Today's beer industry is more competitive than many people 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 precise requirements of GMP will vary from brewery to brewery, these practices are the basis for producing high-quality beer and creating a safe and clean working space.
A typical brewery GMP needs to cover the steps required to generally meet all government regulations, such as for example food handling and equipment safety practices. The GMP should also include appropriate health and hygiene requirements, and the cleaning and maintenance of the brewery team and brewery equipment and tools (such while the CIP cleaning procedure for each brewery equipment). Additionally, GMP should also cover the employment 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 the same correct steps to operate the brewery equipment to brew beer. Additionally, continuous internal audits are needed to ensure the rigor of these procedures. This really is an essential thing because it will promote the consistency of the beer.
GMP can come into play even before the brewery is opened, and everyone needs to follow proper design and construction protocols. For example, avoid using porous or fibrous materials (exposed plasterboard, wood, etc.). Breweries need to use fabrics in wash areas where cleanliness and bacteria are considered.
2. Yeast cell count and viability test
Yeast is generally the sole living organism in beer and needs to be used and monitored carefully. When the total amount of yeast is insufficient, the fermentation process may be slowed up or even unable to perform the fermentation. Additionally, it may also cause diacetyl to look in the finished beer, leaving a peculiar smell just like butterscotch or buttered popcorn. Too quickly fermentation will waste a lot of precious yeast and cause other problems.
Compressed yeast as a result of low cell counts or improper storage of yeast could cause undesirable characteristics in beer, such as for example beer with a green apple or rotten egg flavor. To prevent the yeast from being stressed, every brewery should conduct a yeast cell count and vitality test.
Testing yeast regularly requires the use of widely available laboratory equipment, including microscopes and blood cell counters. You will find complete cell counting programs on the websites 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 aspect in fermentation, and the key aspect in beer flavor and consistency.
3. Simple microbial detection
Brewer's yeast is an essential biological component, but other microorganisms are often undesirable because they could have an immeasurable effect on the final beer. Bacteria (such as Lactobacillus and Pediococcus) and wild yeast (such as Brettanomyces) can simply contaminate the brewing environment. These equipment available on people, raw materials, air, or improperly cleaned equipment might cause beer deterioration, peculiar smell, unnecessary turbidity, and excessive carbonation. In many cases, these effects are just discovered after the item is packaged, distributed, or sold to customers, which will be not conducive to the standing of the brewery.
Those breweries that strictly adhere to GMP provides good brewery hygiene and prevent beer deterioration caused by harmful microorganisms. However, the current presence of harmful microorganisms can only just be determined through proper testing. It is preferred to use an HLP tube (Hsu's Lactobacillus-Pediococcus) to detect those beer spoilage bacteria in the finished beer. The brewer may use an additional laboratory for testing or send samples to a brewery capable of testing for testing.
These are not very costly or time-consuming practices, especially when contemplating the potential lack of revenue as a result of reputational risks caused by damaged beer or product recalls. If possible, it is best to conduct microbiological testing through the brewing process, which has helped prevent potential problems. For most large breweries, this might be the same as the "wort stability test", which is a very low-tech technology.
4. Prevent oxidation
People need oxygen for a lifetime, but beer does not. Oxidized beer will produce a report 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 low 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 some specific practices to remember:
Cleaning and maintenance. Improperly cleaned and maintained pumps, valves, and gaskets could cause air to enter the beer equipment or packaged beer.
Packed properly. Make certain that the beer could be filled and covered normally to prevent 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 like 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. When the measured values run above target levels, steps such as for example adjusting fill levels or seamer settings can be used to prevent oxidized beer.
The brewery needs to use equipment that measures DO to gauge the upstream and downstream of potential oxygen entry points, which brings huge benefits to troubleshooting. Seals, pumps, and other tools help breweries detect potential risks in beer and take measures to get rid of them.
5. Beer sensory analysis
In a complete brewery, beer won't be packaged without tasting. The reason being a strict sensory analysis plan is likely to be developed in a complete brewery. This really is the most crucial beer quality check. Does the beer taste good? Do you wish to drink it again? Are your customers content with the beer flavor?
Sensory analysis procedures could be simple and fun. The brewery needs to have selected and trained staff (may not be brewers) members to pick out 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 following the beer flavor is qualified.
Additionally, the packaging and quality team should also select a number of the packaged beer to store for later tasting. This assists the team have a good comprehension of the shelf life of every style and provide insights into how flavor characteristics change over time. You can even realize that some reliable tasters spend very little time in the production workshop, but they've an increased degree of recognition of certain peculiar smells than the most experienced winemakers.
Using targeted, data-driven quality assurance methods, breweries can save a lot of time and money and will avoid potential future batch problems. Leadership team members must strictly adhere to each of the 5 basic elements and make improvements to the basic elements. We believe your brewery could be successful!
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