Category: Beer Industry

my occasional rants and raves about what is going on in the industry.

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Micromatic article

Normally, I do all the posts on this here blog myself with the occasional help from Friends. But when I was contacted by Micromatic who sells all the equipment needed to get beer from keg to glass, well, I could not refuse to have them teach the class, as it were…..So, without further ado…..

Beer Line Cleaningg
Cleaning your beer lines is critically important to serving draft beers. Along with maintaining a constant temperature and pressure, proper cleaning is one of the main keys to ensuring that your draft beer is the same quality when it leaves your taps as it was when it left the brewer.
There are a few main culprits that can affect the taste and quality of the beer. Bacteria of various kinds can grow in beer lines, and though most of these varieties are not harmful they can affect the taste, color, and smell of the beer that goes through the lines. Yeast is another culprit—sometimes yeast comes from the brewing process of the beer itself, but more often it comes from the surrounding air. Mold comes in from the air too, and like yeast it can begin to grow on the faucets, keg couplers, and drains of your system—all the parts of the system that are exposed to the air. Finally, beer stone is a huge issue in the inner workings of the system. Beer stone comes from the calcium and oxalic acid that are natural components of the beer itself. As beer travels through the lines, it leaves deposits of Calcium Oxalate or beer stone, which can block the lines and flake off into the drink. Frequent cleaning of your beer lines means that none of these culprits will be able to spoil your pint.

All beer line cleaning involves three main steps. The first is to flush all the beer from the lines with clean water. The second is to clean the lines with an appropriate chemical solution, allowing the chemical to either soak or circulate through the system for 15 minutes. The final step is to then flush the chemicals from the lines with clean water before putting beer back into the lines.

Beyond these basics, the main differences in how to clean beer lines stem from which kind of a system you have. If you have a direct draw system, in which the keg is within six feet of the draw point, then you can use a static system in which you allow the chemical cleaning solution to soak inside the beer line. If you have a long draw system in which the line stretches up to 25 feet or more, you’ll need a line cleaning pump. The pump allows the cleaning solution to constantly circulate within the beer system, and is significantly more effective than static cleaning as long as the chemical solution remains in the system for 15 minutes or more.

As you clean your beer lines, it’s important to follow a few best practices. You should clean your entire system at least once every 14 days to ensure that your beer isn’t sharing space with bacteria. While you’re cleaning the lines, you should be taking off and cleaning the taps to keep them germ-free and shiny also. Once you’re done running the cleaning solution and you’ve rinsed your system out with clean water, test the water with pH paper to make sure that the water is really clean and the chemicals are gone. When you’re ready to start running beer through the lines again, throw out the first glass to come through the system as well. You don’t want to be wasteful, but you also want to make completely sure that none of your friends and patrons are inadvertently drinking cleaning chemicals either.

With these fairly simple steps, you can make sure that your beer lines are squeaky clean and ready to use. If you clean your beer lines often, you can ensure that the beer that comes out of your taps tastes exactly the way the brewer intended.

Diana Carlton is a writer for Micro Matic, the world’s leader in beverage dispensing equipment solutions. For everything from home kegerators to commercial beverage dispense systems, Micro Matic provides the highest standards and expertise in the industry. With institutions like Micro Matic’s Dispense Institute, the company is committed to providing leadership in beverage dispensing education and best practices.

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Take your Craft Beer to Market

I have always thought that (especially in Los Angeles) an adult Farmer’s Market in the early evening would be a hit. Have the usual vendors of greens and satsuma’s but throw in a local winery or brewery. Now it looks like Massachusetts is looking into doing it.

This snippet that I found on the interwebs has me hopeful, “The next legislative session hasn’t started yet, but one local official is already brewing a proposal that could help bolster the Bay State’s craft beer industry. State Sen. James Eldridge, D-Acton, plans on filing legislation next year at the State House, that if passed, would allow local beer makers to sell their products at Farmers Markets and agricultural events in Massachusetts.”

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School is in session


One thing that will certainly help the craft beer revolution is to develop a solid farm system to supply well trained brewery folks. Education is key to developing new customers who only drink industrial water lagers and the way to get that education across is to get everyone educated who is working for you. Enough of my stance, here is what the press release says….

Oskar Blues Brewery and Blue Ridge Community College are collaborating on a course that will provide students with hands-on brewing training starting in January 2013.

Oskar Blues Brew School will alternate between the College’s Transylvania County Campus and the new Oskar Blues Brewery, both in Brevard, NC.

“We are thrilled to be working with Blue Ridge Community College on the Oskar Blues Brew School,” says Noah Tuttle, head brewer of the Brevard Oskar Blues Brewery. “This program will allow students to get the strong education and hands-on training they need to help them pursue careers in an incredibly fast growing industry.”

Gabe Mixson, the primary instructor, holds a master’s degree in microbial biotechnology and has training and experience in the area of industrial fermentation processes including commercial beer brewing.

Oskar Blues will provide regular guest speakers in addition to on-site training. Speakers will cover topics ranging from brewing to marketing to sales. Toward the end of the course, students will develop and brew a beer on Oskar Blues’ pilot system, which will be served in the brewery taproom.

At the completion of the course, students will be ready to take the General International Beer and Distribution Certification exam, an internationally recognized exam offered at centers throughout the U.S. by the United Kingdom’s Institute of Brewing and Distilling. Blue Ridge Community College will become an IBD examination center.

“This class is unique, given the mix of hands-on and classroom experience,” says Ben Kish, workforce training development director at Blue Ridge Community College. “Plus, it’s affordable.”

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UK #

I saw this little blurb on the Brookston Beer Bulletin, Jay Brooks goes on to say, “Well this is a tidy bit of news. CAMRA is reporting that the number of breweries in the United Kingdom is now over 1,000 for the first time in over 70 years. Other tidbits include that there are “[t]wice as many brewers now in operation compared to a decade ago” and the “[n]umber of micro breweries have risen despite recession and pub closures,” something we’ve also experienced here in the U.S., too. You can read the full story in the Scotsman, but tonight I think an English beer may be in order.”

Coming on the heels of last month’s session about where will the number of breweries in the US be at in five years, this shows that the fever is not confined to our shores. I would love to see the day where the US again has to play catch up to styles and beers from the rest of the world.

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Really Portable Beer

Friend of the blog, Steve Zuback sent me this niche beer link last week.

Craft quality beer concentrate!

“Beer is typically about 95% water, which makes it heavy, cumbersome, and expensive to transport. But with our innovative and modern brewing process (patent pending) we can create a nearly waterless beer concentrate that contains all the great flavor, alcohol, and aroma of a premium quality micro brew. Our beer is not dehydrated beer!

Pat’s Beer ConcentrateUnlike other concentrate processes, this is not just about making the beer and then “removing” the water afterwards (which is extremely energy inefficient). Instead, our process (patent pending) allows us to start with almost no water, and carefully control the environment of the fermentation. The result… concentrated beer with all the same great taste you’re used to in a premium micro brew. All you do is add water, carbonate (check out our carbonator), and enjoy.”

I checked the website and I could not find a spot where I could see a range of styles that you could rehydrate. So I can’t comment on how they might taste. I would suspect that maltier beers with low alcohol would do best and IPA’s probably wouldn’t work at all but that is just guesswork on my side.

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Beer Right Now!

I am not in Philadelphia or New York. But if I was, I would be intrigued by this beer delivery service. Beer Right Now pretty much tells you what they do right up front.

And by the logo, you can tell that they are not totally craft driven. I took a spin on some Philadelphia choices and most were fairly bad. Though there was a glimmer of hope in the form of Yards, Troegs and Yuengling. Maybe as this rolls out more craft beers will pop up because otherwise they will be ignoring a large chunk of the audience that really likes to spend money on beer.

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2 Beer Books on the horizon

There are two books on the near and far horizon that will appeal to craft beer fans and especially to the lot who have been bitten by the home brewing bug. And though the Amazon site has been glitchy with me. I have ordered one in Kindle version to arrive next year. But first…..

Mitch Steele – IPA. It makes sense. Stone has a definite bitter style and this book which includes both history and recipes. As the liner notes to the book go on to explain, “Explore the evolution of one of craft beer’s most popular styles, India pale ale. Loaded with brewing tips from some of the country’s best brewers, IPA covers techniques from water treatment to hopping procedures. Included are 48 recipes ranging from historical beers to recipes for the most popular contemporary IPAs made by craft brewers such as Deschutes Brewery, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Pizza Port Brewing and Russian River Brewing Company.” And even if you are not a brewer but a fan of the style the recipes should be interesting from the vantage point of which hops are used and how much.


Ken Grossman – Sierra Nevada. I wish I didn’t have to wait until 2013 to read this one but I will. I hope this is a harbinger for more books on craft beer pioneers. I read a slim tome about the famous Bert Grant that did not meet expectations and I think there are quite a few newbies who can stand to learn about the old guard. I know the outlines of the Sierra Nevada story but I hope this book digs a little deeper.

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Labologists Society

One of the great pleasures of going through the Oxford Companion to Beer is finding little gems of information that you did not know about before and the latest one that I have found (I am only in the B section) is about this breweriana group by the name of the Labologists Society.

Here is a short bio from their website….“The common paper beer bottle label was first introduced when the heavy duty on glass was repealed. As a result bottled beers began to feature more prominently in the brewer’s repertoire. The label has come a long way since the original, small, simple, strikingly beautiful examples of the designers art began appearing around the 1840’s.

Although the collection has not been discovered yet, acquisitive individuals being a type always present in society, the first collector of beer bottle labels must have begun conserving labels from that time.

In 1911 a young collector called Norton Price remembered as a boy soaking labels (some now unique) from returned bottles in his father’s off-licence, and during both World Wars, when soldiers were forbidden to mention details of their postings in letters home, a simple beer bottle label from a local bar secured in a small album, served as an aide-memoir for future reference.

However it was not until 1958 when three label collectors got together, originally with financial support from Guinness Exports Ltd., Liverpool, that the Labologists Society was formed with the idea of uniting collectors world-wide. Today the interest in Labology is truly international with clubs and societies in the Americas, Australasia, the Far East and throughout Europe.”

They also host a yearly “Label of the Year” charity contest. A great way to highlight the art of the label and help some people out.

Their website is being worked on so I will be returning to see if the gallery is up because that would be a fun way to while away the time.

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Define Beer for the State of California

Here in the state of California on the political craft beer front comes this piece of news….

“Before the Governor for action, A.B. 1812 seeks to clarify that beer aged in empty wooden barrels previously used to contain wine or distilled spirits will continue to be defined as “beer” in order to protect the existing regulatory and licensure structure in California. The California Craft Brewers Association, the sponsor of this bill, sought this clarification due to concerns that current law creates ambiguity on how wooden barrel-aged craft beers are defined and categorized for purposes of regulation, distribution, retail sales and taxation.”

Seems obvious to me and many other craft beer geeks but you know politicians, they would have trouble finding a piece of their anatomy with two hands and a flashlight (one of my dad’s favorite political jokes). But seriously, there are so many tiny underwritten sections to state laws regarding beer that it can be frustrating that a little common sense can’t be applied and either have a fast track for fixing things or a way to just ignore it and not enforce it. Thankfully Governor Brown signed this so now we can move on to more legal tweaks to the twisted mess of beer laws in this country.