An Internship in Brewing

This summer Brewers’ Company members Shepherd Neame Brewery generously hosted a Brewing Internship for Dame Alice Owen's School Alumna, Ibtihaaj Koleoso.

Shepherd Neame’s Quality Department hosted Ibtihaaj for 8 weeks between 1 July and 31 August, during her summer break before her second year studying Natural Sciences at Loughborough University. The focus of the Internship was a hands on approach to learning.

Ibtihaaj challenged the laboratory team through shadowing and learning analysis and best practices from them. She not only got to spend a few days brewing the Small Batch Brewery, but she got to create her own recipe and showcase it to the CAMRA members during their annual tour. For a project Ibtihaaj investigated haze stability in Shepherd Neame’s beer, this being one of the first things customers look at on when deciding if a beer is of good quality or not. Outside of laboratory and brewing work she edited and updated many of the standard operating procedures, conducted hygiene audits around production, and shadowed the engineering team to understand their processes.

This placement brought Ibtihaaj an understanding of brewing laboratories, an introduction to the basics of brewing and practical experience of science in industry. Meanwhile, having Ibtihaaj on board was a great benefit to the Shepherd Neame Production Team and helped the brewery to identify some areas for improvement which they are currently investigating.

The support of Brewers’ Company members in providing this sort of invaluable, hands on experience for alumni of our schools is very much appreciated and we look forward to facilitating more such internships in the future.