Quality Technician | Southern Tier Brewing Company

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Position: Quality Technician Job Type: FT, Regular, Hourly
Location: Lakewood, NY (Western NYS)
Reports To: Quality Manager Supervisory Responsibilities: None

To apply, send resume, cover letter, & salary requirements to jobs@stbcbeer.com

Job Description Summary:

The Quality Technician executes all daily quality duties and ensures that quality is a priority across the brewery. Quality Technicians at Southern Tier Brewing Company rotate monthly between packaging quality, laboratory and sensory shifts starting at either 6:00am, 7:00am or 8:00am, M-F. Weekend, second, and third shift work may be occasionally required.

Example List of Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Executes daily quality duties across the brewery according to the quality staff rotation plan, including rotating through second shift at least once during the busy season
• Daily Duties include, but are not limited to:
• Fill level checks
• DO, CO2, and TPO analysis of packaged product
• Mother carton and six pack carrier inspection
• Keg weight checks, sampling and occasional troubleshooting
• Glass quality monitoring and defect inspection
• Beer archive management
• Quarantine product and coordinate rework and release of quarantined product
• Preparation and sterilization of media, instruments, and labware
• Sterile sampling of fermenters and bright tanks
• Microbiological work-up of sterile samples
• Preparation and physical and chemical analysis of in-process and packaged beer samples including use of spectrophotometer, bench top DMA/Alcolyzer, pH meter and turbidimeter
• Cellar chores including gravities, bunging, and temperature monitoring and manipulations
• VDK sample collection, preparation, and analysis
• Yeast propagation and strain maintenance
• Cell counts
• Sensory panel scheduling and operation
• Preventive maintenance and troubleshooting of laboratory and cellar instruments
• Prepare samples and set up analyses on a GC/MS
• Occasionally train and learn from other employees or interns
• Data entry, communication and reporting of quality measurements
• Special development and research projects as needed
• Assists with the development of the Quality Management System including writing and revising Standard Operating Procedures, and other controlled documents.
• Assists with data analysis and reporting
• Assists with capital improvement research and commissioning

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities - The Quality Technician must possess:

• Chemistry / Biology, manufacturing quality or food science background
• Prior experience with packaging quality, gas chromatography, and/or molecular biology is highly desired
• Any experience with Krones BOTEC software is a plus as is a working knowledge of brewing and packaging processes.
• Knowledge of basic statistics
• Safe Laboratory and Brewery Operations and procedures
• Ability to safely handle and work with reagents and other potentially hazardous chemicals
• An understanding of the critical role of sanitation in the brewing process
• The ability to work well independently as well as part of a team
• Exceptional communication skills both verbal and written. Must be able to confidently speak in public
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task
• A strong work ethic / level of professionalism
• Microsoft Office Skills, particularly- ESPECIALLY- Excel spreadsheets

Minimum Education &/or Experience required:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry, Biology, Microbiology, Food Sciences, Fermentation or other directly related field.
• Wet laboratory experience. Additionally, course work, e.g. senior thesis research, research assistantship, and work experience after education, etc. is preferred.
• Physical Demands – The Quality Technician must be able to:
• Occasionally sit for long periods of time
• Frequently sit, stand, walk, bend over, twist, kneel, climb, stoop and crouch. This position requires the ability to routinely and repeatedly lift up to 55 pounds and maneuver 170 pounds repeatedly. (There is no elevator and the lab is located on the second story of the building, for example.)
• Use their hands to perform fine manipulation, handle or feel, and must be able to reach with hands and arms.
• Identify product deficiencies (color, smell, taste). This requires having close, distance, color and peripheral vision as well as depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.
• This position requires proper handling of hazardous materials and operation of complex moving machinery.

Work Environment:

• The Quality Technician will primarily perform work duties in a laboratory, with frequent trips to the production and warehouse areas.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to a damp, wet environment with hot liquids, airborne particles, chemicals, and moving machinery. The noise level in the work environment can be very loud.

Southern Tier Brewing Company is an Equal Opportunity Employer

To apply, send resume, cover letter, & salary requirements to jobs@stbcbeer.com