~PLAN~
Creating Quality Standards
Quality is the most important aspect of any product. The Brewers Association defines quality as “a beer that is responsibly produced using wholesome ingredients, consistent brewing techniques and good manufacturing practices, which exhibits flavor characteristics that are consistently aligned with both the brewer's and the beer drinker's expectations.”
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Quality should be the main focus of any opening brewery. Without quality, business success is difficult to achieve. With over 8,000 domestic breweries, the standard of quality is high and it’s important to meet or exceed consumer expectations.
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What is a Quality Beer?
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A quality beer is a beer free from defects that is consistent batch to batch. With that said, it doesn’t mean you are prevented from making improvements. Customer preference and intention are the most important aspects in producing any product and if the customer perceives any change or inconsistency in quality it may irreparably damage the brand.
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Creating a Quality Program
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Breweries set up quality assurance programs to monitor quality from ingredient quality and consistency to processes and finished goods. This can vary in scope and scale depending on the breweries’ resources.
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Organizations such as American Society of Brewing Chemists, Master Brewers Association of the Americas and the Brewers Association all offer resources in building a quality assurance program and creating standards. You do not need a lab to create and implement a successful quality assurance program. Begin with documentation and the creation of standard operation procedures (SOP’s). Ensuring your process and products are consistent is a great way to improving and replicating quality.
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The Next Steps
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Determine what data collection points and analyses are beneficial for your organization and operating scale, document the processes and ensure your production is up to those standards.
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In addition to in house testing, White Labs offers a full suite of testing through our TTB certified Analytical Lab to compliment every brewery’s need.
Contributing Author
Erik Fowler Executive Director, San Diego Brewers Guild
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Prior to Leading the SDBG, Erik had been with White Labs since 2014. Before coming to White Labs, he worked for: a prominent regional brewery, a nano-brewery, & several beer & wine focused retail outlets. He has led education classes on yeast handling, sensory techniques &QC. Erik holds his Cicerone® certification as well as a certificate in the Business of Craft Beer from San Diego State University. His objective is to use his knowledge and experience to makefermentation education informative, accessible and interesting.
Initiating a beer quality program can be daunting. Effectively utilizing a limited budget to achieve the most impactful result at
the brewery requires a knowledge of potential pitfalls and pinch points based on the business model.
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It is recommended that breweries join trade organizations such as the Brewers Association and the American Society of
Brewing Chemists (ASBC) for access to important resources and methods related to the topic of brewing quality. The table
below categorizes various instruments and their relevance to beer production. The subsequent table provides Example Lab
Setups at Basic, Intermediate, and Comprehensive levels of QA/QC, but it is important to keep in mind that each business has unique circumstances, and these examples are likely to require adjustments in the contexts of the brewery’s specific needs and priorities.
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For instance, a brew pub may be planning to exclusively sell beer on draught from their taproom. They do not plan to package and distribute, but perhaps they are hoping to re-pitch yeast for their flagship styles. This brewery should focus their sights on instruments and methods that support Yeast and
Larry Chase, The Great Game of Business
When you think of quality in beer your thoughts might turn to a complete lab set-up that, when operated by a full-time employee, will help ensure the quality of your beer.
With this scenario most start-ups might ignore instituting a quality program because they do not have the financial resources to invest in lots of lab equipment or an extra employee. At a basic level a lot of lab work is audit verification that you did your quality assurance correctly in the first place. Once you learn of a quality issue it means that you
still have to go back and solve the issue, in other words, do what you should have done in the first place. So even if you don’t have the latest in lab equipment you can still focus
on quality assurance, the proactive side, and do the work correctly the first time.
As a start-up brewery that cannot afford a full-scale lab set-up or even the time and labor to operate a lab, that’s okay. What’s important is to first set up the systems and quality assurance program that you would only be auditing later with such a lab.
At a basic level two quality measures for beer are that it is:
1. Free from contamination, and
2. Consistent in acceptable flavor.
During the set-up of a brewery, the laboratory is often overlooked. The equipment can be intimidating, especially for brewers starting out that have not had the opportunity to work in a laboratory setting. The beer is the exciting part for most, not microscopes and pH meters. However, a basic laboratory plays a critical role in producing quality beer.
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Set-up a basic laboratory as early as possible. The sooner a pattern of running protocols is established, it will be second nature to scale up the number of samples and processes as needed. The list below is, in my opinion, the equipment and laboratory supplies that every brewery needs
from conception.
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You may notice that this list does not include any equipment for identifying infections. Proper screening for microbiological contaminants is a topic that would easily occupy multiple posts.
Sanitation is key to preventing infections and there are companies that you can hire to test for microbial contaminants. This is the route that I would recommend for breweries in the early stages of development, especially if no one on staff has extensive experience in microbiological work (e.g., aseptic sampling, plating, gram staining).
Brynn Keenan, Grist Analytics
If done incorrectly dry hopping results in long cellar times, diacetyl issues, and over pressurized cans - collectively, these phenomena are known as hop creep. Diving into the process data tracked by Grist, we’ve seen that some breweries are achieving IPA cellar times of 150hrs with no diacetyl/over attenuation issues, while others are taking 500hrs. We’ll discuss the science behind hop creep, and how to manage it effectively.
The Science
Hops contain enzymes that break down unfermentable dextrins into fermentable sugars. When this happens in the presence of even a small concentration of yeast, fermentation will occur.
While the extraction and enzymatic activity are greater with warm dry hopping, it can still occur with cold hop additions. The concentration of these enzymes changes with hop strain, lot, and processing method.
Hop Enzymes
• Alpha amylase
• Beta amylase
• Limit dextrinase
• Amyloglucosidase
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The first issue that this presents is over attenuation. Yeast can now process more sugar into alcohol and CO2. If this happens
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Secure/raise financing
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Build your brewery
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Establish vendor relationships
