5 basic aspects of an effective brewery

Today's beer industry is more competitive than many individuals imagine. Increasing competition, ever-changing consumer demands, and streamlined employees are driving many craft breweries to continuously innovate. Craft breweries need to bring delicious craft beer to the market and provide consistent, high-quality beer products. Craft breweries can implement quality control plans that cover all basic knowledge through training, targeted investment, and time-tested technology. A brewery that consistently produces high-quality beer has 5 basic elements.

1. Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)

GMP is a mix of best practices in risk management, training, traceability, and facility maintenance. Although the specific requirements of GMP will be different from brewery to brewery, these practices are the foundation for producing high-quality beer and developing a safe and clean working space.

A typical brewery GMP needs to cover the steps required to meet up all government regulations, such as for instance food handling and equipment safety practices. The GMP must also include appropriate health and hygiene requirements, and the cleaning and maintenance of the brewery team and brewery equipment and tools (such whilst the CIP cleaning process of each brewery equipment). Additionally, GMP must also cover the use and storage of chemicals, product date coding, and appropriate pest control.

Even a small brewery could have multiple team members performing similar procedures. The brewery should let everyone follow exactly the same correct steps to operate the brewery equipment to brew beer. Additionally, continuous internal audits are required to ensure the rigor of these procedures. That is a critical thing because it will promote the consistency of the beer.

GMP may come into play even before the brewery is opened, and everyone needs to check out proper design and construction protocols. As an example, avoid using porous or fibrous materials (exposed plasterboard, wood, etc.). Breweries need to utilize fabrics in wash areas where cleanliness and bacteria are considered.

2. Yeast cell count and viability test

Yeast is normally the only real living organism in beer and needs to be used and monitored carefully. When the amount of yeast is insufficient, the fermentation process may be slowed down or even unable to perform the fermentation. Additionally, it might also cause diacetyl to appear in the finished beer, leaving a peculiar smell similar to butterscotch or buttered popcorn. Too quickly fermentation will waste lots of precious yeast and cause other problems.

Compressed yeast as a result of low cell counts or improper storage of yeast can cause undesirable characteristics in beer, such as for instance beer with a natural apple or rotten egg flavor. To stop the yeast from being stressed, every brewery should conduct a yeast cell count and vitality test.

Testing yeast regularly requires the usage of widely available laboratory equipment, including microscopes and blood cell counters. You'll find complete cell counting programs on the web sites of many yeast suppliers and other industry resources. Many brewers consider themselves "yeast farmers" and are devoted to maintaining the fitness of the most crucial biological element in fermentation, and the main element element in beer flavor and consistency.

3. Simple microbial detection

Brewer's yeast is a significant biological component, but other microorganisms are often undesirable because they might have an immeasurable effect on the final beer. Bacteria (such as Lactobacillus and Pediococcus) and wild yeast (such as Brettanomyces) can easily contaminate the brewing environment. These equipment available on people, raw materials, air, or improperly cleaned equipment may cause beer deterioration, peculiar smell, unnecessary turbidity, and excessive carbonation. Oftentimes, these effects are only discovered after the item is packaged, distributed, or sold to customers, which will be not conducive to the trustworthiness of the brewery.

Those breweries that strictly abide by GMP can offer good brewery hygiene and prevent beer deterioration caused by harmful microorganisms. However, the presence of harmful microorganisms can just only be determined through proper testing. It is advised to utilize an HLP tube (Hsu's Lactobacillus-Pediococcus) to detect those beer spoilage bacteria in the finished beer. The brewer can use an external laboratory for testing or send samples to a brewery capable of testing for testing.

These are not very expensive or time-consuming practices, especially when considering the potential loss in revenue because of the reputational risks caused by damaged beer or product recalls. If possible, it is better to conduct microbiological testing through the brewing process, that has helped prevent potential problems. For all large breweries, this might be exactly like the "wort stability test", which is really a very low-tech technology.

4. Prevent oxidation

People need oxygen for a lifetime, but beer does not. Oxidized beer will produce a document or cardboard taste and will mask the aroma and flavor expected by the brewer. Several parts per billion (ppb) of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the finished beer will shorten the shelf life of the beer to only some weeks. Measuring DO is essential, and it needs to be measured after filling the bright tank. Since the longer you wait before measuring, the reduced the resin will be. The oxidation of beer can occur in many ways, but the most common ones are improper cleaning of the bright tank, utilization of oxygen-enriched water, improper equipment operation and maintenance, or improper packaging.

Breweries that always follow standard maintenance and packaging usually avoid oxidizing beer, but there are several specific practices to remember:

Cleaning and maintenance. Improperly cleaned and maintained pumps, valves, and gaskets can cause air to enter the beer equipment or packaged beer.

Packed properly. Make sure that the beer can be filled and covered normally in order to avoid excessive air entering the beer during packaging. However, keeping proper air and yeast in the packaging is conducive to the purity of beer flavor.

Measure DO and TPO. Many brewers use tools including the Anton Paar CBoxQC or the Haffman's Portable Optical CO2/O2/TPO Meter c-DGM to measure DO and total packaged oxygen (TPO) during each run. Once the measured values run above target levels, steps such as for instance adjusting fill levels or seamer settings can be used in order to avoid oxidized beer.

The brewery needs to utilize equipment that measures DO to gauge the upstream and downstream of potential oxygen entry points, which may bring huge benefits to troubleshooting. Seals, pumps, and other tools help breweries detect potential risks in beer and take measures to eradicate them.

5. Beer sensory analysis

In an entire brewery, beer won't be packaged without tasting. The reason being a strict sensory analysis plan is likely to be developed in an entire brewery. That is the most crucial beer quality check. Does the beer taste good? Do you wish to drink it again? Are your visitors pleased with the beer flavor?

Sensory analysis procedures can be simple and fun. The brewery needs to have selected and trained staff (may not be brewers) members to choose odors and understand the right style characteristics of the brewery. These members are called sensory analysis teams. They'll taste the beer in the bright tank your day before the planned packaging. The beer is likely to be packaged only after the beer flavor is qualified.

Additionally, the packaging and quality team must also select a few of the packaged beer to store for later tasting. It will help the team have a good comprehension of the shelf life of each style and provide insights into how flavor characteristics change over time. You can also see that some reliable tasters spend very little amount of time in the production workshop, but they have a higher degree of recognition of certain peculiar smells than the most experienced winemakers.

Using targeted, data-driven quality assurance methods, breweries can save lots of time and money and will avoid potential future batch problems. Leadership team members must strictly abide by all the 5 basic elements and make improvements to the fundamental elements. We believe your brewery can be successful!

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