Be ready for anything

If there's anything I've learned from working at a brewery, it's that change is constant. Everything from the beer itself to our schedule to the needs of our distributor is constantly in flux. You've got to be ready for anything, and be able to (Excuse my hockey reference here) "change on the fly." Perhaps a run down of one of my days last week will better illustrate my point: Arrive at the brewery at 5 a.m. to brew. Start a cleaning cycle on my fermenter. Lay out grain and adjust water level in the kettle. Mash In. During mash in, I switch cycles on my fermenter and stir the kettle regularly. Thirty minutes later, I'm at conversion rest and find myself helping to set up a hot loop for a double filter. Finish hot loop and raise the kettle temperature for the mash transfer. Help get filter to the tank and started. Begin mash transfer. After that I go back to brewing, but know there's a truck coming at noon to pick up some kegs and a grain delivery on the way. As cliche as it sounds, if you can't multi-task, I've found that you'll always find yourself one step behind around here.