Brewing Doctorate?

I'm getting ready to graduate with my Bachelor's in chemical engineering, and I'm really interested in getting into brewing when I graduate. I know there are plenty of programs such as those at Siebel and UC Davis to learn brewing, but I was wondering if there are any advanced degrees that you can get.
I was reading a book about the history of some breweries, and one of them (Alltech's Lexington Brewing Co.) was founded by a guy who got a master's and PhD in fermenting and brewing from the university of birmingham in the UK. I've done some research but can't find this. Does anyone know if this still exists, or if there are any other programs around where you can earn a doctorate in brewing?

OOh, would it be "Doctor of Fermentation Science"?

Not sure about the PhD, but UC Davis offers a Master's, I believe.

A friend who's head brewer at Russell Brewing in Vancouver did an advanced degree at a university in Scotland (St. Andrews, I think). His degree is in brewing and distilling science. He was a high school science teacher, did his masters in that program for a pay rise and ended up as a brewer. His brewery just won two medal at a brewer's awards in Chicago.

atlphenom said:

I'm getting ready to graduate with my Bachelor's in chemical engineering, and I'm really interested in getting into brewing when I graduate. I know there are plenty of programs such as those at Siebel and UC Davis to learn brewing, but I was wondering if there are any advanced degrees that you can get.
I was reading a book about the history of some breweries, and one of them (Alltech's Lexington Brewing Co.) was founded by a guy who got a master's and PhD in fermenting and brewing from the university of birmingham in the UK. I've done some research but can't find this. Does anyone know if this still exists, or if there are any other programs around where you can earn a doctorate in brewing?

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Transfer to Saint Louis University; you would have a good shot with AB. All of their chemists went to SLU (including August Busch). Really it is a matter of what exactly you want to do, but I would suppose that any advanced degree in o-chem would be good. Analytical chemistry is important, and probably chE.

Davis does offer a PhD in Food Sciences. I guess the first question I have though is what do you want to do with your degree? If you want to be a head brewer than the applied programs in brewing science at Davis or Siebold are the way to go. If you want to work in the academic world and do research (ie teach at UC Davis) the PhD would make sense. Much of the training and work you do to complete a PhD has little practical value in a working brewery.

GT

Got Trub? said:

Much of the training and work you do to complete a PhD has little practical value in a working brewery.

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Yeah, a PhD would pretty much only qualify you to teach and/or do brewing related research.

I am kind of a science nerd, so I mostly would want to do it just to learn more about the whole process from an in depth perspective. I would like to work as a brewer/brewmaster, but I also think it would be really neat to be able to do some research and try do develop new ways of brewing and new styles for a living. I'm mostly just trying to see what's out there, and I had never heard of someone being a "beer doctor" until that point. It'd be cool to be able to tell people "Yeah, I'm a doctor" "What kind?" "beer"

I know the U of Wisconsin added a class or 2 in brewery sciences to their microbiology (I think) program. Miller donated a mini brewing setup. I haven't seen it, but they said it was worth about $100k, so it's bigger than a homebrew setup. Probably bigger than a nanobrewery setup. But, I think it's just 1 or 2 classes, and they are undergrad courses.

atlphenom said:

I am kind of a science nerd, so I mostly would want to do it just to learn more about the whole process from an in depth perspective. I would like to work as a brewer/brewmaster, but I also think it would be really neat to be able to do some research and try do develop new ways of brewing and new styles for a living. I'm mostly just trying to see what's out there, and I had never heard of someone being a "beer doctor" until that point. It'd be cool to be able to tell people "Yeah, I'm a doctor" "What kind?" "beer"

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I'm about to go start graduate study at Oregon State University in their food science program. They offer a fermentation science concentration in the undergrad level and have the labs the support fermentation research. I'm in a similar situation to you where I'm a mechanical engineer and want to get into fermentation. I'm not sure if I really want to brew beer for a living because the other aspects of fermentation (vaccines and biofuels) also interest me.

I figure if I get the graduate degree, combined with the engineering degree it makes a pretty diverse candidate for a variety of jobs. I know my current industry (pharmaceutical engineering - think maintaining vaccine cell culture tanks and stuff) is filled with fermentation science people. Hell my manager graduated from the Davis food science program focusing in enology back in the day!

I'm going to see where it leads me, but a solid education is never a waste.

From what I've read and what has been mentioned in the thread there is no reason to go for higher level than the Brewmasters program at UC-Davis unless you want to be employed by some giant breweries who can afford your salary. Rather your top tier work would be owning/running your own brewery or being employed by another company. The brewery that employs you as a masterbrewer will want to pay you as a brewer first and doctor second. It kinda becomes a non-issue to go into that field. Trust me, I've looked into it as a soon to be molecular biology major. Just take your undergraduate knowledge and make it work for you! That's what I'm doing! You best believe I know my yeast.

I know a guy that's going for his PHD in microbiology, specializing in yeast. This guy knows his yeast.

homebeerbrewer said:

I know a guy that's going for his PHD in microbiology, specializing in yeast. This guy knows his yeast.

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They do know their yeast down to the transcriptional and translational level, but it really depends on what type of microbiologist he is. I'd prefer to go into yeast studies involving genetically engineering yeast to better convert 5 carbon sugars into ethanol, but it seems much of that research is in Germany or elsewhere. So I figured I'd stick to the brewing thing myself, but good luck to your man. Tell him there is a jealous molecular biologist out there.

Biology is good and coming from the manufacturing field, doing some basic time estimates and figuring out the capabilities vs actual performance of the brewing process would be good to know. Not to mention quality control statistics would be good too.

Don't forget get the business aspects, such as where are you going to get ingredients and bottles? Then legal aspects such as taxes, permits/licenses, inspections etc...

More upfront math will give you better incite into what to expect and see how great the plan is or see where it may be lacking.

onemanlan said:

They do know their yeast down to the transcriptional and translational level, but it really depends on what type of microbiologist he is. I'd prefer to go into yeast studies involving genetically engineering yeast to better convert 5 carbon sugars into ethanol, but it seems much of that research is in Germany or elsewhere. So I figured I'd stick to the brewing thing myself, but good luck to your man. Tell him there is a jealous molecular biologist out there.

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I hear they have good beer in Germany, that wouldn't be a bad choice.