I recently went to Hardywood Park Craft Brewery located in Richmond, VA, and found out they use a lot of volunteers to help them can and bottle their beers. I signed up on their list and just got an email, so I'll be canning and bottling for them on Friday. I'm super excited to see the process they use, and to help out a local brewery. Everyone wins. They have some pretty damn good beer, hopefully they'll let us have a bottle, although I doubt it. How many of you guys get to help out a local brewery like this?
Bottling and Canning for a Craft Brewery
- Thread starter Jarov
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
i was put off by a local brewery doing something similar and have had the thought rattling in my brain since. not only for canning lines but also working the bar at the tasting room, etc. this is perhaps not the thread for that discussion though.
i'm glad jarov is excited and i'm sure it will be interesting.
i'm surprised their insurance lets something like that go on.. i would assume there are some waivers involved
ThatGeekGuy
Well-Known Member
A lot of smaller breweries depend on volunteer labor in the early stages, to stretch their dollars and available labor hours. The local micros in Houston don't use volunteers in production or packaging, but definitely use them for serving duties at the tasting bar during tours and private events. The only requirement is to have a TABC server license, which costs about $15 for two years and about two hours taking the online class and test. It's a fun way to help out, and you may get a sixer of short fills or a growler fill as compensation along with having a few pints after the tour during cleanup.
It is an interesting reflection of our society how small breweries have become part of a larger cause worthy of our volunteer efforts. Much in the same way that we pile sandbags when flood water approaches, we now help our communities by volunteering at breweries.
Why? If they are upfront about the arrangement, and the volunteer enters the situation with full awareness, what's the problem? Sure, it's a company getting free labor, but again, no one is being forced, coerced, or lied to.
Brewing is probably one of the very few industries that can attract this type of volunteer... because it's interesting.
Nicely setup false dilemma. There is an overwhelming culture of volunteering in America for things that really matter. This does nothing to diminish that. Volunteering for one thing does not preclude the other. I'm sure if there was an emergency, the bottling line would be shut down.
Interesting read on that topic: Community volunteering after Sandy
It would only be a false dilemma if I said that people were volunteering at a brewery instead of sandbagging. Instead I'm pointing out that people think local breweries are of societal value and worth supporting any way they can.
You're welcome for that wicked pun by the way
I went to a brewery tour in ft worth an they used volunteers for bottling, they did pay them with any of the screw ups. One person that I talked to said when they did it they got a case of half full bottles
Other industries attracting this kind of volunteer: aviation, railways, racing, sports management, etc.
My distaste for using volunteers to perform crucial business tasks is more of a gut reaction.
I suppose one could argue that it is an unfair competitive advantage for the employer or that there is a change for exploitation of individuals down-on-their luck looking for any kind of work that could lead to employment. It is also questionable under the Federal Fair Labor Rules.
In any case, it is clear that I am on an island from the rest of the forum with regards to this issue, so I think I'll show myself out.
NickTheGreat
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2012
- Messages
- 1,289
- Reaction score
- 529
I believe I've heard of wineries charging people to help pick grapes. Or maybe I thought they should 
It was a pretty clear implication of your statement, even if you didn't explicitly state it that way.
Anyhow, no worries. Points made on both sides... brew on!
Quite a discussion going on, and debate, I didn't really expect that hahaha. I'm doing this simply because I have the time, I'm a college student with a summer part time job and three classes, none of which consumes a large portion of my time, and so I may as well do something with it. I also would love to see the process a real brewery uses to can and bottle. To me, helping a small brewery is kind of like karma. If I opened a small brewery, I would love to have volunteers help can and bottle, because the process of canning or bottling 500 gallons or more would be an incredible feat for a small 3-4 person team. If bottling takes an hour for a 5 gallon batch, it would take 500 man hours to bottle 500 gallons, that's a lot of time. Now they probably have good equipment so it may take only 250 man hours or so, but thats still pretty insane.
Just got back from bottling at the brewery. It was a lot of fun, a bit dull at first since I was using the labeling machine to put labels on an entire pallet of bottles. But after that it was enjoyable, and they had me helping with all sorts of stuff. I met new people, talked about beer and had a great time, and got myself some free beer . If you have the opportunity to volunteer at a brewery, I would recommend doing so, I'll definitely be doing it again.
. If you have the opportunity to volunteer at a brewery, I would recommend doing so, I'll definitely be doing it again.Similar threads
