Category: Brewery

Innovative Bottling Systems Allow Craft Brewers to Adjust to Trends

Cyndi
staff showing brewing machine

By: Gerald Dlubala

While tastes for craft beer are as individual as each customer that walks into your tasting room, the reasons to package your craft beer in a bottle remain consistent whether manually capping a few bottles or running a high-speed bottling machine around the clock. You want that bottle of beer to retain its quality, compete with other breweries for on-shelf presence and present a consistent product to those consumers who look to packaged beer as their primary selection.

Flexibility And Versatility Are Key

“In a crazy industry like craft brewing, versatility and the ability to react to and meet changes are key. That includes your packaging system,” said Dan Komarony, President of DK Advanced Technologies, manufacturer of the MicroBottler filling machine. “When looking to purchase a packaging system, craft brewers should be aware of their projected volume, available floor space and the potential effects that adding additional equipment will have on their workflow. Most machines offer a sanitizer or pre-sanitizer and a filling and rinse function, but can they do it within the footprint that you can offer? Can they transition from canning to bottling across any product you offer without significant downtime during changeover?”

  “Breweries need to follow the trend of what their customers want, not what their equipment forces them to do,” said Doug Ernenwein, Sales Manager for DK Advanced Technologies. “Most new craft brewers operate on a small budget, but they still want and need the ability to get in on new trends without having to spend thousands of dollars on a new setup. One minute, cans are popular, next it’s bottled, then it’s specific closures to match the different styles of beer that they brew, so versatility is essential. A packaging system should support all sizes of bottles or cans and offer smooth bottling or canning transfers with minimal setup, configuration and maintenance requirements.”

  That’s why the team at DK Advanced Technologies is passionate about their MicroBottler system. Having initially built the MicroBottler for their private use and using it for three years before making it available to the public, they know it fills the needs for craft breweries requiring up to a 600 bottle per hour system. It’s on wheels for easy maneuverability and compact enough to maneuver through a standard doorframe. To get up and running, you need an operator, a standard 110-volt power supply and access to compressed air and CO2 supplies. Without changing the original footprint of the machine, operators can use modular options to fill bottles ranging from six to twenty-five ounces with enclosures ranging from corking, caging, capping, screw tops, or anything in between. The MicroBottler bottles carbonated or non-carbonated beverages directly from your bright tank, keg or vat, easily changing midstream if you want to package a batch of your craft beer in multiple ways.

  “The machine is built and engineered in-house to your specifications at our New York facility,” said Scott Lufkin, Engineer at DK Advanced Technologies. “Right out of the box, it’s fundamentally set up and assembled containing additional spare parts to replace those that are most needed or misplaced to minimize downtime. Parts that wear the most like O-rings and gaskets are standard, off the shelf components that the buyer can obtain directly from the manufacturer, saving time and money.”

  Technical support is always important when purchasing new machinery, and it’s also a major component of controlling downtime. When it’s needed, it’s usually needed right now.

  “Ours is unmatched,” said Jordan Wood, Technician at DK Advanced Technologies. “Every purchase includes a full machine manual and a short, eight-and-a-half-minute video to help complete your setup. For additional support, you’ll get our company phone number that a live person will answer, along with my number, and our engineer’s number. We are open to conversations by text, message, conference call, email and face time. We take the time to solve your problem, 24 hours a day. Our machines are very user-friendly, with setup and system changes able to be accomplished with only five tools to match the packaging job at hand.”

Specialty Brews And Bottles Are The Perfect Combo

  “We’re seeing bottles used mostly for specialized packaging,” said Andrew Ferguson, Product Manager for Wild Goose Canning – Meheen Manufacturing in Louisville, Colorado. “The need is still there. Craft brewers have to compete with national and international beers for shelf space. It’s sometimes easier to get that space in the warm storage areas using the popular 22 to 24-ounce bottles. Both glass and alumapak bottles are a great choice and work for water, wine, mixed drinks, kombucha and even cannabis mixes. Alumapak bottles are filled on the same bottling machinery as the glass bottles, just requiring a different cap enclosure.”

  Meheen is a bottling technologies company that prides itself on helping craft breweries deliver quality, consistent, packaged craft beer. They have become intensely focused on the filling technology of packaging, working with strategic partners equally focused on the other integral parts of the bottling system to fully outfit breweries to their unique specifications. With the help of these strategic partners, Meheen provides end to end lines for bottling and packaging.

  “Meheen bottling units are very responsive and easy to use,” said Ferguson. “We’ve traditionally sold two, four or six head fillers as standalone units based on the brewery’s fill rate and bottle format. With our updated bottle filling systems, we now can provide all of those format styles for use on one unified frame, so expenses are kept down by only having to buy the needed filler head.”

  Meheen units are fully integrated technologically for remote connectivity when needed. Ferguson tells Beverage Master Magazine that the filling units are touch screen operated with the ability to save format settings, so once successfully configured they can be retrieved with the touch of the screen.

  “Our tech teams stay on-site through the installation until the users are up to speed on the systems,” said Ferguson. “But should the brewer need help, Meheen technicians can remotely tap into, troubleshoot and run diagnostic tests based on your system’s error codes and current running information to keep downtime to a minimum.”

  “With packaging systems, there is always more innovation regarding the faster and easier transition between bottle formats and sizes,” said Ferguson. “From smaller, manual style bottling through fully automated, high-speed systems, our goal is to hit on all budgets and be a craft brewer’s one-stop-shop for bottling and packaging system acquisition and installation.”

Technology To Bottle Your Passion

  Randy Kingsbury, owner of XpressFill Systems LLC, knows that craft brewers want and need an affordable, well designed, low maintenance filler that will get their craft beer on the shelf. Since 2007, XpressFill Systems has been filling that need with their affordable, long-lasting, easy to use, premium bottle and can filling systems manufactured in America using only the highest quality components available.

  “When looking for a bottling or canning system, read reviews, check with others that are using the system and look for a good warranty with corresponding technical support and parts availability,” said Kingsbury. “For the craft brewer looking to fill up to 400 bottles or 600 cans per hour directly from their keg or brite tank, our XpressFill systems are a perfect choice.”

  The lightweight XpressFill system is a craft brewer’s dream, designed as a plug-and-play tabletop unit that needs only electricity, air and CO2 supplies to start filling bottles or cans using either a two or four head filler. XpressFill systems are sold worldwide and are routinely engineered specifically for each customer’s packaging and business needs.

  “We do customizations all the time,” said Kingsbury. “We tweak our machines in house to match brewery specifications whether it’s for different sized bottles or cans, including crowlers. The finishing setup is as easy and straightforward as possible, but we are available by phone to help or just for additional information. There are also YouTube videos, photos and manuals available. Honestly, the hardest part of the setup is finding your beer’s unique balance regarding the pressures that it can handle. You have to know your beers and how much pressure they need and can tolerate for proper filling. That balance is always dependent on the product, the environment, working conditions and bottling temperatures. It’s different in every situation.”

  Kingsbury tells Beverage Master Magazine that they are always working on simplifying the methods needed to verify and maintain proper filling measurements, including improvements in weighing systems. “It’s easy to see the filler results while bottling because you can see through the glass,” said Kingsbury. “But when canning your beer, it’s not so easy. You have to rely on your measuring systems and physical checks after the product is packaged.”

  “Craft brewers are usually budget and space-oriented, so you should start small and step up as needed,” said Kingsbury. “Recognize your place in your local craft brewing industry and proceed accordingly. You may have really big plans for the future, and that’s great, but it’s always best to manage your money wisely and cautiously. Design your system conservatively by focusing on getting an easy to use and maintain bottling or canning system that serves your present needs.”

Reliability, Speed & Innovation

  Krones AG is the world’s leading manufacturer of filling and packaging technology and is commonplace in many global sized breweries. They remain focused on keeping energy consumption low while offering efficient resource utilization. The Krones system can be found in many popular breweries regardless of size.

  “We’ve had our current Krones line for over a decade, and plan on upgrading our packing equipment, cleaning stations and inspecting and conveying operation this upcoming March,” said Dick Leinenkugel, President of Leinenkugel Brewing Company. “Our brewery workers manage, monitor, change or control our processes using available screens and PLC logic. It’s user-friendly with additional access to some functions by smartphone, laptop or tablet when needed. The training is pretty straightforward including both vendor and equipment manufacturer led classroom sessions and on the job training,”

  Leinenkugel told Beverage Master Magazine that although technical support is always important, they use Reliability Centered Maintenance as their approach to defining maintenance tasks and frequency intervals. “We currently run traditional 12-ounce, long neck, no-return bottles at a rate of 475 bottles per minute for both 12 and 24 packs, so we do have consumable or high wear parts readily available,” said Leinenkugel. “Then we use preventive or predictive tools to help us plan repairs or replacement tasks and retain the needed technical support to get those accomplished.”

  “The main thing when looking at bottling systems is to involve your brewery workers upfront in the design function,” said Leinenkugel. “Safety and ease of cleaning are important and welcomed. Look for reliable, simple and robust equipment that is easy to be trained on, use and maintain. Seek out manufacturers that design out waste and overproduction and design in energy efficiency to lower overall operating costs. In the end, your system depends on your unique situation.”

  Abita Brewing Company has used a Krones bottling line for over eight years. They currently run 400 bottles or cans per minute and are planning a new addition using manufacturers Garvey, Omni, PakTech and Switchback to improve efficiency and offer customers more variety in package types. 

  “All of our equipment uses a Human Machine Interface (HMI) to allow operators and maintenance to operate and repair the systems,” said Christopher Bradley, Sr Packaging and Automation Manager, Abita Brewing Company. “They are Automation PC powered touchscreens working with other Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC’s) and safety systems. A Line Data System (LDS) monitors our system via an internal network and server, providing real-time data to help us look for efficiency gaps or machine issues.”

  Bradley tells Beverage Master Magazine that while they have the ability, they don’t allow remote operation of their systems due to the risks and dangers involved. And because obtaining parts can sometimes be a challenge, they stock many replacement parts to prevent large periods of downtime. There is additional support available from their OEM and other outside sources.

  “Innovations allowing for speed and efficiency improvements are coming at a fast pace in this industry,” said Bradley. “Bottling systems are tailor-made for the needs of the customer. When designing your system, use an experienced firm to make determinations on present and future needs. Pay close attention to details. Things that may be simple to implement during the design phase can cost several times that amount if done post-production. Everything from the placement of a light fixture or a convenience outlet could save years’ worth of headaches and expenses.”

  With the 2009 acquisition of Kosme, an Italian based producer and developer of packaging and filling lines for lower output beverage industries, the Krones technology became more accessible to the craft beer industry.

  Brad Branco is the Packaging Manager at O’Fallon Brewery, a regional craft brewery in Maryland Heights, Missouri. They’ve used a Krones Kosme bottling line for about five years, including a depalletizer, a pressure-sensitive labeling system, a rotary filler head and rinser. It was in place when Branco joined the company, and definitely allows room for growth.

  “Honestly, it’s oversized for us right now, but it’s a very good machine, and I’ll always take faster processes over slower,” said Branco. “We use a 28 head rotary filler with a max speed of 9000 bottles per hour, which equates to about 150 bottles per minute or about 25 barrels per hour if speaking in volume. We can empty a 100-gallon brite tank in four to five hours.”

  The Kosme system is windows based and can be manipulated remotely, but Branco tells Beverage Master Magazine that at their facility, there is always an operator on-site, negating any need for remote operation.

  “The Kosme bottling and packaging system is Italian made, which brings with it a learning curve,” said Branco. “Initially it was a bit of a language struggle with the tech support being all Italian speaking. It was a challenge if you needed a proprietary part or something non-standard. We’re good now, and there’s a parts distributor in Wisconsin that carries the most common parts. But Google translate was our best friend for quite some time. You can still have an issue and have to wait for something, but through technical support and speaking with other breweries that have the same equipment, we’ve learned the best replacement parts to keep on hand. It’s all about planning. All in all, this is a great filler that doesn’t lend itself to failure. It’s all metric, with blocks and modules that are easily and fully accessible. In that sense, it’s what I consider a simple machine.”

Niagara-on-the-Lake: Canada’s Growing Beer and Wine Destination

Cyndi
outside of a bar

By: Alyssa Andres

Over the past few decades, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, has become known as one of Canada’s premier destinations for wine. The historical region of Canada sees thousands of tourists each year who come to experience the tastes of Niagara. While there is no shortage of spectacular wine tasting to be done in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the newest phenomenon to hit the area is the craft beer movement. As tourists continue to flock to the area each year, thirsty for the latest and greatest in food and beverage, local breweries have become a spectacle of their own. Now beer lovers can visit the region for a tour of the local craft brewery scene. On these tours, brewers are offering an array of small-batch beers that you are unlikely to encounter anywhere else.

  One of Canada’s oldest towns, Niagara-on-the-Lake was established in 1792. Located where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, the region experiences more mild winter temperatures than its neighboring cities and a much longer growing season. Local families have farmed the land for generations, and, for over two hundred years, the town has been home to extensive fields of fruit trees and grapevines. Only in the past decade have tourists, who already flocked to the area for a glimpse of the world-famous Niagara Falls, started to recognize nearby Niagara-on-the-Lake as another must-see destination. Now, a bustling tourism industry has begun to take form in the little town.

  Straying from the large scale, big batch production of modern-day brewers, Niagara-on-the-Lake breweries are producing small-batch, handcrafted beer, which allows them to experiment more with their unique personality and flair. Focusing on natural and more traditional production methods, Niagara craft brewers are taking us back to the roots of the region. The breweries tend to focus on seasonal ingredients, traditional brewing methods and sustainable business.

When it comes to style, the region knows no bounds, producing styles ranging from classic and traditional to completely out of the box. Better yet, most tasting rooms offer an array of rotating taps that change regularly, so you can sample an Eisbock made with skins from icewine grapes on one day and a milk and cookies porter made with actual chocolate chip cookies on another. This rotation keeps tourists and locals on the lookout for the latest and greatest of Niagara beers.

Setting a Path

  The first craft breweries started opening up in Niagara-on-the-Lake in 2011, back when the tourism industry was still growing. The Niagara Oast House was one of the first craft breweries to open their doors to the public. Since then, they have become a hub in the community and a prized destination for tourists.

Set inside a historic barn built in the 1800s, Oast House creates seasonally inspired beers using on-site well water. Upstairs, the barn has been converted into a German-style bierhall that overlooks fields of grapevines and hosts events of up to 80 people. In the back of the brewery, Oast House has an incredible patio complete with an outdoor bar and a stage set atop a farm truck for live performances. S

Staples like the Oast House Barnraiser Country Ale and Pitchfork Porter can be found across Canada, and new, innovative beers are being released constantly. You will find an array of unique offerings, such as their Oast House Verjus Sour, the first of its kind, made from pressing under-ripe pinot noir grapes and combining them with three different malts and a unique yeast strain created in-house.

That’s just one example of Oast House’s original recipes. The brewery is continually concocting new and innovative methods of production, releasing new beers regularly. They are a must-visit when touring Niagara’s craft breweries. When visiting, be sure to enjoy the offerings of the brewery’s restaurant, Brushfire Smokehouse. Their menu is well known to be some of the best BBQ in the area.

  The other brewery that paved the way for craft beer in Niagara-on-the-Lake is Silversmith Brewing Company, which poured its first beers in 2012. Silversmith Brewing is housed in an old Anglican Church built in 1884 that’s been transformed into a brewery and restaurant space complete with vaulted ceilings and incredible stained-glass windows. It also boasts live music and community events. The brewery’s signature Black Lager has been the star of the show since the brewery first opened its doors. Their traditional Schwarzbier is a local favorite with notes of coffee and chocolate on the nose and a smooth, crisp finish. It is a must-try when doing a beer tasting in the area. 

  This year brings on an expansion for the Silversmith Brewing Company, an indication of its continued success. The brewery has been working hard to complete renovations on a new event space and larger brewing facility, set to open this year.

Creating a Legacy

  These two businesses made way for others, and, since the early part of the decade, Niagara-on-the-Lake has seen close to a dozen new craft breweries open their doors to rave reviews. Bench Brewing Company is one of the newer craft breweries in the Niagara region that is especially thriving. They are taking the idea of local and bringing it to a whole new level.

Located in the Twenty Valley, also known as “The Bench,” Bench Brewing Company sits in the heart of Niagara fruit and wine country. Surrounded by orchards and vineyards boasting everything from cherries to peaches, this craft brewery decided to embrace its landscape and create beers centered around the local produce that so abundantly surrounds it. Here, they use everything from elderflowers to spruce tips to craft an award-winning line of beers.

  Bench Brewing not only ages their beers in French Oak foeders previously used to house Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but they even age their beer on the skins of the grapes themselves. Their Folklore Dark Sour Ale is aged on Cabernet Franc skins taken locally from the Twenty Valley. The sour ale earned Canada’s country winner in the Experimental category at the 2019 World Beer Awards, an annual competition that sees thousands of beers from all over the world.

Bench Brewing placed in several competition categories, including awards for their Clean Slate Pale Ale and their Plum Grove Sour Ale. Acknowledgments like these help to support the region’s growth and development as well as the international reputation of Canadian craft beer.

  As the region’s wine and beer industry continues to grow, the local Niagara College has developed programs to support the education of skilled workers in the industry. The college now offers several full-time programs on winemaking, brewing and distilling. Niagara College Teaching Brewery is honing in on the next generation of Niagara brewers, who will continue the tradition of craft brewing in Niagara. The two-year Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management program started in 2010 and has since seen over 150 brewers graduate with almost 100% employment rate. The college works to drive a growing number of young people to the area who will be the next leaders in the industry and help build more local businesses.

  The teaching brewery has an impressive facility with an on-site hop yard and the capabilities of producing 1000L of beer at a time. Students cover everything from brewing and evaluating beer to packaging and selling it. The college also sells the beer to the public at its tasting room. The line of beer is fittingly named Beer 101, and each can has a label that comes with a lesson on the corresponding style of beer.

The label includes the flavor profile of each beer, its history, ingredients and proper food pairings. Beers from lagers and IPAs to Saisons and sours are available for tasting and purchase in the retail store. You can also find them at several bars and restaurants in the area.  

From a little farm town to a bustling tourist hub, Niagara-on-the-Lake and the surrounding region has come a long way from its humble beginnings. Now home to almost 100 wineries and nearly a dozen craft breweries, Niagara-on-the-Lake has an opportunity to change the way people think of Canadian food and beverage.

Through standing by traditional values, practicing sustainable approaches to business and putting out diverse, quality products, the town continues to nurture and perfect the art of craft brewing and winemaking. Whether you’re a wine lover or you prefer the tastes of a quality craft brew, mark Niagara-on-the-Lake down on your list of the next must-see travel destinations

New & Notable in Canada: Crickets, Craft Beer Superfans and a New Seal of Authenticity for Craft Breweries

Cyndi
beer surrounded with roaches

By: Briana Tomkinson

At the end of 2019, Canada reached a new milestone with over 1000 craft breweries and brewpubs in operation from coast-to-coast. Not surprisingly, the year also saw the launch of a new national federation of craft brewers associations to lobby the federal government on na-tional policies that affect the industry.

  Here’s a summary of some of the notable news and craft beer trends in Canada right now, in-cluding insights into craft beer consumer preferences from British Columbia, and more on the new Canadian Craft Brewers Association. But first, we’ve got to share news about a truly ex-perimental new brew produced in la belle province …

Cricket Stout Anyone?

  There’s nothing new about novelty brews, but a unique stout produced by a pair of Quebec microbreweries is sure to get folks chirping.

  Just as the name implies, the Stout aux Grillons, a collaboration between La Baleine Endiablée and the Lion Bleu, gets its thick mouthfeel and foamy texture from the addition of thousands of roasted … crickets …

  Crickets and mealworms, which are more environmentally sustainable to farm than meat and very nutritious, are beginning to appear in insect protein products on supermarket shelves, everything from pasta to dog biscuits. Loblaws, one of Canada’s largest grocery chains, even began selling its own line of cricket powder in 2018. Yet, for many people, the thought of eat-ing the stuff triggers an instinctive shiver of revulsion.

  According to CBC News, Baleine Endiablée co-founder, Jérémie Tremblay, got the idea to brew the buggy beer after being challenged by his friend Maxime Dionne, a local cricket farmer, to create a taboo-busting beverage that would tempt people to give insect protein a try.

  Tremblay’s first attempts at incorporating crickets were a bust. Cricket flour made the beer too gooey, while whole crickets gave it a funny taste. The trick, he found, was to roast the arthro-pods, which produced a malty flavor. The unusual additive is used in the same way as grain.

  The cricket stout is available at La Baleine Endiablée, located about an hour and a half north-east of Quebec City in Rivière-Ouelle, at the Lion Bleu, in the Saguenay region (two and a half hours due north of Quebec City), as well as through the Lion Bleu’s distribution points throughout the province.

Survey Offers Insights  about Craft Beer Superfans

  A recent survey of craft beer fans in British Columbia offers a number of insights into the be-havior and preferences of highly engaged beer drinkers, from packaging preferences and brewery tourism habits to the impact of cannabis legalization on beer consumption.

  The annual online survey of craft beer drinkers is conducted by Beer Me BC (beermebc.com), a popular Canadian craft beer blog. Not surprisingly, respondents tend to be craft beer enthusi-asts: almost two-thirds of respondents said they had visited 10 or more breweries within the past year, and 70% said they intended to travel more than 100km to visit a brewery in the next year.

  The majority of those surveyed said they drank beer three or more days per week, with 41% imbibing three to five days per week, and 18% drinking almost every day. Only 2% said they drank less beer after the legalization of cannabis, and 1% said legal weed has led them to drink more.

  For these craft beer superfans, the top factors in deciding what beer to purchase were flavor, beer style, brewery brand and reputation. Price and packaging were ranked as significantly less-important factors.

  According to the survey, the top 10 British Columbia craft beer events are:

1.  Vancouver Craft Beer Week (May 29 – June 7, 2020): https://vancouvercraftbeerweek.com/

2.  Great Canadian Beer Festival (2020 date TBA): https://victoriabeersociety.com/great-canadian-beer-fest/

3.  Farmhouse Fest (2020 date TBA): http://farmhousefest.com/

4.  Okanagan Fest of Ale (April 17 & 18, 2020): https://festofale.ca/

5.  Fort Langley Beer & Food Festival (May 16, 2020): https://www.fortlangley.beer/

6.  BC Beer Awards (2020 date TBA): https://www.bcbeerawards.com/

7.  Great Okanagan Beer Festival (May 6-10, 2020): https://gibbonswhistler.com/festivals-events/great-okanagan-beer-festival/

8.  Whistler Village Beer Festival (Sept. 14-20, 2020): https://gibbonswhistler.com/festivals-events/whistler-village-beer-festival/

9.  Clover Valley Beer Festival (Aug. 8, 2020): https://gibbonswhistler.com/festivals-events/clover-valley-beer-festival/

10. Coquitlam Beer Festival (March 7, 2020): https://coquitlambeerfestival.com/

  Over the seven years since the survey was first conducted, results have tracked several nota-ble shifts in British Columbia craft beer consumer trends, including maturing demographics and a swing in preference away from purchasing beer in glass containers. 

  Since the first survey in 2013, Beer Me BC has found the ratio of younger beer drinkers has been shrinking, while the number of respondents over the age of 43 has increased. It indicates that craft beer has staying power, as beer fans continue to choose craft as they get older. Yet it also suggests that fewer Millennials are becoming craft beer fans than Gen-Xers. Beer Me BC notes that trends researchers have found younger adults are drinking less, and are more likely to choose alternative beverages such as ciders and coolers.

  Over the years, the Beer Me BC survey has found the number of beer-drinkers who prefer to buy in bottles and growlers has dropped drastically. In 2013, bottles, bombers and growlers were preferred by the vast majority of consumers, with only 10% preferring cans. Tall cans (greater than 355 mL) weren’t even on the radar back then. Yet today, almost half of respond-ents said they prefer tall cans, and nearly two-thirds said they prefer aluminium cans to glass bottles.

New Seal Identifies “Real” Craft Beer

  Big Beer is increasingly gobbling up small breweries and marketing faux-craft brands, making it harder for consumers to know when the “craft” beer they’re buying is truly an authentic small-batch brew.

  A new initiative by the recently formed Canadian Craft Brewers Association aims to help craft beer fans identify the real stuff through a new certification mark to be added to “real” craft beer labels.

  The Independent Craft Seal of Authenticity, a small icon featuring a stylized hop bud, is intended to differentiate beer brands that are produced and sold by authentic Canadian craft brewers from copycat brands spawned by large beer conglomerates.

  To use the seal, breweries must be members of the CCBA and apply for an annual license. They must also register the use of the seal, and comply with strict usage guidelines.

  The CCBA formed last spring to create a national umbrella organization uniting provincial craft brewers associations, making it easier to educate and lobby the federal government on issues like federal taxation, inter-provincial trade, import/export policy and growth investment, and promote Canadian craft beer nationally and internationally.

  In June 2019, the CCBA tallied the craft breweries and brewpubs operating in each Canadian province and territory. There are now over 1,000 craft breweries or brewpubs operating in Canada, or 27 breweries per million people (the U.S. has 22 per million). Ontario has the most breweries in operation (269), while Quebec has the most brewpubs (68) and also has the most breweries in planning (80) out of all the provinces.

  All members of Canadian provincial craft brewing associations are automatically members of the CCBA. While the definition of a “craft” producer varies slightly from province to province, all members are licensed to produce beer in Canada, produce no more than 400,000 hectoli-tres of beer (the majority produce less than 5,000 hectolitres), and are independently owned (no controlling shareholder is a large beverage alcohol company). 

Keeping Off Flavors Out of Beer

Cyndi

By: Jessica Spengler

When consumers reach out for a craft beer, they have an expectation of how that beer should taste. When an off flavor sneaks in, it can lose the brewery customers and hurt their reputation. Keeping off-flavors out of beer is not as difficult as it may seem, as long as brewers have the tools and know-how to do so.

An off flavor is a defect in beer that does not adhere to the style or ruins its taste. Some of the most common are diacetyl, which takes the form of butter or theater popcorn; oxidation, which comes across as papery; dimethyl sulfide, a sweet corn taste; and acetaldehyde, often taking the shape of green apples.

Causes

Many different factors cause off flavors, but it often boils down to the same basic concept: a fault in the brewing process.

Raw ingredients

To make good beer, you have to start with good raw ingredients. Malt, hops and yeast should be stored correctly; monitored for defects, mold, and pests; and used as fresh as possible. However, it all begins at the source. Brewers should know what to look out for when buying raw ingredients, starting with the vendor.

“[When it comes to] raw ingredients, you have to see who you’re buying it from. Are they reputable suppliers? We buy a lot of malt from the Czech Republic, I’ve been over their twice visiting the malt house and the hop house. One important thing for the brewers is to be auditing their vendors, making sure they know you’re watching, put a face to who they’re shipping ingredients to,” said Scott Hovey, owner and brewmaster at Adelbert’s Brewing in Austin, Texas.

If an ingredient isn’t good on its own, it won’t be good in the beer, so don’t be afraid of sensory analysis, Hovey said. “It’s like going to the supermarket. You should smell it, look at it, check the taste, the flavor. Every bag of malt, I usually pop a couple of grains in my mouth just to see what it tastes like, what it feels like. It’s surveying the quality of the ingredients.”

Water should be free from chlorine, taste fresh, and be clear.

“With water, smelling it and tasting it is as easy and effective as any test. You can have the best yeast, and the best malt, and go through the process, but if your water has chlorine in it, that can ruin the beer,” said Jim Matt, Chief Scientific Officer at Rhinegeist in Cincinnati.

Cory Hebert, brewer at Adelbert’s, agrees. “If you can’t drink your water because it’s so chlorinated, or any number of factors, then it’s definitely not going to be good to brew with. If you brew with chlorinated water, then you’ll get what’s called chlorophenol in the final beer which will leave the beer tasting like you’re drinking a plastic bag or bucket,” he said.

Fermentation

The most common time for off flavors to develop during brewing is fermentation. The reason for this typically comes down to problems with yeast.

“An overwhelming number of off flavors can be created during fermentation,” said Matt. “A lot of the time, people don’t pitch enough yeast, or they pitch too much yeast, and they’ll get off flavors. If the yeast is contaminated with something else, you can definitely get off flavors from it. That’s where you need to use the greatest amount of care. Yeast needs to be handled in an aseptic environment, so we want to make sure that we handle that yeast free from any other contamination.”

The good news is that, often, when yeast is the problem, it’s also the solution. Keeping beer on yeast a little longer, whether in the tank or through a second fermentation in the bottle, will get off flavors like diacetyl out of the end product.

“I’d say that a good 30 to 40 percent of the bad flavors I’ve tasted in beers are just the beer was rushed through the process. They just didn’t give the yeast long enough to work on, or didn’t let it settle long enough. Time would have fixed it,” said Hovey.

Cleaning, Sanitation and Maintenance

As the old saying goes, brewing is 90 percent cleaning, and one of the reasons for that is to keep the beer as clean as possible.

“The number one prerequisite to being a brewer is an obsession about cleaning. It’s true. You’ve got to keep your plant clean,” said Phil Leinhart, Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Manager at Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, New York.

Rhinegeist’s Matt agrees and recommends using tools to ensure tanks are thoroughly wiped of contaminants. “Cleaning and sanitation is everything. If a tank is not clean, then by definition it’s not sanitary, so there are several different ways to determine the cleanliness of a tank. My favorite way is a thorough visual inspection, and that’s usually sufficient. We have a device here called an ATP meter. ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) is a compound contained within all living organisms. The brewers will swab a tank looking for ATP, and, if its in there, then the tank is not clean,” he said.

At Rhinegeist they use Peroxyacetic acid to keep their tanks clean, while the crew at Adelbert’s has been known to use a pH swing to purge their brewing vessels.

“Something we do here is cleaning with a high alkaline, and also highly acidic solutions, so we get what you call the pH swing. You use a caustic soda, so you have a very high pH, and then you follow it with acid, so you have very low pH, so then you’re killing pretty much any organic or inorganic compound that would be present,” said Hebert.

Proper, continuous maintenance will keep equipment running well while also ensuring that it won’t harm the beer.

“If your pump is sucking in air because the mechanical seal is bad, it’s gonna cause high oxygen in your beer and your beer is gonna go stale, it becomes oxidized. It’s all related. If you let your equipment get into disrepair, it’s going to affect the product at some point. If refrigerators and cooling aren’t cold enough, you don’t take control of your fermentation temperatures efficiently, and you can’t cool the beer as quickly. It can all eventually affect your beer,” said Ommegang’s Leinhart.

Detecting Off Flavors

There are a multitude of ways to test for off flavors. Breweries equipped with or who employ labs can “plate” samples of beer to test for organisms that may cause the brew to taste off. 

“Plating is [taking] a sample of beer from a tank and putting it on a media where microorganisms are encouraged to grow. Then we put that in an incubator, and we allow things to grow. If we see something growing that shouldn’t be, then we know something’s not right. Plating is a fairly inexpensive, not terribly time consuming, and fairly easy process to do that every brewery, in my opinion, should be doing. It’s pretty easy, and it doesn’t require a lot of technical skill,” said Matt.

More sophisticated technologies can also be implemented by brewery labs, such as a GeneDisc or a headspace gas chromatograph. These technologies require a higher level of skill to use and tend to cost more than many small breweries can afford. However, they aren’t always necessary when testing for off flavors. Nothing beats a good old fashion taste test.

“The analytical capabilities of a brewery can never compensate for the sensory tests that are required in your own sensory taste pallet. The reality is that you can’t go into a laboratory and get a complete understanding of the quality or the consistency of the beer just analytically,” said Christian Riemerschmid Von der Heide, President and CEO of Siebel Institute, the oldest brewery science institution in the United States.

Brewers will typically form a taste panel filled with brewers, servers and salespeople who have been trained to detect and identify specific flavors. Taste panels are used to help determine if an in-process or finished beer has any defects.

Siebel Institute, founded in 1872, offers flavor training kits for this purpose. Brewers can order from over 40 flavors, both wanted and unwanted, to “dose” their beers and hone the palates of their employees. The training has several purposes, most notably to find out who is particularly sensitive to certain smells and tastes, but also to make sure everyone is on the same page.

“You are not only training your people to detect, but also to identify. The difference is ‘Yeah, I can detect that there’s something different, but I cannot name it.’ We need to be able to do both so that everybody uses the same terminology; but also what is important is to know who is better at it than others. Therefore, if somebody that we know is very well trained in diacetyl and can pick it up at lower concentrations, and that person says ‘Yes, I can detect diacetyl,’ then this is the [person] that you pick [to test for it],” said Richard Dube, Director of Online Education at Siebel Institute.

“I would say sensory analysis and the taste panel is at least 50 percent of your quality control. So if 50 percent of your quality control isn’t standardized, using sensory kits, using flavor standards, then it becomes very subjective, and you have a vulnerability,” said Riemerschmid Von der Heide.

Using taste panels is highly recommended by Siebel, which offers on-site classes at their Chicago campus as well as an online curriculum. However, it’s wise to train all employees from the brewmaster to the newest salesperson in case a flavor problem comes about after the beer has reached consumers.

“Outside the plant, not only the brewers but also your sales force needs to be able to respond to a complaint at a bar or wherever that they say, ‘Your beer tastes funny.’ Because they have been trained to identify oxidation or diacetyl or other off flavors, they can pinpoint a little what the problem might be, or further educate the retailer and explain that it is actually part of the flavor profile of this specific beer,” said Dube.

Can off flavors be corrected?

Many off flavors can be corrected once they’re detected. For most, such as diacetyl, acetaldehyde, or sulfuric compound, a few extra days on yeast does the trick. When making certain beers, according to Adelbert’s Hebert, the process may be sped up, if done correctly.

“Many times too, especially back to diacetyl, in lagers and even English Ales, if you’re fermenting at say 68 F, you’ll do what’s called a diacetyl rest. You bring the beer up to 72 F towards the tail end of fermentation to force that yeast to clean up those off flavors and make sure everything gets scrubbed and is nice and neat and ready to drink,” said Hebert.

An unintended sour may work well blended into another beer in the brewery’s sour program. Even in the case of non-sour off flavors, the beer may be successful in a blend.

“When something is not within spec you can rebrand it as something else if the off flavor isn’t too bad. You can blend it. Sometimes we’ll take something that’s just not true to spec, and we’ll take it down in our sour program. Sometimes the secondary organisms can clean up those off flavors,” said Matt.

However, sometimes off flavors are impossible to correct. Butyric acid, often described as “baby sick;” medicinal flavors and hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs) are examples of off flavors that cannot be corrected, and the batch will be “dumped.” When dumping becomes inevitable, which according to Matt is not that common, don’t let it become a sore point.

“There are times you have to swallow your pride and maybe take a little bit of a hit to keep quality up. Nobody likes dumping beer, but I’d rather dump a batch of beer that is not true to brand than sell it and be subpar and get a bunch of complaints from your customers,” said Matt.

Keeping off flavors out of beer doesn’t have to be complicated. According to our experts, with knowledge, foresight and a little elbow grease, brewers can substantially decrease their chances of bad tasting beer.

“It’s a multi-disciplinary approach. Just knowing your process and knowing where you’re at risk and then controlling those risks. Be knowledgeable of defects and how they’re caused, control your process, especially those critical quality control points, and then test both in the lab and with a taste panel so that you know that you’re okay,” said Leinhart.

“Pay attention to your customers and do the absolute best you can cleaning, sanitizing and using the best ingredients possible. Don’t compromise. The cheapest test that you can do is sensory. Taste everything. Let that guide you to making a quality product.”

“Just keep your brewhouse clean, make sure your ingredients are fresh, keep your yeast happy, and know your process, and you should be 95 percent of the way there,” said Hebert.

Craft Malt in the Brewery

Cyndi

By: Erik Myers

Bearded brewer in apron holds bag of malt at brewery factor

Recently, the Craft Maltsters Guild – the non-profit association dedicated to promoting the manufacturers it defines as “craft maltsters” – announced The Craft Malt Certified Seal, a new initiative to promote the use of craft malt by breweries. In order to qualify, a beer or spirit must contain at least 10% of its grist, by weight, of malt sourced from one of the Craft Maltsters Guild’s members.

  A craft maltster is defined as a maltster that is independently owned, that produces between five and 10,000 metric tons of malt per year, and that uses grain grown within a 500-mile radius of the malt house for at least half of their grain supply.

The Difficulties of Using Craft Malt

  Craft malt is an industry that is still very much in its infancy. There are very few craft maltsters that have been around for more than a few years, and even those that have been in business for a decade or more are only recently seeing healthy and sustained growth on the wave of a beer industry that favors local goods as a strong marketing standpoint.

  Craft maltster startups have many of the same issues as small brewery startups: Capital intensive equipment, a production process that requires a varied technical background, and a competitive marketplace that’s dominated by a few, large, international players. Craft maltsters have an added layer of complexity of – in many cases – having to educate their suppliers in how to make the products that they need to operate.

  The end result can be, at the worst of times, an inconsistent product: variations in color, moisture content, diastatic power, protein or sugar content, uneven kernel sizes, or inconsistent flavor characteristics, all of which can cause difficulties for a brewery that is engaged in making a consistent product from batch to batch.

  Like any brewery moving through its startup phase into an experienced, scaled production facility, most craft maltsters have grown past these initial challenges to create an even, predictable, product, but the occasional problem may still arise – particularly with an untested supplier or process.

  Other difficulties working with craft maltsters can come from simple supply chain issues. Smaller suppliers with longer lead times and limited on-hand inventory can be challenging to predict when managing a small brewery that is, itself, running a just-in-time inventory process. One hiccup in that supply chain can affect weeks worth of brewing.

  Finally, it’s difficult to ignore that all of the above also comes at a higher price point. While malt from international maltsters can run as low as $0.40/lb before bulk discounts, it’s rare to see a small maltster with the scale available to get a price point anywhere near that, and most are at least double. Those craft maltsters, themselves, are paying an elevated rate for grain from small suppliers who are dedicating a small portion of their farms to malting barley. They do not have the advantage of a scaled, international supply chain for cost benefit to pass along to a brewery customer.

  Using a local craft maltster can often mean paying a premium for a product with uneven consistency and unpredictable supply.

The Advantages of Using Craft Malt

  For all that, there are definite advantages to having a relationship with your local small malt house. 

  Working with a local maltster gives a brewer a whole new palette of flavors and ingredients to work with. In an industry where 7000+ players all use the same basic inputs, a local maltster is an avenue toward differentiation: Each grain does have its own “terroir” that follows through into the end beer, providing a very distinct taste of place. Maltsters that have roasters might offer a lighter or darker Lovibond roast of chocolate, caramel, or Munich-style malts than might be available at a commodity maltster. It allows a brewer that many more variations on ingredients that they can use to create a more distinct array of beers to help differentiate themselves in a crowded market.

  While there may be times that a local maltster can’t deliver as fast as a larger supplier could, they can also be the source of last minute saves and emergency help. Short a couple of bags of base malt on the last brew of the day? Being able to drive over to your local malt house to pick up 150 lbs of grain is a distinct advantage that can definitely save you in a pinch.

  Local maltsters also have – like small breweries – the ability to make weird stuff without taking an enormous financial risk. The capability to malt ancient, heirloom, or alternate grains like triticale, spelt, buckwheat, or corn, sometimes in incredibly small batches, can lead to truly innovative brews that would be otherwise unavailable from larger maltsters.

  From an environmental and sustainability standpoint, it’s undeniable that using a local craft maltster creates a smaller carbon footprint for your operation. Instead of shipping a container across a country or across an ocean, most of that malt originates at a farm within a day’s drive and never really has to move that much farther away, meaning less fuel, lower emissions, less labor, and fewer aggregate resources than it would at a large scale malt house.

Finally, the vast majority of the money paid to that local maltster stays within the local economy in the form of wages as well as payments to their suppliers – local farms and local agriculture. It’s a way that a brewery’s dollars can make a significant and multi-industry impact on the local economy.

But Is It a Marketing Advantage?

  The most challenging part of using malt from a local maltster, however, isn’t ingredient consistency, how to use the ingredients, or any potential supply chain issues. It simply comes down to this:

How Well Can You Tell the Story?

  There is no barrier to entry for a brewery to use a local maltster aside from price. As long as a brewery is willing to pay the premium for the malt, they are an instant user and it behooves them to become an instant evangelist. The added price of malt comes with few immediate end-product advantages itself: A smaller carbon footprint and better support of the local economy isn’t reflected in the taste of the beer, in a better bottom line, or any sort of cost-driven advantage. It’s a marketing point.

  While working with a local maltster on a specific new roast or grain might lead to new recipes, without something truly distinct showing up in the glass, telling the story of local malt is a difficult one because drinking customers, in large, don’t really know what malting is. It falls on the brewery to educate the end consumer as to what a local maltster really is, and how using one positively impacts the environment and the local economy. It also lies on the brewery to show their customer the value of the added cost that local malt brings to beer.

Craft Malt Certified

  Enter the seal of approval: Craft Malt Certified. The seal, created by the Craft Maltsters Guild, is a tool to help breweries and distilleries tell that story to their customers. By creating a seal to go into packaging and the taproom, it creates a conversation piece for customers to engage with. What is craft malt? Why does it matter?

  The odd stumbling block is that rather than creating a freely-available graphic to help breweries raise craft malt’s profile, the Craft Maltsters Guild has put a price on the use of the seal, charging $150 per year to register as a faithful customer – yet another cost, albeit a small one, on top of the premium cost of using the malt in the first place.

  That is the hurdle that still needs to be cleared by craft maltsters and their end users: how to sell the story of increased cost to their customers in a way that makes them care enough to part with their money. Without the additional value proposition, the story of craft malt becomes muddled into the same gnarled discussion of what local means that the entire craft beer industry wrestles with: What does local really mean? How far away does something have to be to no longer be considered local? Is it your local neighborhood, your city, or your state? Is your beer still “local” if it uses malt from another country? What about hops? Will the customer pay a premium for “local” when it increases the cost of the end product to well above regional market norms?

  With the uncertain answers to these questions comes the unfortunate follow-up:

  Why does any but the most enlightened end-customer care?

  The craft malt industry is an exciting new development within the craft beer industry with reflections of what the craft beer industry itself went through 40 years ago. In a modern marketplace focused almost single-mindedly on hops as a key ingredient, it faces a bevy of challenges that it may only get through with the help of its most ardent customers.

Key Finance & Accounting Performance Indicators for Craft Breweries: What Data You Should Be Tracking and How to Leverage it for Success

Cyndi

By: Kelly Addink

Do you have real-time visibility into your financial information?  If so, are you confident you’re monitoring the right type of data to achieve your business goals?  We plan to explore these questions and more as we dive into the issues breweries often face when it comes to financial reporting. We will also take a look at industry best practices and technologies brewers are leveraging in order to spot opportunities, identify risks, set goals, measure progress and adjust their strategy.

Cash is King

  Every business, large or small, depends on cash. However, for many breweries, the focus tends to be more on sales growth than anything else. While sales growth is fundamental to your business, it is equally as important to monitor your cash flow.

  Cash flow is the movement and timing of money into, through and out of your business. In other words, it provides a clear picture of your company’s financial health. A cash flow projection estimates the timing and amounts of cash inflows and outflows over a specific period, usually one year.

  Let’s take a look at some high-level benefits of a cash flow projection:

•   Allows you to anticipate changes versus reacting to changes.

•   Encourages a collaborative working environment between operations personnel, management and owners.

•   Fosters “bigger picture” thinking.

•   Enables you to run different scenarios such as:

  • a.  Impact of cash collection practices and terms (when and how)
  • b.  Impact of accounts payable terms and discounts (when and how)
  • c.   Cash flow for an event
  • d.  Adding a new revenue source
  • e.  Leasing or building a new brewery or taproom
  • f.   Debt restructuring

•   Can ease the burden of sudden and significant changes.

  The first step to creating a cash flow projection is to define your approach and assumptions. For example, you may want to evaluate the financial impact of adding a new seasonal brew. A few key questions to ask are:

  How much will I expect my revenue and expenses to increase?

  Will I need to tap into my line of credit or find additional financing as I start up?

Next You Will Need To:

•    Obtain historical revenues, expenses and cash flow for last two to three years.

•    Develop a template to forecast one year into the future.

•    Review historical growth and forecast growth based on discussions with management.

•    Prepare a formal report outlining the significant assumptions and the forecast results.

  • a.   Key assumptions
  • b.   Increase operating revenue
  • c.   Increase operating expenses
  • d.   Capital additions: production or brewing equipment, delivery trucks
  • e.   Debt service / borrowings
  • f.    Cash reserves

    To make sure your projection stays accurate throughout the year, consider these variable expenses:

•    Months with three payrolls.

•    Months when insurance premiums are due.

•    Increased estimated taxes due to increased sales.

  A good rule of thumb is to designate an amount equal to 10% of revenues for “other expenses” under uses of cash — so you’ll have some cushion when unforeseen costs arise.

  To keep your projections on track, create a rolling 12-month plan that you update at the end of each month. If you add a new month to the end every time a month is completed, you’ll always have a long-term grasp of your business’s financial health. However, don’t try to project more than 12 months into the future or you’ll end up spending a lot of time trying to predict something with too many variables (prime rate could shoot up, sales could go down dramatically, etc.). 

Cash Flow Projection Example:

  After you define your assumptions and approaches and create your 12-month cash flow, you notice a net cash loss in the first half of the year as highlighted below (shown as 6 months).

projection example 2

  You decide the next step to minimizing your negative cash flow in the first half of the year is to evaluate the impact of producing a new seasonal brew as seen in the projection below:

projection example 2

  Using cash flow projections is a cyclical activity. As months pass, you can compare your monthly cash flow statements to your projections for each month and the numbers should be close. You can get away with a 5% variance but if you start to see large differences from month to month, you should revisit your key assumptions to check for flaws in your logic.

  Even if the actual numbers come in higher than your projections, you should take a close look at your assumptions, because higher returns in the short term could lead to shortfalls later on. For example, if you predict your Oktoberfest brew to have the greatest cash inflow during October and you start distributing it in September, you may run out of product by mid-October. You’ll need to adjust for these unexpected changes as you move forward month to month.

  Once you’ve gotten into the habit of using a cash flow projection, it should give you added control over your cash flow and a better understanding of your brewery’s financial position.

  Beyond cash flow, it is important to understand and consider all of your financials when determining your strategy and planning for the future of your brewery.

  By transforming your finance and accounting data into key performance indicators (KPIs), you become equipped to make intelligent, informed business decisions. Below are examples of relevant KPIs for craft brewers along with items to take into consideration during analysis.

1.  Revenue trends: monthly comparisons year over year and month over month, actual to budget comparisons, revenue by category and/or style, revenue by package type, etc.

  Are sales meeting expectations? Are any seasonal brands selling well enough to go year round? Are there any year round brands that could become seasonal? Are there brands that should be discontinued? Are certain package types selling more than others?

2.  Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)/gross margins: monthly comparisons in total, by brand, by category/style, by package type, actual to budget, etc. – report both in dollars and as a percentage of revenue.

  How are margins trending to expectations? Are there styles that are cost effective to produce with a higher perceived value in the market? Are costs increasing/decreasing due to raw material cost changes? Are there items that may need a price increase? Are there potential efficiencies that can help reduce costs in the brewing process? Should you brew larger batches for better yield? Are your COGS fully loaded with labor, overhead allocations, excise taxes, utilities, insurance, etc.?

3.  Distributor/customer performance: revenue, gross margin, rebate/discount tracking month to month by distributor/customer, actuals vs projections, etc.

  How is each distributor performing compared to projections? Are their margins sufficient to cover rebates, discounts, samples, shared mark-downs, etc.? Are certain geographical regions performing better than others? Where should your inside sales team focus their efforts? Consider additional reporting options that provide visibility of distributor sales to retailer including: on vs off premise sales, sell through turns, etc.

4.   Operating expenses: monthly comparisons year over year and month over month, actual to budget comparisons, etc. – report both in dollars and as a percentage of revenue.

  Investigate areas where expenses are increasing (either in total or as a percentage of sales). Identify areas where there are cost savings opportunities. Variable expenses should fluctuate with sales levels, including staffing costs.

5.   Tasting room and restaurant metrics: Revenues and margins tracked by month year over year, food cost as a percentage of food sales, staffing costs as a percentage of tasting room revenue, daily sales trends, etc.

  Evaluate seasonality trends to determine staffing needs and consider training time needed when hiring new staff for busy season. Monitor food costs to determine if menu price increases are needed. Assess daily sales trends for potential promotions on slower days of the week in order to increase business.

6.   Capacity/efficiency: Production volumes as a percentage of full capacity month over month, direct labor costs as a percentage of revenue, etc.

  Are you at capacity and losing orders? Is it time to increase capacity? Are you consistently under capacity? Possibly consider contract brewing or other ways to fill capacity. Evaluate labor costs to ensure efficient production staffing levels.

  So, now we know what type of data successful brewers are tracking but what technology is needed in order to access that data?

  Introducing new technology to any business is commonly viewed as complicated, timely and costly. However with the rapid expansion of cloud-based technology, there are now a number of applications tailored to meet the needs of small and midsized businesses in any industry.

  Most of us are familiar with the phrase “moving to the cloud” but, what does that really mean? In its most simple form, cloud computing is the use of a shared resource on the internet to store, manage and process data. Unlike the historical way of hosting a technology platform on your own server, cloud-based technology allows unique users to access the same software application from any device, anywhere, at any time. Information is easily updated and shared between team members without the need to manually input reports or be in the same physical location. Cloud applications are also being built with an open-interface approach which allows for more seamless integration amongst individual solutions.

  Business processes that are commonly handled in the cloud include:

•   Accounting and General Ledger Management- Such as: Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online

•   Accounts Payable- Such as: Bill.com

•   Expense Management -Such as: Expensify, Nexonia

•   Inventory Management- Such as: Ekos, OrchastratedBEER

  How leveraging those tools can provide data-driven insights while saving you time and money:

Real-Time Data and Reporting:

  Because cloud-based technology can be accessed from anytime, anywhere, the data really is “at your fingertips”. This accessibility is becoming increasingly important as the competitive landscape continues to intensify in the craft beverage space. The ability to integrate your existing applications with multiple cloud solutions allows for a comprehensive view of your data (i.e. sales, operations and finance) and thus, enables you to make timely intelligent business decisions. Plus, you can use these tools to create tailored management dashboards with customized reporting capabilities – so you see what you want to see on a regular basis.

  Taking it one step further, the ability for craft brewers to access data in real time also makes that data more useful in identifying trends, comparing results to industry benchmarks, monitoring key performance indicators and, ultimately, being a better business partner to your distributors and retailers.

Automation and Scalability:

  Most growing craft breweries tend to run lean and have limited personnel resources. In these cases, leveraging innovative technology to streamline finance and accounting functions and reduce the need for manual processes can be very beneficial. For example, cloud-based accounting software typically automates processes by importing transaction data on a real-time basis. The cloud computing model empowers team members to collaborate and share information beyond traditional communication methods – allowing multiple facilities and/or taprooms to co-manage production, raw materials, packaging levels and distribution scheduling.

  Successful craft brewers are growing at an unprecedented rate and the ability to scale on an as-needed basis is one of the biggest advantages of cloud technology. Accelerated business growth typically leads to growing pains and missed opportunities resulting from the mismanagement of more data, infrastructure and customers. The right cloud solution will grow alongside your business to meet market demands and accommodate growth as technology shifts, revenues grow and your business needs evolve.

  Brewers face many challenges in an industry that is becoming less predictable with fewer loyal consumers. Staying a step ahead of your peers in this rapidly changing environment is critical to maintain a competitive advantage and realize long term success. Having real-time visibility into your cash flow, sales and operational data is a key part of that success. This will allow you to determine KPIs that align with your business goals and track them so you can plan for the future. Take advantage of the many cloud-based tools that can help you transform your data and streamline processes so you can get back to what really matters, running your brewery.

About the Author

  Kelly Addink is a Controller in Baker Tilly’s outsourced accounting practice. She has nearly 25 years of experience in providing financial accounting advisory services to companies in a variety of industries. Kelly also worked as a Controller at a craft brewery for more than 6 years. Today she combines her technical skills and industry expertise to deliver customized accounting, finance and operational assistance to Baker Tilly’s craft brewery clients.

Kombucha with a Kick

Cyndi

By: Nan McCreary

Artisanal cheese for sale at artisan market in Ile rousse

Hard Kombucha is one of the latest drinks to make a splash in the “better-for-you” alcoholic beverage market. But what is hard kombucha, you ask? Wait, what is kombucha?

  Kombucha traces its roots to China’s Qin Dynasty (221 BC), where it was known as the “The Tea of Immortality” for its medicinal properties. The drink is made by mixing sweetened black or green tea with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast called SCOBY and allowing it to ferment. The result is a tart and sour, lightly-carbonated drink that’s naturally gluten-free, low in sugar and chocked full of probiotics. With health-conscious millennials driving today’s beverage industry, it’s no wonder that kombucha is experiencing a revival, and is one of the fastest-growing beverages on the market today.

  Kombucha first went mainstream in the U.S. in 1995 when GT Dave, the man behind GT’s Kombucha, established the first and largest kombucha brand in the industry. Promotion for the drink touted the health benefits of both tea and probiotics, and sales immediately exploded in supermarkets throughout the country.

With an ABV of less than 0.5%, kombucha could be sold legally as an alcohol-free beverage. In 2010, however, a Department of Agriculture inspector discovered a kombucha at a Maine Whole Foods that contained alcohol levels well above 0.5%. It was pulled off the shelves nationwide, and producers were left with three options: keep their kombuchas under 0.5% and follow strict labeling laws, sell them in the beer section at their current ABV, or create an intentionally higher ABV beverage. For those who chose the latter — a “hard” kombucha — the crisis presented a golden opportunity. The low-alcohol beverage with a healthy dose of probiotics caught on quickly, and in just a few short years, became the hot new kid on the beverage-industry block. According to Nielsen, sales of hard kombucha spiked 247% in the 52 weeks leading up to April 20, 2019.

  One of the first to create high-alcohol kombucha was Dr. Hops, based in San Francisco. “I was working in Berkley with the fitness and yoga community, and craft beer was exploding and doing amazing things,” said CEO and founder Joshua Rood. “Non-alcoholic kombucha was also growing rapidly. I’ve always been a food and beverage guy. When I saw this happening, I realized you could make a high-alcohol kombucha that would be authentic to both categories, offering the benefits from the health properties of straight kombucha, and the flavor, complexity and pleasure of a really good craft beer.”

  With only one hard kombucha on the market at the time—Unity Vibration in Ypsilanti, Michigan—Rood approached a brewer who was making both beer and kombucha and asked him to make a prototype that offered the best of both beverage worlds. “The prototype was awesome,” he said.  “At the same time, my wife had an adorable rabbit named Dr. Hops, and I thought, ‘what a perfect name for a health-conscious kombucha that’s all hopped up.’ So that’s why we named our product Dr. Hops.”

  While Rood was developing his product in 2016, another hard kombucha hit the market: Boochcraft, California’s first high-alcohol kombucha, and today’s market leader in sales.

  To make hard kombucha, producers start with a mixture of sugar, tea and water. For his base, Rood selects the highest organic quality and fair trade tea he can obtain. Next, he adds SCOBY—a combination of bacteria and yeast that he’s developed in-house—and adds it to the tea mixture. The concoction ferments for a week, allowing the SCOBY to work and make kombucha what it is: a probiotic, sour and flavorful drink. To raise the alcohol level beyond the 0.5% from the initial fermentation, Rood adds a Belgian Ale yeast that creates a slight beer quality and lets that mixture ferment for another week. This step raises the alcohol level to 0.7 to 1%.  Finally, after the second fermentation is complete, Rood adds hops, fruit, herbs or spices and “lets it rest” to let the flavors develop. 

“This is a very mellow waiting period,” Rood told Beverage Master Magazine. “We gently stir the mixture and let the particulate matter sink to the bottom. Then we add a bit of sugar, which gives the kombucha a touch of sweetness, and finally, we package it.”

  Dr. Hops makes four standard products: the IPK, similar to a juicy IPA; the Lop, a tart, refreshing pomegranate chai with prominent grapefruit notes; the Jackalope, with prominent ginger, lime and mint flavors; and the Blinky, with hints of basil and lemongrass. All are dry-hopped with hops sourced from the Pacific Northwest. Sugars vary from 4-6%, and ABV runs from 5-9%. Flavors come from fresh, organic fruits rather than flavoring compounds.

  In terms of legal classification, hard kombucha is typically classified as a beer rather than a wine product. The Dr. Hops production facility is similar to a brewery, with stainless steel tanks and temperature, pressure and oxygen controls. To produce optimum results, brewers have to be very meticulous, Rood explained. “The process goes through many different phases, and each phase has the potential to create benefits as well as off-flavors. It’s really an art. We have to check fermentation constantly, as it’s a living process and not an exact formula, although we’re getting pretty good at it.”

  Ultimately, Rood’s goal is to create a product that is “good for your belly” and “good for your buzz.”  Hard kombuchas have less sugar than anything in the alcohol world, he said, except for pure vodka. “As Americans, sugar is one of the worst things we consume, so we keep ours as low as possible.”

  Rood also uses a kombucha strain that’s rich with alcohol-resistant lactobacillus, a health-enhancing probiotic. Because Dr. Hops’ products are unfiltered and unpasteurized (heating from pasteurization destroys enzymes, organics and flavors), the probiotics stay in the beverage, helping the body process not just food, but also alcohol. Another health benefit: Dr. Hops uses only organic fruits, roots and herbs, which provide additional nutrients.

  “Essentially, we’re trying to eliminate the junk people put in their bodies while drinking alcohol,” Rood said. “When you take all of our ingredients together, you have a beverage that’s remarkably distinct and much healthier.”

  As more and more health-conscious imbibers turn to beer/kombucha blends, Dr. Hops is enjoying great success. Currently, the company produces 1,000 barrels a year, with plans to triple—or even quadruple—production within the next year.  Right now, they package their kombucha in bottles, but Rood intends to switch to cans soon. Dr. Hops is available in liquor stores and independent food stores and markets in Northern California and is on tap in several bars in the Oakland, California area. Rood’s goal is to increase distribution to the western third of the country and Florida. 

  “Sales have been amazing,” he said.  “It’s something people want, but most don’t know it until they discover it, and then they get very excited about it.”

  Within the past couple of years, many up-and-coming hard kombucha brands have emerged within the growing industry, including Flying Embers, KYLA, JuneShine and Lambrucha. Established kombucha producers are also getting in on the action. Wild Tonic, originally a regular kombucha brand, created two hard kombucha products: one with 5.6% ABV and one with 7.6% ABV. Kombrewcha, one of the country’s pioneering hard kombucha brands, received backing from AB InBev’s investment arm, ZX Ventures, to produce a new line of hard kombuchas.

  It’s not only AB InBev getting in on the action, however. Craft breweries have also extended their product portfolio to include hard kombucha. For example, New Holland Brewing, a Holland, Michigan craft beer brand that’s been around for over 20 years, now produces a seasonal offering that combines the flavors of an IPA with Kombucha. Boston Beer, maker of Samuel Adams, recently launched Tura Hard Kombucha. And Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon collaborated with Humm Kombucha to create Humm Zinger, “a beer that blends together Humm’s tangy grapefruit kombucha with Cascade hops and Pilsner malt for big citrus flavor with a profound dry hop character.”

  Clearly, hard kombucha is hitting the mainstream. After all, what’s not to like? It’s all-natural, gluten-free, organic and vegan, low in sugar and calories yet contains enough alcohol to be fun. As part of the low-alcohol trend, which includes hard seltzers, hard ciders and low-alcohol spirits, hard kombucha has a lot of opportunities to grow. If you think you might be one of those who want it but don’t know it yet, hustle off to your favorite vegan restaurant, grocery or liquor store and check it out.

“SMART” Brewing: Innovation & New Technology for Craft Breweries

Cyndi

By: Cheryl Gray

man inspecting a machine

Brewers have needed packaging and tools to dispense their products ever since beer was first brewed a millennium ago. Today, innovation and technology that transform a good idea into a great one are driven by industry titans who know how to keep pace with the demands of a highly competitive field, putting craft breweries in a position to stay a step ahead in an increasingly crowded global marketplace.

Print-on-Demand With Abbott Company

  One of those titans is Wisconsin-based Abbott Company, in business for 95 years, specializing in industrial marking and packaging solutions. Tim Stark, Abbott’s president, points to the rise in craft brewing as the catalyst for creating a demand for innovation and new technology aimed at achieving best practices in product identification operations.

  With craft breweries increasing their production capacity and distribution, Stark says there is a correlating trend towards print-on-demand inkjet technology replacing pre-printed boxes and hand-applied labels.

  “Print-on-demand inkjet technology offers many benefits, including a lower cost-per-mark compared to pressure-sensitive labels, as well as more flexibility for managing corrugate stock volumes and case sizes. Our recommended high-resolution inkjet technology, FoxJet ProSeries print heads, has been recently enhanced to print scan-able barcodes on porous cases at higher speeds consistently.”

  Stark says that in automating the printing of product identification on cases, today’s brewers are also looking at improving efficiency by integrating what he calls “scan and select” capabilities into their operation.  

  “This makes product changeovers, and subsequent print message changes effortless and free of human error. A hand scanner is used to scan a barcode from a work order, which selects the correct message to be printed on the case. This is often paired with a barcode vision system which can verify the readability of barcodes before they are palletized and shipped to retailers, allowing a turnkey case coding solution that will scale as breweries continue to grow.”

  Craft breweries are also looking for innovation when it comes to products that solve their primary packaging identification needs, says Stark.

  “We also see a growing desire for high contrast date coding on bottles and cans that are dark in color,” he said. “With a focus on freshness, an increasing number of craft breweries are requesting to use yellow and light blue inks to make the date code and other important product information pop out to consumers. The introduction of the Linx 8900 Plus soft pigment inkjet printer allows brewers to print high contrast codes on their bottles and cans while avoiding the difficulty commonly found with traditional pigmented ink printers. “

Shrink Sleeves With PDC International

  PDC International is another company at the forefront of an industry upon which many craft breweries depend—shrink sleeve labeling. From the moment the business opened in 1968, anticipating customer needs is what the Connecticut-based company has brought to its brewery clients. PDC Founder Anatole Konstantin immigrated to the United States from post-WWII Eastern Europe, building his company out of the den of his home. 

  Through vertical integration and in-house controls, including its own machine shop, PDC is known for quickly solving customers’ production challenges. Neal Konstantin is president of the company his father, Anatole, founded fifty years ago. He says the widespread use of shrink sleeves, a technology allowing a brewery to place its brand name on blank cans rather than having to inventory large quantities of pre-printed cans, saves warehouse space, simplifies logistics and saves money.

  “The recent widespread adoption of shrink labeling by breweries has resulted in machine refinements for labeling [either] full or empty aluminum cans of all sizes,” says Konstantin. “Special product handling ensures that aluminum cans are not dented or marred when processed through the labeler. PDC’s proprietary cutting blades now last millions of cycles between sharpenings, saving downtime and labor and reducing overall costs. We offer the widest range of shrink sleeve label applicators in the industry, ranging from entry-level systems up to 400-500 pm.”

Release the Pressure With

R&S Supply Company

  Don’t be thrown by the Napa Valley location of R&S Supply Company. It also caters to craft breweries, along with wine and other industries in all 50 states and 10 countries around the globe. Founded in 1984, R&S Supply Company is a distributor of products from brands such as Tassalini Valves, Strahman Washdown Products, Definox Valves, Texcel Brewers & Spirits hose assemblies and Dixon Sanitary Pumps & Fittings.

  Company President Paul N. Roberts touts the newest product line that R&S Supply has recently added to its roster. “The newest product line that we have added is Bradley Industrial Products and Keltech Tankless Electric Water Heaters. The Keltech Tankless Water Heaters provide instant hot water anywhere in a production facility when mounted on our cart.”

  Roberts points to the Italian-manufactured line of Tassalini Sanitary Valves as one of his company’s top innovative products. Industry insiders know that the name Tassalini has been around since 1922 when it first produced products for the aeronautics industry. R& S Supply Company is Tassalini’s largest U.S. distributor, Roberts says, stocking all original manufacture replacement seals and repair kits, along with an entire line of Tassalini Valves for every need.

“We stock the complete line including butterfly valves, actuators, check valves, ball valves, tank vents, sight glasses, plug valves and all the accessories and repair parts.”

Pour One Out With Xpressfill Systems

  A relative newcomer to the industry of packaging and tools, XpressFill Systems LLC is led by owner Randy Kingsbury, a mechanical engineer with more than 30 years of experience. Based in San Luis Obispo, California, XpressFill Systems is a global player in the development of affordable, efficient filling equipment for the brewing industry, with customers in the United States as well as Europe, Australia, South America and Asia.  

  “Our equipment is small—tabletop—making it easy to position in smaller brewery operations. It is simple to operate and maintain, requiring only one or two operators to efficiently maintain the quantity and quality of the beverage,” Kingsbury says.

  XpressFill introduced its first filler for brewers in 2014, a tabletop counter pressure filler for bottles with a pair of fill spouts. This product, Kingsbury says, was designed to launch its fill sequence with a carbon dioxide purge, then seal and fill the bottle to a level sensor that automatically stops the fill so the bottle can be removed and capped. XpressFill edged its technology forward, developing its four-spout counter pressure bottle filler, capable of filling 12-ounce bottles at a rate of 400 per hour.  In 2018 the company introduced counter-pressure fillers for cans.  

  “The XF4500C has two fill spouts and is capable of filling 300 12-ounce cans per hour. To further satisfy the demand for filling cans, the XF2200 open fill unit was developed. This provided a faster, less expensive alternative, capable of filling 360 12-ounce cans per hour with two spouts, while still providing quality fills,” says Kingsbury.

  More innovation and technology is in store with the development of XpressFill’s new two-spout filler, the XF280W. “Current quality control of fill volumes is accomplished by craft brewers weighing their filled cans, which is an additional step following the filling,” Kingsbury says. “We set out to explore the possibility of providing a user-friendly and cost-effective filler that would measure the weight of dispensed beer to save the additional weight verification step.”

Expand With iStill

  For craft breweries exploring the world of distilling, Netherlands-based iStill offers an automated, robotized distillery unit that promises a simple setup with only a water hose and electrical plug needed to begin.

  “Due to our scientific approach to distilling, we have been able to create an easy to operate, versatile machine that takes the magic out of distilling great spirits, and makes whiskey, vodka, gin and rum production an easy add-on to the already existing brewery,” says Edwin van Eijk, CEO of iStill.

  “The iStills come in sizes ranging from 26 to 1300 gallons. Each and every machine can make every distilled product. If the craft brewer does not want to re-invest in expanding mashing or fermenting capacity, the iStills can mash and ferment as well. Everything takes place in the same unit.”

  iStills offers a broad range of services, Eijk says, to assist its more than 700 clients worldwide, including iStill University, which educates and trains approximately 200 distillers annually in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. 

  Innovation and technology are ever-evolving as leaders in the packaging and tools industry find new ways not only to push themselves but also, push craft breweries into thinking smarter about ways to make their products move quickly in the marketplace.

Important Tank Supplies & Accessories for Your Brewery or Distillery

Cyndi

By: Alyssa L. Ochs

tanks wrapped over

High-quality and reliable tanks are one of the most essential parts of any brewery or distillery. However, there are many components involved in keeping tanks in good condition and well-monitored throughout the beverage-making process. Experienced brewers and distillers use various tank supplies to keep their tanks working well for many years into the future and to produce excellent craft beverages.

Here is an overview of some of the most important tank supplies and accessories to stock up on and use regularly in a brewery or distillery.

Basic Tank Needs

  Wraps are one of the most important tank-related products that breweries and distilleries should invest in because they provide fluid temperature control for tanks. Wraps also reduce condensation and allow fluids to circulate with a cooling jacket on for thermal control. Glycol wraps help control the fermentation process and are also referred to as glycol jackets. These products are put on the bottoms and sides of tanks to maintain beverage temperatures, regardless of the beverages’ fill levels. This is especially important on packaging days of the year. Overall, breweries and distilleries typically look for wraps made with lightweight and flexible fabric that’s easy to apply and manipulate as needed.

  Insulation is useful for craft beverage tanks because both hot and cold temperatures are required from these tanks. Common insulation materials are fiberglass and stone wool. Insulation helps to counteract high humidity in a brewery or distillery and also prevent burn and freezing so that ice does not form on the pipes. Since insulation helps resist corrosion, keep mold away and save energy, it is also a way for breweries and distilleries to become more efficient and sustainable. For example, Synavax™ multipurpose coatings use a liquid wrap insulation to coat the equipment and cover exposed valves to prevent energy loss. Just keep in mind that staff members must to be trained thoroughly on insulation safety, especially when working around hot pipes.

  Meters are another crucial piece of equipment used alongside tanks in the brewing and distilling processes. Liquid pressure and vacuum gauges come in both analog and digital formats, with digital versions typically being more expensive. Common sizes are ¼ inch to 1.5 inches, and stainless steel is the most common meter material used in the food and beverage industry. Meters often use two pressure transmitters to measure the beverage level – one for the head pressure and the other for the total pressure. It is that differential that’s really important number to steadily monitor. Magnetic flow meters often range from ½ inch to six inches and provide readings to minimize losses in the beverage-making process. Meanwhile, temperature sensors monitor a beverage’s temperature so that you can quickly adjust temperatures that become too high or low. Regardless of the chosen product, it’s always important to have hygienic process fittings for meter sensors.

  Tank Stands, a less technical but equally important product that goes hand-in-hand with tanks. Stands are usually made from stainless steel and can accommodate 100, 200, 300, 500, or more liters for the right fit with your tanks. Stainless steel pipe stands for brite tanks are available to fit 1.5-inch and two-inch sizes. Some stands accommodate just one large tank, while others fit several tanks and are ideal for small batches. Some smaller tanks have wheels to make them transportable in case mobility is convenient for your operations.

Top Tank Supply Products

  Dean Thompson, the brand manager for Flextank USA, told Beverage Master Magazine that his company’s most popular tank products among breweries and distilleries are its line of SS sanitary fittings, fermentation locks and oak adjuncts. This company manufactures and assembles all of its vessels in Vancouver, Washington and distributes them worldwide.

  Among the most-used products throughout the beverage industry is Flextank’s AK1T – Combo 6-Bolt Flange Accessory Kit in the 1.5-inch size that includes VF1, BV3 and SV1T. This kit includes a complete drain valve installation and a Tassilini sample valve, and it fits all Eco and Dexter Maturation and heavyweight tanks, plus the Apollo Fermentor. Other popular products are Flextank’s butterfly valves and FL1 Fermentation Lock.1 for use on Eco Tanks and Dexter Lids purchased prior May 31, 2014. Meanwhile, the company’s FC060-50-70-80 FlexChill is an exterior wrap chilling system used with glycol chillers and designed for cylindrical tanks in two standard sizes.

  “Our oak staves are French and American oak and available in different toast levels and sizes for different tank sizes,” Thompson said. “These are made with directions to add up the staves needed for use. An example is if you need 80 gallons, you can add the staves from the 50-gallon tank and then add the 30-gallon tank, and now you have what you need for the 80-gallon tank.”

  Miyuki Clauer of ATAGO U.S.A., Inc. told Beverage Master Magazine that ATAGO’s most common product line used for craft beverage tank monitoring is its In-Line Refractometer PRM Series. Based in Bellevue, Washington, ATAGO U.S.A. is a leading manufacturer of refractometers, polarimeters, salt meters, acidity meters, pH meters and saccharimeters.

  “The PRM series offers a digital display section with a seven-segmented LED that displays the temperature and measurements,” Clauer said. “Using output methods, such as RS-232 or 4-20mA, the data can be transmitted to a PLC system for system automation. It offers lab-grade accuracy across the full range of refractive index, Brix or user-defined concentration scale. The PRM series is equipped with an alarm output function that transmits a signal when it detects values exceeding preset high- and low-limit values.”

  Clauer also explained how these inline units use COP (clean-out-of-place) and CIP (clean-in-place) methods for easy cleaning. This is always a valuable feature for busy breweries and distilleries.

  “The detection section occupies a small footprint, taking up very little space and offering an installation option to be directly mounted to the tanks or piping systems,” Clauer said. “The unit can be easily removed without requiring previously acquired skills to be easily removed and installed for COP. The prism section is completely flat and can be easily cleaned once removed. For CIP, users can install an optional accessory and let the ultrasonic cleaner prevent utterly unavoidable sample build-up around the refractometer’s prism surface. Another option is the prism wiper, which attaches directly facing the detection section of an inline refractometer installed in the piping system to manually wipe buildup off the prism surface.”

Other Tank Accessories to Consider

  In addition to wraps, insulation, meters and stands, there are many other tank products that can come in handy during the brewing and distilling process. For example, your beverage operations may benefit from carbonation stones, CIP spray balls and hydrators. Racking arms, valves, sight glasses, basic thermometers and through wall fittings are among the many other tank supplies that experienced beverage producers use.

Choosing the Best Tank Products 

  Although there are many brands, types and styles of tank supplies and accessories to choose from, not all of them are necessarily right for your beverage company. This is why it’s a good idea to get to know industry leaders who make these types of products so you learn about what will best suit your needs.

  With regard to insulating beverage tanks, Thompson of Flextank USA said that the best strategy is “either a temperature-controlled room using our FlexChill system or using standard insulation materials common in hot water tanks.”

Thompson’s advice to breweries and distilleries is a reminder that starting with Flextank for fermentation of grains and sugars can significantly lower start-up or expansion costs.

  “These tanks come in variable permeation rates so they can serve a double-duty and can age spirits, beer and cider without the cost of barrels,” Thompson said. “If an oak profile is desired, inexpensive oak staves are available in a variety of toasts and species that can complement the end product.”

  When shopping for tank supplies for your brewery or distillery, Clauer of ATAGO U.S.A. says that the most important things to look for in a tank meter are the specification of the measurement range, temperature compensation capabilities and after-care services.

  “ATAGO offers in-house service in the U.S., and we offer loaner units while we have customers’ instruments,” Clauer said. “With NIST certification, it offers information security standards and guidelines to ensure that the instrument is working accordingly.”

  Clauer also told Beverage Master Magazine that when searching for pieces of craft beverage equipment, such as tank meters, it is important to have a comprehensive overview of what’s needed and what options are available.

  “Purchasing an instrument is one part, but also knowing the spare parts and how accessible it is to these parts are important, as well as any technical service turnarounds,” Clauer said. “Having a manufacturer that can offer customer service that walks with you every step of the journey of craft beverage manufacturing is important. ATAGO is dedicated to meet our customers’ need with a motto of ‘You ask, we create.’ We offer a portable CO2 meter, refractometer, pH meter, and conductivity meter, as well as the inline refractometer.”

Finishing and Aging Options Evolve with Booming Secondary Barrel Market

Cyndi

By: Gerald Dlubala

barrels outside a facility

Those barrels hanging out in the distilleries, whether new, used or refurbished, are just getting started. Oak barrels have a full and varied life, complete with occasional travel between distilleries, breweries, wineries and back again, sometimes internationally.

  Just within the Kentucky commonwealth, there is an inventory of over eight million barrels of Bourbon and other spirits in various stages of the aging process. It’s the highest inventory in 40 years and represents almost a two-barrel per person ratio. That’s a lot of barrels coming onto the market, which coincides with a booming secondary barrel market.

Impacting Flavors By Following The Seasons

  One company helping those previously used barrels live their best life is Moe’s Barrels, with locations in Galt, Lodi and Fairfield, California. COO Dean “Deano” Wilson is a winemaker and self-proclaimed foodie, so he found it natural to follow his passion by selling previously used wine and whiskey barrels for secondary, flavor impacting purposes.

  “We source our barrels from both the big and small producers,” said Wilson. “The boutique producers are our preferred source for quality used barrels simply because they tend to take care of them a little better. We buy our barrels in lots, with 99% of them coming in already cleaned and sanitized. But we’ll look at, inspect and grade them, giving them a wine or beer grade. If they don’t qualify for that, we can use them as furniture or décor grade. A trend that has grown recently is to sell the parts of used barrels to the artistic community, selling the individual staves, barrelheads or barrel rings for creative endeavors.”

  Wilson told Beverage Master Magazine that his formula for success is to try and follow the season for selling a certain type of barrels. 

  “We get a lot of first and second use barrels at harvest time, which is very good for cross-utilization. White wine barrels are excellent for reuse with wine, Belgian style beers, Cognacs and more. The barrels we get immediately following the crush are great matches for repeated wine and bourbon use.”

  Wilson gets his used barrels delivered with blue painter’s tape over the bunghole. The tape covers the hole for sanitary reasons but still allows the barrel to breathe. If they sit around too long with the bung in, there’s a chance for mold growth. If the barrels are left with the openings uncovered, they could dry out and start to split. Moe’s does the rest, performing sanitation, rehydration, steam cleaning and hot water rinsing.

  “Communication is key for customers looking to purchase used barrels,” said Wilson. “The buyer needs to be comfortable in the relationship with the supplier. First and foremost, look for quality, but be comfortable enough to ask for what you need. Know what flavor profiles you’re looking to build. Use your nose and trust your smell when inspecting the barrels that you are buying. Some staining and minimal hairline cracks are fine, but larger, deeper cracks around the bunghole can be a sign of a problem, and it’s always best to stay away from any hardened purple stains. Check for holes or damage that could be related to borer beetles. We invite all buyers into our warehouse, where you can completely inspect the barrels you’re looking to purchase. Inspect them from head to head, inside and outside, noting the year on the cooperage. Know the barrel’s origin, exactly what it was used for and how many times it’s been used. A quality supplier will know and willingly share this information about the barrels they’re selling. Cleanliness and smell are your two biggest assets when looking at used barrels, so always follow your nose.”

  Moe’s Barrels keeps all of its inventory inside a warehouse and available for buyer inspection.

  “We want to recycle these barrels and give them another life in the business, whether it’s for additional distilling and brewing, for use as furniture and décor or ultimately selling the parts to the artistic community. It’s a way towards sustainability.”

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel: The Name Says It All

  What better place to source local Bourbon and whiskey barrels than in Kentucky, the birthplace of Bourbon and home to the renowned Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Noah Steingracher is the man to talk to for North American and international craft sales at Kentucky Bourbon Barrel, a full service used barrel cooperage, offering used Bourbon and exotic spirit barrels.

  Being right in the heart of the Bourbon Trail in Louisville, Kentucky, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel primarily sells Bourbon barrels sourced locally from all of the familiar names. When Steingracher joined the company, he brought his international sourcing experience with him, so exotic and international barrels are now in play as well. He has sourced used barrels from spirits distributors, breweries, meaderies and wineries for use in finishing and aging a potential customer’s product.

  “We do it all,” said Steingracher. “We sell the used barrels from barrel to stave, depending on every customer’s unique needs. We have contracts with reputable and well-known distilleries to empty and ship their used barrels directly to us. We inspect them using our stringent guidelines for acceptable and unacceptable issues, including the size of any distinguishable cracks. If needed, our experienced team of coopers repair the barrels and make them fit to fill. We fill the used barrel market for customers that may not have the time, expertise or source to fill it on their own, and our experience and reputation are such that we have customers worldwide. I’ve shipped to islands that I’ve had to find on Google Maps. I’ve delivered barrels to the base of the Himalayas. There’s nowhere we won’t deliver.”

  Steingracher told Beverage Master Magazine that the used barrel market is affected by the same seasonal changes that affect all brewers and distillers, as well as how the barrel will be used.

  “A used barrel can function as either a vessel or an ingredient,” said Steingracher. “As a vessel, used barrels are just the holder for the product. For example, if a brewer wants to offer chocolate, porter or coffee stout, a used bourbon barrel fits the need and will provide the expected stone fruit and vanilla notes. But if you want to put out the best coffee stout, you should use a rye barrel so that the unique flavor from the barrel imparts a distinguishable, peppery infused difference. The right barrel will be a noticeable and valued ingredient in your formula.”

  Steingracher noted that brewers and distillers sometimes become too easily attached to the brand stamped on the barrel rather than going with barrels that fit their actual needs, if for no other reason than to associate their brand with that of a particular distillery. 

  “A mindset of only looking towards a brand name rather than filling your flavor profile defeats the purpose of striving for reliability and availability of your product offerings. Craft distillers and brewers can always run into a situation of not being able to find that particular distiller’s used barrel for the next batch. Frankly, they usually don’t even have the marketing rights to use that particular distiller’s name in their marketing. Jim Beam can release up to ten thousand barrels a week, with Buffalo Trace releasing around six thousand a month, and then others like Pappy are obviously extremely limited.”

  “Relationships matter when discussing that reliability and availability,” said Steingracher. “You need to know the type, origin, and age of the barrel you’re getting. With all the variants and combination spirits being distilled these days, what specific type of Bourbon was the barrel last used for? Was a char put on it? What level? Was it toasted? Repaired? How many years has it been used? Barrels can last a hundred years or more if used and maintained properly. The oldest is probably in Scotland, but I’ve personally seen some from aged before World War II. We do buy some back from the distillers that we know care for them the right way, and having access to our cooperage allows us to be able to make the repairs necessary to keep them in circulation. You can certainly come through and check on barrels yourself, but with our regular buyers, they know that the barrels we send them are fit to fill.”

  The flavor and use options for used barrels are indefinite. With many craft distillers and brewers now openly sharing their barrels between multiple brewing cycles, with proper use and care, barrels can last indefinitely. It’s what you can do with them after extensive uses and fillings that become limited.

  The Barrel Mill’s Infusion Spiral Technology Offers More Flavor Options While Decreasing Aging Time

  Options for those barrels, whether new or extensively used, have gotten much greater due to Infusion Spiral technology from The Barrel Mill, a central Minnesota-based cooperage that specializes in premium new oak barrels.

  Len Napalitano is an infusion spiral expert with The Barrel Mill and told Beverage Master Magazine that their infusion spirals are perfect for creating unique flavor profiles and helping distillers get their product to market faster.

  “Sometimes, you won’t find the right barrels for the flavor profile that you want to build for your customers,” said Napalitano. “With each fill, a wooden barrel loses part of its flavor offering and balance, and after three fills, barrels can be neutral regarding any noticeable flavor profile. These barrels are still obviously good for use, and now they can benefit from infusion spirals to regain that lost flavor profile.

You can achieve new oak flavor without the new oak barrel, which can be in short supply at times. Even when used with a new oak barrel, infusion spirals help get your product to market quicker. Our spirals are cut from premium oak, maximizing end-grain exposure for full extraction in weeks instead of months, saving the distiller money in labor, cost and time. The spirals are formed from barrel stave wood, cut through, then put into a convection oven to get their desired toast or char by way of our proprietary formula.”

  Jeremy Wochnick, Sales Professional for The Barrel Mill, said “The spirals range from a light toast to a #3 char depending what the distillers want, and are available in not only the standard, premium oak, but also in French oak and more exotic species like sugar maple, cypress, cedar and more for experimental and unique small-batch flavor profiles. Barrel quality results are obtained using any type of barrel, carboy or stainless tank. The spirals have proven to be successful in spirits, beers and wines as well as hard ciders and nonalcoholic drinks like ginger ale and regular ciders. Infusion spirals can be used to add a flavor profile to anything. We also have packs with blend options featuring different toast levels. The spirals can be used once, and are inserted into your barrel through the bunghole by way of netting or some sort of daisy chain for making retrieval easy.”

  And those infusion spirals, after being retrieved from their time in the barrel? Well, it turns out that they’re a pretty good addition to your outdoor barbecue.