Knoxville’s South College launches brewing school

South College, which used to be called Knoxville Business College, has been a part of the fabric of downtown Knoxville since 1882. Throughout its history, this bastion of education has endeavored to meet the demands of the East Tennessee business community, which now includes the craft beer craze enveloping the country.

Now enters South College’s Professional Brewing Science Certificate program, which is designed to provide the student with the foundational knowledge for successful employment in the brewing profession. The first two quarters of the program (which in total costs about $17,000) include classroom work in areas such as biology, chemistry and mathematics. During the last quarter, students will spend time in a brewing facility in order to supplement classwork with application. The program is designed for completion by full-time students in nine months. According to a local NBC affiliate, the rising popularity of micro brewers and craft beer pubs lead Todd White to start the Professional Brew Science program.

“In the south, it’s just now starting to explode, the craft beer industry,” said White. “It’s been exploding all over the United States pushing 20 years maybe and there is a huge demand to train a lot of good brewers. There’s only two major schools that were providing education for brew masters. One is in Chicago, one is on the west coast, with up to a three year waiting list.”

What exactly can someone learn in this program? Well, here’s the school’s syllabus:

• Demonstrate foundational knowledge of the microbiology and biochemistry concepts of fermentation pertaining to the brewing of beer.
• Demonstrate foundational knowledge of general physics and fluid dynamics and engineering concepts pertaining to the equipment used in the brewing of beer.
• Summarize the history of alcohol fermentation and the brewing of beer, and how this history relates to the legacy and future of brewing.
• Identify classic and craft-brew beer styles and describe production of each.
• Analyze and evaluate business concepts of the brewing industry and the day-to-day activities involved with the operation of a solvent brewing facility.
• Analyze and demonstrate the steps in brewing process – grain handling, malting, malt analysis, yeast and fermentation processes, raw materials and wort production, beer production, quality control, packaging processes, flavor production, and control.

Internship time will be spent at the Smoky Mountain Brewery brewing facility. The brewery sits on an 1,850-sq ft, 6-in. thick concrete slab with trench drains throughout. The brewery is a 15-barrel (bbl), three-vessel brewhouse, steam heated with 22 process tanks from 30 to 45 bbls each.

For more information, visit South College here.