What study topic should I choose for a brewing certificate I'm applying for?

[Finlandbrews]

I'm going to study for a general brewing certificate and I have to choose a topic for a part of the examination between two topics and I was wondering which one to choose. In other words what should I consider when choosing one or the other topic and what is most valuable with regards to future trends. Aren't bright beer systems very used in craft breweries either? What can be more valuable knowledge according to you and why?

9A - Bright Beer Preparation (Mainstream option A) - focuses on chilled and filtered (bright) beer preparation, as well as high gravity dilution and carbonation.

Or

9B - Cask and Craft Beer Preparation and Packaging (Craft option B) - focuses on the preparation and packaging of cask beer, as well as chilled and filtered beer for craft beer.

Thanks for the help!

 

[BrewSavage]

Cask ale, which I love is the only thing I drink when visiting there, is 8% of the British beer market.

 

[Hanglow]

The first if you want to work in a big brewery, the second if you want to work in a small one.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Personally, I think you should take both.

 

[Marktic]

I am writing the exam in a couple weeks. They do send you material for both options once you sign up, the only difference being 1 section of one chapter. The mainstream option focuses on how the big breweries do things, focusing on high gravity dilution and a more in depth version of filtration. If you are looking at getting a job in a major lager brewery, this is the option for you. The craft option would be more interesting to a homebrewer, or someone interested in a micro/nano brewery. Cask beer is way more interesting, so this is the option I took. The sections on finings and priming have crossover to the homebrewer as well. Good luck, let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[Finlandbrews]

I am writing the exam in a couple weeks. They do send you material for both options once you sign up, the only difference being 1 section of one chapter. The mainstream option focuses on how the big breweries do things, focusing on high gravity dilution and a more in depth version of filtration. If you are looking at getting a job in a major lager brewery, this is the option for you. The craft option would be more interesting to a homebrewer, or someone interested in a micro/nano brewery. Cask beer is way more interesting, so this is the option I took. The sections on finings and priming have crossover to the homebrewer as well. Good luck, let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks for the feedback, I indeed thought of taking second option. By the way how much time you think is needed to be ready for the exam if you study 10/15 hours a week? I'm planning to book the exam for may 2017 thinking that 6 months should be enough. What is your opinion? I do have some knowledge already almost ready for cicerone certified and going to pass bjcp tasting exam in 4 months.

When are you passing the exam?

Cheers

 

[Marktic]

I think 6 months should be plenty of time if you have prior knowledge. Some of the chapters are not exactly brewing related, so I have found myself allowing more time for those ones. I started preparing for the Exam two and a half months in advance, and I write it on November 8th. I put in maybe 8-10 hours a week studying. I definitely feel like I am under prepared at this point, but have plans to study the next couple weekends without interruptions.

 

[Finlandbrews]

I think 6 months should be plenty of time if you have prior knowledge. Some of the chapters are not exactly brewing related, so I have found myself allowing more time for those ones. I started preparing for the Exam two and a half months in advance, and I write it on November 8th. I put in maybe 8-10 hours a week studying. I definitely feel like I am under prepared at this point, but have plans to study the next couple weekends without interruptions.

Hi Marktic, how did your exam go? Do you know when you get the results? I'm going to pass the exam on 9 May.

 

[Marktic]

Went very well I think. Was a tough exam though. Tougher than I had expected. Memorize their material very well. Do you have the material now? Let me know when you have read it a few times through. I wrote the exam with a friend of mine, and to study, we made practice tests for one another. I don't have my results yet, and they say it could be a few more weeks.

 

[Finlandbrews]

Went very well I think. Was a tough exam though. Tougher than I had expected. Memorize their material very well. Do you have the material now? Let me know when you have read it a few times through. I wrote the exam with a friend of mine, and to study, we made practice tests for one another. I don't have my results yet, and they say it could be a few more weeks.

Great to hear!! I m hoping to have it read fully by end of this month (now on section 9 cask conditionning) and at least on time more by end of next month! I took exam for May as well for certificate in packaging so I have to start that next month too. But I will focus a lot on diagrams on the second read and googling some videos and pictures to grasp more.

Did you find the time to be a constraint or only difficulty of questions?

 

[Marktic]

We are given two hours to write the exam. I sped through it and was finished in around 40 minutes, but then spent another hour re-reading every question before I submitted. I felt like it was more than enough time to write.

You will be moving on to some pretty boring chapters coming up...#10 Beer quality and process control, #14 Quality management, #20 Brewing and the environment...these were probably the worst for me. There seems to be a large common sense factor to these chapters, so I spent less time reading them than the others. Don't do that...they made the questions extra difficult from those sections. All the other chapters I found well written and interesting enough for me to seek out further reading on the subject matter. I definitely learned a thing or two.

 

[Finlandbrews]

We are given two hours to write the exam. I sped through it and was finished in around 40 minutes, but then spent another hour re-reading every question before I submitted. I felt like it was more than enough time to write.

You will be moving on to some pretty boring chapters coming up...#10 Beer quality and process control, #14 Quality management, #20 Brewing and the environment...these were probably the worst for me. There seems to be a large common sense factor to these chapters, so I spent less time reading them than the others. Don't do that...they made the questions extra difficult from those sections. All the other chapters I found well written and interesting enough for me to seek out further reading on the subject matter. I definitely learned a thing or two.

Did you pass it? I am 45 days from taking the exams... Did you say there were many drawings/diagrams? Also was it so that the questions are multiple choices with multiple answers?

 

[Marktic]

Yep, passed it, got a credit as well, which is in the 80-89% range. I think there were maybe 4 or 5 diagram questions. Probably a diagram of a yeast cell forsure, so know that well.

Some of the questions are posed as "select the two...." so it is not always a 1 in 5 odds of getting the question right. I believe there were usually 5 options but I cannot recall. Did you ever send me your email? I can see if I can find the practice tests me and my friend made and send them to you. We thought we had both studied fairly intensely so made the questions quite difficult. Turned out the exam was more challenging than either of us expected, so it was good practice.

I had fun with this exam. So much in fact I am going to be taking the diploma in brewing exam in 2018!

 

[Finlandbrews]

Wow, really nice! Can you also self study for the diploma in brewing or do you have to attend lectures there in uk? My email address is [email protected] Many thanks if you can send me these practice questions! I'm doing the GCP as well and it is thinner in information. I'm now focusing on the GCB with more attention to the syllabus and topics which will be tested.