Meet Valentine Wambui, the master brewer

It’s 8am at the brewing plant in Ruaraka and Valentine Wambui is checking in for her 12-hour shift.

She describes herself as a woman in engineering and a Christian who used to sing and play the guitar. Now, she is starting a family.

But Valentine’s humility is what made this interview so interesting. She is all what she described herself to be, and more.

MASTER BREWER

The 30-year-old is the master brewer at Kenya Breweries, a company that started operations in 1922 and sells millions of litres of beer annually.

Her interests, she says, are in converting raw materials to finished goods and the production processes involved. Renewable energy efficiency also falls under the same category.

This is why Valentine decided to pursue Chemical and Process Engineering for her undergraduate degree, where the journey to her adventurous career began.

“I came to East Africa Breweries as a graduate trainee in 2012, where I did rotations for the first three years. My first rotation was in asset care, which was in maintenance and engineering. I had two more rotations in different departments, my last being in brewing. I spent more time there and was confirmed as a shift brewer when the internship period elapsed,” she says.

EXPERT SKILLS

She then travelled to Germany to study Master Brewing, after which she came back to Kenya to apply her skills.

“My job involves converting raw materials into finished products. Everything that happens in between is my responsibility,” she says.

From her simple explanation, you would think that her responsibilities are a walk in the park. Not until she breaks each one of her tasks down: master brewing is not only about making recipes, or using recipes that are already available.

Every morning, Valentine has to assess how many trucks are on site in order to have an estimate of the material in them. She then goes to the brewing plant where she meets her team of 30 people to align to the day’s plan.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

“We hold meetings every morning in order to be in line, settle any arising issues, as well as check our key performance indicators. We then tackle issues from the previous day that were not handled or whose root cause could not be established. This way, we know what the watch-outs for the day are.

“Issues from yesterday should either not be there, or should have solutions for them underway. That is then followed by a breakdown of the day’s goals. The team assesses the space for safety purposes and everyone gets into action,” says Valentine.

She then meets and engages other stakeholders who need to be informed of the day’s plans and if there are any possible risks.

THE PROCESS

Valentine wears many hats in the beer-production industry.

She does fermentation control, which means she has to ensure that the beers follow their fermentation profiles.

“All the beers that we produce ferment differently. Each product should be in the same band of consistency to ensure they taste almost the same. I have a team that monitors and manages the recipes, which are usually in an automated system. I don’t need to micromanage them, only if there is a breakdown,” she says.

Valentine also manages the consistency in the brew house. Each specific beer should move from process to process at exact timelines and ranges. Failing which, the end product will not be true to type.

“Different beers have different recipes. The type of yeast, as well as how one tunes and separates it, also determines the flavour of the beer. Different materials, different process parameters and different ways to work determines the end product.”

SORGHUM

Flavours come from products like barley and sorghum. Recipes may be the same, but the flavour notes may not be desirable for a particular type of beer. For darker beers, the malt is roasted as it is being prepared. Twisting the malt also makes the product sweeter.

It’s also Valentine’s responsibility to deal with quality issues like leak spores, which make oxygen come to contact with beer. Oxygen in beer means that its ageing process will be faster.

The beer that Valentine brews is matured at sub-zero temperatures, meaning she has to observe the ranges.

COOLING PROCESS

She says: “Beer should not stay warm after fermentation. Some foreign products in beer tend to dissolve in warm temperatures and this means quality failure. They, however, form in freezing temperatures and we are able to remove them at that point.”

The batch is then moved to filtration where anything that was not removed in maturation is removed. This is a purely physical process that makes the beer clear.

After filtration, the beer is taken to packaging, where the quality parameters are checked.

It’s more of a confirmation because all the processes have been built to ensure the product’s quality.

There is already a line on one of the machines at this process which the operator uses to confirm whether the product is good.

The final product is then moved to storage in accordance with the priorities for the week and delivery planning is done at that point.

Quality assurance is a key part of the job.

METHYLATED SPIRIT

If chemical processes go wrong in the brewing process, for example if industrial methylated spirit, which is used for cooling, gets into the batch, the whole of it has to be destroyed.

For issues like changing parameters, which cause the alcohol percentages to differ, different batches can be blended out and their percentages averaged out.

The number of raw materials Valentine’s team gets has to make a certain amount of product at the end of the day, meaning she has to do the mass balancing.

“There are certain key-performance indicators for the losses. My job is to ensure we are within the range and identify and solve what went wrong if it’s not in range.”

WORKING SYSTEM

“We have a manufacturing management system that has been put in place to govern our way of work. Operations in our house and the brewing houses in other countries are the same. Our practices are standardised, thanks to the system. I am in charge of making sure the programme works for my team.”

The brewery has 5S, which basically is how orderly and clean one’s work environment is. There are maps in place in the brewing plant as well.

There is focused improvement which looks at solving everyday situational problems and ways of coming up with 100-year fixes to solve it at that moment.

Systemic problems, like drought or spoiling of the grain, are handled through small projects in a structured way of problem solving. The team uses these projects to drive high level solutions in the plant, with the key focus being proactive approach to problems,” Valentine says.

VISUAL MANAGEMENT

There is visual management to ensure that one can know there is a problem immediately. The plant has a way of presenting data in the simplest manner possible. Everything is also colour-coded for simplicity and saving time in identifying a problem.

Asset care is important in any job too to ensure they live out their lifetime. As for the brewery assets being depreciating assets, they work to extend them every so often.

“Our machines work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We need to ensure they work for us by ensuring we do not set them up for breakdowns. Planning around spares and machines is also important in managing money,” says Valentine.

All in all, Valentine says that the numerous challenges that come with the job are what excite her most. Without them, she would get too comfortable and eventually bored.

There is an overall equipment effectiveness done annually at the breweries. Figures have to be higher than the previous year. It is basically how well and efficiently they ensure they use their resources.

IMPROVEMENT

“This means that we are constantly on our toes trying to improve the percentage. This ensures continuous improvement, which may require new innovations, designs or equipment. It’s on me to inform and encourage my bosses on this.”

“The main challenge that comes with the job has to be conflicting priorities. They tend to get so mixed up at times. Normally, I solve this by putting safety at the top, followed by quality then delivery. A lot of things have to be balanced.

“The other challenge comes with the pressure during the peak seasons, especially in December during the festive season. Everyone on duty is always on their toes.”

She has been to Mozambique for an International Brewers and Distillers Conference, Ghana, Ethiopia, Dublin and South Africa, all to experience their different beer cultures. She hopes to travel to more countries for the same.

The challenging environment motivates Valentine the most. One week is a very long time for her and the team to say they will solve a problem.

“Things move fast in the brewery, probably because we work 24 hours a day and because we have stretching targets. New problems come up every day.

FREEDOM

“Here, we have a lot of freedom to succeed. One has to be innovative and creative and there is no limit to what a person should or should not do. It does not matter what position one is in the workplace. An idea can be implemented as long as it eliminates downtime, it is effective and cost friendly. It is a good thing to have our voices heard.”

Balancing work and personal life has not been hard for the 30-year-old because she is already conscious of that possibility.

For her, work hours remain the same, unless in the case of emergencies and in case of inconveniences, there are always compensations. Her supervisor makes it work for her and she does the same for her team.

Her advice to aspiring brewers?

“You need to be good in Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology. Plant physics is important as well because of physical laws in areas like pumping and fluids mechanics. Be open to trying out new recipes. Do not be afraid of making mistakes, because you will make a lot of them here. You just need to learn from them.”