The new brewery operations management program at Olds College is getting ready to receive students on Sept. 3, with staff working last week to iron out kinks with the various pieces of brewery equipment.
The new brewery operations management program at Olds College is getting ready to receive students on Sept. 3, with staff working last week to iron out kinks with the various pieces of brewery equipment.
Twenty-six students will begin learning the craft of making beer in the program’s first year. The brewery is only the second teaching brewery in Canada. The college will brew four regular beers and two specialty beers at various times throughout the year and will specialize in ales.
"The brewery is ready to go and a British term I would use is they’re 'running it in’ right now," said Peter Johnston-Berresford, coordinator of the brewmaster and brewery operations management program, noting there were some minor tweaks being performed on the equipment, such as setting proper temperatures, that were being worked through last week.
Johnston-Berresford said the program wants to turn out the best students it can, so administrators are putting measures in place to screen students to make sure "they are dead serious about the art of brewing." Even with that screening process, the program has a wait-list.
"They do a portfolio for us, they answer some questions, and so on. So even with those additional burdens in place, we’re still getting good application rates," he said.
In addition to classroom time learning about the microbiology of brewing, students will be taken to local barley farms, a malting plant in Alix, one in Calgary and possibly one in Biggar, Sask., as well as going into the brewery to craft their own batches. Numerous people who are experts in the field of brewing have also agreed to come to the college during the program as guest lecturers to share their knowledge of the field with the students.
The brewery’s main area houses tanks for testing small batches, mixing ingredients for production of the larger batches as well as several side-rooms for testing different recipes and ingredients.
The college will produce 1,200 litres of beer per batch. It will take roughly 14 days to produce one batch.
"There’s an awful lot, in addition that we can show the students other than just brewing," Johnston-Berresford said.
Even as the program launches, Johnston-Berresford said the college is already planning how to make it better. He said the building, attached to the Pomeroy Inn and Suites on the campus’s northern edge, could have easily been twice the footprint it is.
"I think we have a little way to go in terms of a sensory lab where we can talk about sensory taste and training. I would love to see what we call a cicerone program being taught at the college. What that is is pairing food with beer," he said.
Johnston-Berresford would also like the college to consider purchasing a roaster and a malting plant at some point in the future to add to the educational offerings of the program.
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