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Employees drinking beer during the day?

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  • #31
    Originally posted by Lex
    Fat doesn't help with blood alcohol content, so hire brawny brewers.

    This still excludes me, unfortunately

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    • #32
      if the fattest brewers wins then I get first prize. In my real job we had to fill out a health questionnaire thing which I didn't want to do but whatever. anyways the results came back that based on cholesterol, triglycerides, BP, height and weight that by and large I am healthy but too short for my weight.
      Tim Eichinger
      Visit our website blackhuskybrewing.com

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      • #33
        Necessary sampling

        Does anyone here who has a drinking policy allowing necessary sampling for QC/QA provide a specific definition of "necessary sampling"?
        Or do you just use that language and trust your employees' discretion?

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        • #34
          I learned early on as a helper (unpaid at the time) in a brewpub that any beer at all during the day was not going to work at all for me. Not only the confusion while trying to learn, but the fatigue that can accompany alcohol consumption was what made that perfectly clear!

          A very famous man in the brewing field by the name of Lewis (some of you may know him) once told me (paraphrased):

          "As a professional brewer, you have committed to a life of relative sobriety... there is nothing more detrimental and harmful to the art of brewing than the drunken brewer. I know it may not be what you want to hear, but it's the truth. It's true."

          (He wasn't reprimanding me for anything specific at the time... LOL)

          Aside from the obvious safety issues while working, we as professionals have an obligation to act in such a way that preserves respect for what we do.

          I, like most, would never want to give up enjoying the fruits of my (and others) labor; great beer is one of the best things in life IMO.

          But, I think it is important to remember that if one allows it to turn into a drinking job, nothing good can come of it.
          Jeff Drum - Brewer
          San Diego Brewing Co.

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          • #35
            Originally posted by GoldenArm
            Does anyone here who has a drinking policy allowing necessary sampling for QC/QA provide a specific definition of "necessary sampling"?
            Or do you just use that language and trust your employees' discretion?
            It is understood at our brewery that drinking in excess is not acceptable. We do a taste panel for QA/QC 5 days a week with 4-6 beers (3 oz each). generally these samples are not completely finished...

            Before any beer goes to packaging we pull QA taste samples to sign off as it is actually REQUIRED. Generally this happens towards the end of a shift so there is no issues however sometimes it does fall in the middle. There is no written policy, moreso trust as you said with employee discretion. Tasting is necessary and can't be avoided. All our employees have the ability to pull samples directly from process as well to check status of bright tanks, filter, centrifuge and fermenters at any time for any reason....We do this to help maintain our quality standards and it works very well...

            That is a great quote from Lewis as well....It is very true.

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            • #36
              Originally posted by DBrewer
              It is understood at our brewery that drinking in excess is not acceptable. We do a taste panel for QA/QC 5 days a week with 4-6 beers (3 oz each). generally these samples are not completely finished...

              Before any beer goes to packaging we pull QA taste samples to sign off as it is actually REQUIRED. Generally this happens towards the end of a shift so there is no issues however sometimes it does fall in the middle. There is no written policy, moreso trust as you said with employee discretion..
              A serious question, if you don't mind me inadvertently prying into your brewery's procedures:

              the first part, do you have standards for what constitutes a 'pass' or a 'fail' for the QA taste sample before release to packaging?

              and secondly, what happens if a batch 'fails' the QA sensory check?

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              • #37
                Originally posted by kai
                Yes, it sure can. But your palate is much sharper at the start of the day, so in my opinion it's much better to do tasting sessions in the morning.

                Just save it till the toothpaste taste is out of your mouth.

                On one level, I understand that since it's very true that the tastebuds are sharper in the morning.

                On the other hand though, morning isn't really the time that most people drink beer. So it seems to me that a tasting session later in the day would give a clearer indication what customers will actually be tasting in the afternoon/evening, the more typical consumption scenario.

                Depends on how you look at it, I suppose...

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                • #38
                  Remember that we are really working in a hazardous evironment often

                  I do electrical control work for a manfacturer and came to the biz from construction and industrial electric work and even though I'm around amazing beer and great folks I always have to remind folks that the workplace we make this amazing beer in is rife with opportunities to hurt or kill when not acting carefully. I never drink on task until I have stopped work for the day. I am not as concerned with harming myself(which I am pretty concerned about) as much as I am concerned for others who could be affected by an accident due to my negligence. Any person who has a concience would rue the day they caused somebody harm due to being buzzed and inattentive
                  Tasting aint drinking and work safety MUST come first
                  Besides , I want to be able to relax when I drink

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                  • #39
                    Is QC sampling the same as drinking? I'm quite happy to evaluate my beers and generally only ever pour 2 ounces (50ml) to get a good sensory perception of what's going on. Using decent tasting glasses that trap aroma also help.
                    Regards,
                    Chris Mills

                    Kereru Brewing Company
                    http://kererubrewing.co.nz

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                    • #40
                      What happened at Harpoon?

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                      • #41
                        A plastic keg was mixed into their returns and the keg failed when subjected to their cleaning regimen which included a high pressure purge. It killed the cleaning operator in the process. The operator wasn't inebriated but their cleaning program had several missing safe guards and they were fined by OSHA as a result.

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                        • #42
                          That wasn't Harpoon, that was Redhook's Portsmouth plant. And no drinking was involved; their keg washer was using air pressures that were fine for steel (engineered to hold 10 times its max working capacity, 60 psi, so about 600psi as I remember) but not fine for plastic PKA kegs (which are rated for 60 working, but pop at 90, or so I heard).

                          That said, yep. No drinking while dealing with dangerous anything.
                          Russell Everett
                          Co-Founder / Head Brewer
                          Bainbridge Island Brewing
                          Bainbridge Island, WA

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                          • #43
                            Originally posted by Bainbridge View Post
                            their keg washer was using air pressures that were fine for steel (engineered to hold 10 times its max working capacity, 60 psi, so about 600psi as I remember)
                            I think the problem was that they had no pressure regulation on the air compressor, and that the keg's pressure relief also failed. I've had a PKA keg fail at the center seam under normal working pressure (10-12 psi), but my hypothesis is that it had been weakened by multiple freeze-thaw cycles after a bar left it outside.


                            Sent from my Microsoft Bob

                            Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
                            seanterrill.com/category/brewing | twomilebrewing.com

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                            • #44
                              Zombie Thread!

                              I'm reviving this thread to chime in on the subject... I recently had an incident where an employee became very intoxicated while filling kegs and then attempted to act as though they were not impaired even though I could tell that they were within 30 seconds of our conversation. We're also still learning our system losses, so we're getting less kegs out of our 3bbl system than it can do, so of course I now have in the back of my mind how much of those losses may be due to imbibing.

                              I had thought it was clear before, but it's crystal clear for me now: beer consumption is limited to QA work while you're on the clock. Period.

                              I really hate playing the heavy, but this is too damn dangerous of an industry to let people drink on the job. I need to be able to trust the people I've hired, and do, but incidents like I just encountered really affect that. Just my two cents.
                              Kevin Shertz
                              Chester River Brewing Company
                              Chestertown, MD

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                              • #45
                                Same for Off Site for Our Folks

                                We've experienced a few incidents of folks from other breweries making asses out of themselves after hours. In the first incident, since we're still in the build out phase and were working some potential accounts, we were asking about the things that the restaurant liked and disliked about dealing with the local breweries, trying to improve our customer service. The manager told us he wouldn't be carrying beer from one local brewery because one of the guys from the brewery had come in after work, got shit faced, started spouting all sorts of nonsense, and generally making an ass out of himself, while still in his work clothes and representing himself as an employee. Second incident, this young guy who is an assistant brewer at a different local place shows up to the anniversary party for another brewery, and does essentially the same thing, only this time at me. I wasn't sober, but I wasn't being a dick. Not that I ratted the kid out, but he's definitely not super welcome at my place. The head brewer we have hired and the other owner and I have agreed that drinking at another brewery or at a customer's place is just like drinking at our brewery. We're not anti-fun by any stretch, but one incident like the above, and you're done.

                                As for working hours, no drinking except for required QA/QC until everything scheduled that day is done. If I came to the brewery and found staff having beers while there was still work in the brewery not done, I would likely loose my cool. It's a brewery, but it's still a job, with lots of hazards and all it takes is one incident where someone gets hurt, even if the drinking wasn't the cause. It's just not worth it. I have lots of other ways to be a cool boss, like our pimp employee lounge and keezer with R&D batches that they can take all they want of, with the above rules always being in play. Our motto is, "Work Hard. Have fun. Don't be an asshole."

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