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LeBreton · 09-06-2012, 01:32 AM

Don't stress the tri-clamps, you'll get the hang of them but sometimes you just come up against one which refuses to submit. The trick is to be more stubborn than the stainless.

Goofynewfie · 09-06-2012, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricR

I was lucky enough to be accepted to Canada's one and only Brewmaster and Brewery Operations school in Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario.

Olds college in alberta offers a 2 yr brewmaster as well

EricR · 09-06-2012, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goofynewfie

Olds college in alberta offers a 2 yr brewmaster as well

Really? Did not know that, in fact my teachers have been saying that Niagara is the only course of its kind in Canada. I know the school was planning a partnership with a college out west, how long has Olds offered their course?

**EDIT**

Upon further inspection this course is indeed associated with my school, and it begins in September of 2013

http://www.oldscollege.ca/programs/Horticulture/brewmaster.htm

Definitely cool to see the program expanding, maybe by the time it starts I will get the opportunity to travel to Alberta and check it out!

EricR · 09-06-2012, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeBreton

Don't stress the tri-clamps, you'll get the hang of them but sometimes you just come up against one which refuses to submit. The trick is to be more stubborn than the stainless.

I spent some of the down time playing around with the spare tri-clamps and some other fittings, starting to get the hang of it but it still takes me probably about 3X as long as it should. I refuse to be beaten by a lifeless hunk of metal, so I will persevere!

EricR · 09-06-2012, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhamilton

Subscribed & Congrats!

I'm very curious to see what the Computer Applications course entails.

I am not getting my hopes up for this class, as it is not specifically part of the program. From the looks of the course outline I will be learning how to send e-mails, use Microsoft word, power point and excel. It will be a truly thrilling class, but at least I can do the majority of it online.

Goofynewfie · 09-06-2012, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricR

Really? Did not know that, in fact my teachers have been saying that Niagara is the only course of its kind in Canada. I know the school was planning a partnership with a college out west, how long has Olds offered their course?

I think this is only the first or second year. Would be interesting to compare the curriculum
Edit
I thought the newspaper said it was already going but must have been mistaken

Goofynewfie · 09-06-2012, 03:42 PM

Also of you make it to alberta you might be interested in checking out sherbrooke liquor in edmonton, they stock over 1000 different beers

BeerCanuck · 09-08-2012, 01:45 AM

Glad to hear the courses are starting well for you Eric.
It is nice to hear the craft brewing interest developing in Niagara.
I had a chance to check out Silversmith Breweries recently and was impressed with there 50 amp version of the electric brewery.

Cheers;
Steve

EricR · 09-08-2012, 09:44 PM

I haven't had the opportunity to try any of their beers yet, but I hear they are quite tasty. The building where they are housed is beautiful as well.

EricR · 09-09-2012, 09:18 PM

On Fridays I have two courses; Math, starting at 8:30, and Introduction to Brewing which is from 9:30-12:30. This past Friday there was some kind of scheduling mix up resulting in our Math professor being in a completely different room than 95% of the class. We still got homework though,so there’s that…

After waiting around for the clock to run out on the math class it was finally off to intro to brewing, which due to scheduling conflicts was first changed to a room in the basement of the food and hospitality building, then moved back to its original room in the main building. For our first class we were given a presentation on safety when handling chemicals from our chemical supplier, Ecolabs. We were scheduled to have a two hour presentation but due to scheduling conflicts the person giving the presentation had to cut it short so the presentation lasted only an hour. I will admit that I had a hard time focusing on the presentation, as most of it was pretty straight forward. We were given a true or false quiz at the end of the class which was going to count towards our marks. It was an easy quiz and once it was done Jon, who is teaching this class as well as Practical Brewing, gave us a presentation on safety in the brewhouse.

All told, scheduling errors took up the majority of the day and by the time we were done in class I was ready for the weekend and a pint or two of quality brew. It has been an interesting first few days and for once in my life I am actually looking forward to classes on Monday.

Cheers,
Eric