I help to run and troubleshoot our distilling equipment. I also spend a lot of time making sure my teams know how the equipment works to make the same product every day. When my teams are ready, I spend time giving them the creative confidence they need in order to design products rather than just making products on equipment they already know how to operate. When I get calls from our sales team about forecasted sales, I plan the corresponding production, down to how much grain we need to plant.
CAREER
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Overview
Salary Median (2020)
$43,100
Projected Job Growth (2019-2029)
+3.5% (slower than the average)
Most Common Level of Education
High school diploma or equivalent
Career
Roadtrip Nation Leaders in This Career
What Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders Do
Set up, operate, or tend continuous flow or vat-type equipment; filter presses; shaker screens; centrifuges; condenser tubes; precipitating, fermenting, or evaporating tanks; scrubbing towers; or batch stills. These machines extract, sort, or separate liquids, gases, or solids from other materials to recover a refined product. Includes dairy processing equipment operators.
Other Job Titles Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders May Have
Blender, Brewer, Cellar Worker, Digester Cook, Machine Tender, Paper Machine Tender, Plant Operator, Pulper Operator, Winemaker
How Leaders Describe a Typical Day at Work
Right now, I'm really into home brewing and looking into someday owning my own brewpub here in Austin. So for me, the majority of my day is pretty relaxing. I like to do my brewing outside and test a few beers while I brew. On days when I'm working, I also get to spend a lot of my time outside. My job is fun, but what I like most about it is that when things need to get done, everyone comes together and works as a team to get them done. In that way, it's a lot like the military.
Tasks & Responsibilities May Include
- Dump, pour, or load specified amounts of refined or unrefined materials into equipment or containers for further processing or storage.
- Operate machines to process materials in compliance with applicable safety, energy, or environmental regulations.
- Monitor material flow or instruments, such as temperature or pressure gauges, indicators, or meters, to ensure optimal processing conditions.
- Turn valves or move controls to admit, drain, separate, filter, clarify, mix, or transfer materials.
- Set up or adjust machine controls to regulate conditions such as material flow, temperature, or pressure.
Education
Level of Education Attained by Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
Most common level of education among people in
this career: High school diploma or equivalent (33%)
High school diploma or equivalent
Some college, no degree
Bachelor's degree
Other*
*All other responses combined for clarity.
Majors Related to Career
Educational Paths Suggested by Leaders
Suggested Path
High School
Bachelor
Additional Skills & Experiences That Can Help You Excel
The willingness to learn from others is an incredible attribute for this job specifically. Hands-on learning is extremely important. Some of the best distillers I know don't have a strong science background; they put themselves around other distillers who knew what they were doing and soaked up everything they needed to know. Management of people is its own animal that needs to be embraced as well.
You need a hard work ethic and you need to be able to recover from your failures. You're going to make a few batches of beer that are going to turn out pretty badly, and you need to be able to just dump those out (or use them as beer pong beer!) and then learn from what went wrong and move on to your next batch.
Getting Started
Recommended First Step for:
College Students
If you want to brew beer for a living, you have to just start brewing. A lot of these big-time breweries were founded by guys like Jim Koch, just normal guys who were just brewing beer out of their homes and decided to turn it into their living. Personally, I'm also supplementing that with classes on business and biology so I can better understand the industry and the brewing process.
Everyone
This page includes information from theO*NET 26.1 Databaseby the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under theCC BY 4.0license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
