Hear that? It's the sound of beer school calling your name!
For a few years, TAFE Victoria has been running brewing courses (more formally known as a Certificate III in Food Processing - FBP30121) at a couple of its campuses, and now the one at Bendigo TAFE is taking applicants for a 12 month course starting in July 2023.
It's a comprehensive introductory course that covers both general industry knowledge – think food safety, food quality, sustainability and OHS – alongside specific brewing skills like wort production, fermentation, beer maturation, filtration, packaging and product testing.
If you're interested in taking up brewing as a career, having this qualification in your back pocket is a massive leg-up. Throughout the course you'll learn how to:
- Produce good quality wort
- Manage, propagate & monitor yeast in the brewery
- Test pH, SG, yeast count and viability
- Critically assess beer and identify faults
- Clean tanks and pipework effectively and develop cleaning & sanitation plans
Completing the course involves a mix of online learning (two evenings per week), on-campus practical work, and work placement (15 to 20 days throughout the course).
As for who it's best suited for, it's designed to benefit existing brewery workers, anyone thinking about getting into the brewing industry for the first time, those keen on setting up their own microbrewery, and even homebrewers looking to take their hobby up a level or three. And if you happen to own or run a brewery, it'll do a solid job upskilling any entry-level staff and trainees.
Enrolments close July 10, 2023. For a limited time there are fee reductions up to 70 percent available for eligible regional Victorian students. Check your eligibility using the link below.
