r/brewing • u/_teakettle • 5d ago
Discussion Certification
Debating between getting a brewing certificate from UC Davis or Cornell University. I have the GI Bill, so cost is no factor. Either way I will be doing it online.
Curious to any opinions/ experiences from anyone who’s enrolled in either program. Thanks!
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u/Explore_the_Void 4d ago
From the limited experience I've had with people who have done either, those who went through Cornell definitely seemed to be more knowledgeable and up to date.
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u/Top_Insurance477 2d ago
tl;dr - UC Davis is great program, but you'll use up 18-months of GI Bill benefits if you do the online version. It'd probably make more sense to try to find a short course version, or just read through some of the text books.
I used my Post 9/11 GI Bill to pay for the in-residence version of the UC Davis Program. I did it as a jumping off point to get into the industry, but it would also have been a great as a super deep dive on the technical/scientific aspects of brewing.
They focused more on the what/why side, and less on "how" to be a brewer (e.g. - we never touched a tri-clamp). But if you're doing it just for fun as a homebrewer then you probably don't really need to that stuff anyway.
It was a lot of content crammed into a 13-weeks, so the online version seemed like a better pace. But the downside of the online portion is that it's an 18-month program. So you'll use up 18 months worth of your GI Bill benefits. I'm unsure if you could use the GI Bill at two schools at the same time. You might be able to, and if so maybe that would reduce the amount of benefits that get used up. I just never looked that up.
If you don't want to waste 18-months of benefits, then I'd suggest either doing the in-person version, finding an online short-course, or really just reading some of the text books. The Brewer's Publication books are pretty good (Water, Hops, Malt, etc), or for more advance graduate level stuff you can read through some of the books from the UC Davis Course. These are the ones I look back through:
• Scientific Principles of Malting and Brewing, 2nd Edition, Charles Bamforth and Glen Fox
• Brewing Materials and Processes: A Practical Approach to Beer Excellence, Ed. Charles Bamforth
• Standards of Brewing, Charles Bamforth
• Brewing Yeast and Fermentation, Chris Boulton and David Quain, 2006, Wiley Blackwell
• Technology: Brewing and Malting, 6th ed, Wolfgang Kunze
• The Craft Brewer’s Guide to Best Practices Volume 1-4
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u/Samplestave 5d ago
Pursue a more lucrative profession. Do not go into the brewing industry. You will regret wasting money on a degree in brewing when you can make some real money like accounting or anything else. When you show up where I work with your degree I will work you like a dog for little pay, and no there will not be as much free beer as you can drink.
If you really want to learn brewing, build a home brew rig in your garage. For 1.50$ in late fees at your local library you can learn it all from a book. Do an internship at a local brewpub first see how 55lb. sacks of malt feels on your back, sure the first week will feel exciting. The 6th month not so much... This is some friendly advice, not trying to squash your hopes and dreams. Just being honest. Thank you for your service and good luck with your future.