Brewery Worker

A brewery worker operates and maintains equipment in breweries and craft beer production facilities, performing manual and semi-skilled tasks across brewing, fermentation, packaging, and quality control stages. They follow standardised operating procedures and safety protocols to ensure consistent product quality and safe working conditions in a production environment.

Operate brewhouses, fermentation tanks, and conditioning vessels according to brewing schedules and temperature specifications. Monitor and record fermentation parameters including temperature, gravity readings, and pH levels using calibrated instruments. Clean and sanitise brewing equipment, tanks, pipework, and packaging lines using approved detergents and chemical solutions in compliance with food safety standards. Transfer wort and finished beer between vessels using pumps, valves, and gravity systems while maintaining aseptic conditions. Load and operate bottling or canning lines, adjusting fill heights, carbonation levels, and labelling equipment. Collect samples from production batches and conduct basic quality checks including clarity, colour, and taste assessment. Maintain detailed brewing records and batch documentation for traceability and regulatory compliance. Store and manage raw materials including malts, hops, and yeast according to temperature and humidity requirements.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate I or compulsory secondary education (ABS skill level 5). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The pay ceiling is real. Unlike trades with clear progression to supervisor or business owner roles, brewery workers often cap out at mid-level wages with limited advancement unless you move into brewing science or management. You're also doing repetitive physical work in hot, humid conditions around heavy machinery, with early starts and shift work common in production facilities.

Most jobs are in major cities where craft beer culture is strongest. Some regional areas have growing scenes, but remote work isn't an option. Factory-style production is more common in established breweries than small craft operations, so check job listings in your state rather than assuming craft brewery culture equals job availability.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 8311, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Administer ingredients in food productioncore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Clean food and beverage machinerycore
• Goods Receipt Processingcore
• Incident Reportingcore
• Inventory Trackingcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Problem Solvingcore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Regulatory and Legislative Awarenesscore
• Risk Identificationcore
• Stock Counting and Stocktakecore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Act reliably
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Adhere to organisational guidelines
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracy
• Carry out checks of production plant equipment
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Process Improvement Identification
• Record Management
• Supplier Communication
• Verbal Communication
• Workload Self-Management

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026