one week of school. The skinny narrow binder is filled with notes, the books to the side are of course additional readings. Thankfully I spend about 1.5 hours on the train a day. So studying doesn't impact my life too much. 

So, I know a lot of people were assuming that brewing school was going to be more about drinking and almost a second college experience than an educational experience. I can tell you this, I have spent more time reading and studying these past 3 weeks than I did in the first 3 semesters at NAU. I'm not suggesting that NAU was a walk in the park, but the pace is much more intense. I spend about 45 hours a week in school, and another 10-15 hours studying.

All in all, sorry for the lack of updates. I will post more often. While in Germany expect a lot of updates.

School is Flying By!

School started last Monday on 9/12 in the Goose Island Brewpub. Since then, I have had close to 45 hours of school time, one test and many beers. Typical day starts at 8:30 am and for the most part class is over at 5pm. There were a few days that ran over and one that ended early. Lunch is at noon, and most of the class heads over to the bier strube, or beer room. There are a few kegs on tap and believe it or not, its all you can drink. I have yet to see anyone abuse or take advantage of all of the free beer, but I's sure it will happen once or twice. The commute is very relaxing and easy to manage. I am taking full advantage of the public transportation. Below are a few pictures from the open house.

Chicago with Uncle Ken and Laura

Old Chicago 8/31 Good Friends

We Made It

In case you were wondering, I made it to Chicago. That is, Laura and I made the drive out to Downers Grove, and visited Chicago. It was a rough start but thanks to the Haws's hospitality we had a refreshing start for the second leg of the trip. I would also like to thank Lori and Tom for hosting us for a night. Laura flew home yesterday 9/7 and after a flight delay and a late arrival she made it to Phoenix with out her bag. She was reunited with her bag this afternoon.

As for Brewing School:

I am spending my last few days off reading over course material, looking over the train and bus schedules as well as hitting up the local brewpubs/breweries. 

9/11 Trip to Bells Brewery/ Kalamazoo car show with Uncle Ken

9/12 Siebel Open House - Pizza and Beer! How cool is that? 

9/13 School starts

Pics to follow from trip to Chicago. 

Second Proposed Route

It's a tad bit longer, but it sure would be nice to see family. Maybe we can even partake in a gluten free meal? Any suggestions on different routes are more than welcomed, even slight alterations.

Road Trip!!!!

Laura and I planned out the drive, or rather map-quest did. We plan to make a two day trip out of it, stopping half way in OKC. With any luck we will get into town with enough time to check out one or two of the local breweries and find a place to sleep. We start driving on 9/1 at 5 am.