ROTARY FILLING PAIRED WITH ROTARY SEAMING ALLOWS A SMOOTH, CONTINUOUS MOTION TRANSITION FROM FILLING TO SEAMING, ELIMINATING UNNECESSARY AGITATION AND UNWANTED REDUCTIONS IN CO₂
FASTER SPEEDS WITH A SMALLER FOOTPRINT HELP TO OPTIMIZE PRODUCTION COSTS
SMOOTHER OPERATION IMPROVES CAN HANDLING AND LOWERS THE RISK OF CAN DAMAGE
MECHANICALLY-SYNCHRONIZED LID APPLICATION ENSURES CONSISTENT AND REPEATABLE DOUBLE SEAM INTEGRITY
Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of The Brewers Journal!
When this issue lands, we will be half-way through 2024. The year is flying by and the General Election is a matter of days away.
Putting together this issue, I was heartened to read new figures that showed average beer production volumes amongst independent breweries have grown 14% compared to 2023.
According to the SIBA Independent Beer Report 2024, volumes had returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time in four years. While cask beer has also seen a big increase, with volumes up 10% year-on-year (John Keeling shares his thoughts on those elsewhere in this edition).
While these numbers read positively, SIBA’s chief executive is also right to add some balance, too. “The short-term issue for small independent breweries isn‘t demand; it’s profitability, rising costs and financial pressures such as lingering Covid debt, he says.
“Far too many breweries are simply trying to survive rather than thrive, so whilst there are many positives signs highlighted in the report, for now it’s cautious optimism.”
So I think, in what’s obviously a testing time for beer, brewing and, of course wider hospitality, being able to meet up, enjoy each other’s company and celebrate all of the fantastic work taking place in this sector is truly important.
Speaking at our Brewers Lectures that we’ve already run this year, I always explain that not enough is said about the new breweries and businesses opening. So when it comes to what we do with the magazine, the podcasts and events like these, I want them to continue to champion the industry, confront the challenges and to come out better the other side. We’re not interested in talking the brewing sector down.
With that in mind we’re thrilled that our Brewers Congress and Brewers Choice Awards return this September. To ensure the event can be attended by as much of the industry as possible, we’ve introduced a new £59 ticket for both the Brewers Congress and Brewers Choice Awards dinner.
If you’re a brewery owner, or work at a brewery, this is the ticket for you and you can find our more right here: https:// www.brewersjournal.info/congress/
And if you want to put forward, or nominate, the fantastic breweries, brewers and businesses operating across the UK then you have until the end of July to get those submissions and nominations in!
For a full run-down on all the categories and how to enter, then please visit this link: https://www.brewersjournal.info/ awards/
Thanks again for your support and I have you have a fantastic, successful, summer.
Tim Sheahan EditorNews analysis
With the general election imminent the consensus in brewing is that change is needed, and soon.
How brewing can save the world
Tim O’Rourke on why going “green” shouldn’t cost money, instead involving better use of resources.
Comment | Enzymes
Why when it comes to enzymes, long term thinking can make marginal gains add up.
Brewers Intelligence | Summer Reports
The latest in-depth insights from the grain, hops, sales and yeast sectors.
Focus | Digital Transformation
Why digital transformation isn’t just about adopting new tech; it’s about enhancing business.
Focus | Water
We take in-depth look into water and some of the suppliers that can assist your water needs.
Technology | Canning Considerations
An insight into the latest canning technology and the benefits these can have on your packaging.
Technology | Renewable Energy
How breweries can use renewable energy tech to cut costs and minimize their carbon footprint.
Comment | Training
HIT Training on how apprenticeships deliver great results for individuals, teams and pub businesses.
Technology | CO2 Recovery
Why more breweries are investing in CO2 recovery systems and the benefits these can have.
Homebrewing | Colin Stronge Colin Stronge, co-founder of Lost Cause Brewing Co, shares stories from his early days in brewing and how it has shaped who he is today..
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Bluntrock Brewery
Hugo Roads, co-founder of Cornwall-based Bluntrock, explains why sustainability is at the heart of the brewery’s exciting expansion plans.
Tim Sheahan Editor tim@reby.media
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Melissa Cole Contributing Editor
Tim O’Rourke Technical Editor
John Keeling Contributor
Josh Henderson Head of sales josh@reby.media
+44 (0)1442 780 594
Jon Young Publisher jon@reby.media
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As the July 4th date of the General Election draws closer, writs will be soon be issued for elections to take place in the UK’s 650 constituencies. Until then candidates remain on the campaign trail sharing their policies and outlining what they would, and wouldn’t do, should they get your vote.
But where does the brewing industry and broader hospitality fit into this picture? “In Norwich we’ve been holding our 12th City of Ale. At the launch party brewers and publicans and those on the fringes came together,” explains Phil Halls, co-founder of Norfolk-based Grain Brewery.
“We all had the same issues and moans, to varying degrees, but I came away positive and hopeful.
“I met mostly resilient and determined people, loving what they do despite the bags under their eyes, and with that attitude, the industry has hope.”
For Halls, whatever the outcome of the election, there is no land of milk and honey on the horizon, but without doubt, change is needed.
He explains: “Manifestoes are coming out now and seem to offer different ways to skin a cat, but we need a Government that truly sees and believes in the importance of our brewing and pub heritage, and wants the independent and interesting aspects of it to survive.
“VAT, rate cuts, subs are all helpful, but our pubs echo the problems everyone faces with high costs in purchases and energy, and the balance of what everyone who puts in the effort
expects to be able to afford needs reestablishing.”
Ahead of the General Election, the British Beer and Pub Association urges all political parties to “support their local”, to implement policies not just to support the nation’s pubs, but to unlock their economic and social value. The association said it wants to see “meaningful reform” in the unfair business rates calculations that see pubs burdened with disproportionate rates, squeezing margins further.
Comprehensive reform is essential to create an equitable system that supports the survival and growth of local pubs, they said.
“In the hope of securing immediate relief to the bottom line of publicans’ purses, we are imploring the next government to extend the current 75% relief for pubs, which is set to expire in March 2025. Extending this relief will offer muchneeded financial stability while a new business rates framework is developed, the association explained.
They added: “Moving away from business rates, we have long called for an end to the excessively high rate of beer duty that UK drinkers pay on every pint, including specific cuts to draught and lower strength rates.
“This measure will support brewers, maintain the affordability of beer, and promote the emergence of local brewing industries, supporting local economies even further.”
“These measures will help ensure that pubs remain vibrant community hubs, and with the playing field levelled, that they don’t just survive, but they thrive for centuries to come,” Emma McClarkin, CEO of the BBPA added.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said it was calling on its members up and down the country to lobby candidates in every constituency to make sure MPs elected in this election are committed
to protecting and promoting thriving community pubs and great beer and cider.
Its election manifesto outlined six key campaigning priorities, these are: Fair tax for beer and pubs, more rights for beer drinkers and pub goers, access to market for small and independent breweries and cider producers, recognising traditional cask ale under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, better planning protections for pubs and a change the business rates system to make it fairer for pubs, the two latter priorities referring to England only.
The upcoming election comes on the heels of a new report that shows average beer production volumes amongst independent breweries have risen by 14% compared to 2023, returning to prepandemic levels for the first time in four years.
The data, sourced from hundreds of independent craft breweries formed a key part of the findings in the SIBA Independent Beer Report 2024. The report highlighted 43% of independent brewers citing ‘survival’ as their top priority, a figure significantly down (-20%) from 2023 where a majority of 63% were just trying to survive.
“Demand for local, independently brewed beer in the UK is strong, with independent brewers reporting production volumes up by fourteen percent, meaning they have returned to 2019 volumes again.
“Far too many breweries are simply trying to survive rather than thrive, so whilst there are many positives signs highlighted in the report, for now it’s cautious optimism,” explained SIBA chief executive Andy Slee.
Looking ahead, Grain Brewery’s Phill Halls concludes: “To see us through, we just need to be heading in the right direction.”
Diageo has announced plans to invest more than €100 million to decarbonise its historic St. James’s Gate site in Dublin 8, where Guinness has been brewed for 264 years.
The investment underpins the company’s goal to accelerate to net zero carbon emissions for the site and will transform energy and water consumption with the aim to make it one of the most efficient breweries in the world by 2030. The move will enable St. James’s Gate to entirely phase out the use of fossil fuels in its direct brewing operations and reduce Scope 1+2 GHG emissions generated by the site by more than 90%, in line with the Science Based Target initiative’s definition of net zero. By 2030, the site’s renewable energy strategy will combine the use of gridsupplied electrical power heat pumps; and biogas generated within a new water recovery facility. This facility will also improve water use efficiency and enable a projected reduction in the water used to brew Guinness by 30%.
Innovus Engineering have announced the newest addition to their fully automatic beverage canning line up, which they describe as the company’s “most technologically advanced beverage machine to date”.
The CF35 is a 7 head inline machine rated for 2100 cans per hour, utilising servo driven seaming technology – giving the user full control over seam settings via the touchscreen HMI.
As with all their machines, the CF35 is built from all stainless steel for caustic safe CIP; features integrated brite tank pressure monitoring for highly repeatable fill levels to +/- 2ml; and delivers industry leading dissolved Oxygen pickup levels of less than 20 ppb.
The remote access feature means the company’s engineers can quickly offer insight and advice on fill or seam parameters if required, as well as monitor service requirements and the general operating health of the machine.
A Danish business has raised an investment of 7 million euros to aid the commercialisation and expansion of its “sustainable method to produce natural aroma” used in non-alcoholic beer.
EvodiaBio said its technology can help improve the taste of non-alcoholic beer while reducing the use of natural resources and CO2 emissions.
With extra capital backing, the company said it aims to become a global leader in sustainable aroma development for the food industry and beyond.
“We are incredibly proud to have achieved this milestone. This funding round is an important step towards our vision of revolutionizing the food industry with sustainable and innovative solutions. With support from our investors and our strong team, we are ready to take EvodiaBio to new heights and make a significant impact on the global stage,” said Camilla Fenneberg, CEO of EvodiaBio.
Hops are one of the key ingredients that give beer its taste, but like many of nature’s other resources, the aromatic plant is threatened by climate change. Production is declining, and quality is deteriorating. EvodiaBio has developed a technology using yeast and precision fermentation to produce sustainable aromas that create the taste of hops, the company added.
These aromas are initially launched for the beer industry, where they can improve the taste of non-alcoholic beer and partially replace aromatic hops, which are currently threatened by climate change.
The company said it was experiencing high interest from breweries, and the possibilities extend beyond non-alcoholic products.
Lallemand Brewing has announced the upcoming release of its latest innovation LalBrew Pomona Modern Hybrid IPA Yeast. LalBrew Pomona is a hybrid yeast that was selected for flavour and fermentation performance in hoppy
beers. Named after the goddess of fruit trees, LalBrew Pomona produces “a unique and juicy flavour profile with notes of peach, citrus, and tropical fruits”. This strain was developed by Lallemand’s partner Escarpment Laboratories, an innovative Canadian yeast company and industry leader in solution-based yeast selection and hybridization.
“We used yeast breeding to cross a highly aromatic strain with a super robust and reliable strain. Then we used a process called adaptive lab evolution to adapt it to the unique fermentation conditions of IPAs, enhancing biotransformation and haze,” said Richard Priess, co-founder of Escarpment Laboratories
The result of this research and selection is a fruity, stress-tolerant, and robust strain that enhances biotransformation and haze for modern IPA styles. This product will be available in 500g this month and in 11g sachets soon.
Brew York has launched a new charitable collaboration with former professional footballer Chris Kamara.
Kammy’s Un-Beer-Lievable is described a crisp and refreshing lager launched to celebrate the Euro 2024 tournament and support Prostate Cancer UK.
This partnership between the York-based brewery and the hugely popular football personality and TV star aims to bring fans together for a great cause.
Wayne Smith, co-Founder and managing director at Brew York, said, “It’s an honour for Brew York to partner with Chris Kamara and Prostate Cancer UK on this project. We hope this beer unites the football and craft beer communities, allowing us to raise as much as possible for such an incredible cause.”
Kammy’s Un-Beer-Lievable is a light, refreshing lager with a crisp finish. Beyond its delightful taste, a donation from every sale will be made to Prostate Cancer UK, making every sip an act of support.
Only 14% of women drink beer weekly (compared to 50% of men), a 3% drop since 2018, a recent report shows. UK women in beer campaigning organisation, Dea Latis, revealed the findings in The Gender Pint Gap: Revisited.
Supported by a grant from the Brewing Research and Education Fund, The Gender Pint Gap: Revisited report explores the results from a newly commissioned YouGov survey.
The report reveals unique insights into the findings, underpinned by meticulous research, commentary, and case studies. It examines the challenges for women about beer and offers a range of opportunities and recommendations.
Back in 2018 Dea Latis published the Gender Pint Gap report, which explored why the UK had the lowest percentage of female beer drinkers in the world.
advertising remains a key barrier for women while 70% of women perceive
ways in which the beer industry can truly move towards beer becoming a gender-
lallemandbrewing.com
Named after the goddess of fruit abundance, LalBrew Pomona™ is the yeast for modern, hop-forward beers. This new hybrid brings you distinctive peach, citrus and tropical fruit avors, controlled haze, and robust fermentation performance.
Now available in 500g packs 11g sachets coming soon Selected by
lallemandbrewing.com/pomona
THE CASK BEER SEGMENT OF THE INDUSTRY IS IN DECLINE - THAT PROBABLY COMES AS LITTLE SURPRISE. BUT IS IT BEYOND HELP? AND WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? JOHN KEELING SHARES HIS THOUGHTS
That seems a little controversial. Well, that is quite a title isn’t it? I thought of it whilst looking through the latest SIBA report. They report that SIBA members have shown an increase in cask beer sales (hurrah), but national brands and I assume they mean beers like my own beloved London Pride are down (boo).
I think they also mean that cask sales at family brewers are down, too. In my travels up and down the country I can confirm that most family brewers
who are the backbone of cask beer are indeed reporting a decline in sales. I don’t think this is a good thing. Indeed, the report goes on to show that overall, the increase in cask brewed by SIBA members does not in any way fill the gap left by the decline in sales of the so-called national brands.
So how is this a good thing? Overall cask beer is in decline as it is every year. So, despite SIBA painting such a rosy picture - cask beer is not in very good health. Now, some amongst you might now be saying that the old boring beers brewed
by the family brewers are the beers in decline rather than the new interesting beers brewed by SIBA members. If so, why hasn’t the growth in these beers reversed the decline in cask beer? Some beers are more suited to cold fizzy dispense and don’t work on cask. I will leave that there…
Indeed, cask beer sales are now less than 9% of all draught beer sales and around 4% of total beer sales. I have said repeatedly that cask in the future will be brewed by specialist brewers for specialist pubs to be
consume by beer drinking specialists. We are probably there now. Is this a bad thing? Well I’m ok but there won’t be any more new drinkers of cask.
I also think that some pub chains don’t want to sell cask because it takes up too much valuable bar space for the profit, they make on it and costs too much in training.
If you read the comments from Justin Hawke of Moor and Duncan Sambrook of Sambrook’s you read a much more cautious note.
Yes, cask beer is in decline and the reason is the old elephant in the roomthat of quality. I have long said that the worst beer you can drink in Britain is cask beer.
Cask beer that has been on serve for seven days is no good to anybody never mind what the latest new hop you use. So how can quality be improved. Firstly training, secondly through innovation to improve shelf life, give new beer flavours etc. But this will cost money.
Another problem the report mentions, and I quote: just 30 percent of 18-24-year-olds ever drink beer, falling behind wines and spirits, while 37 percent of all beer drinkers say they drink cask ale, this falls to 16 percent of 18-24-yearold beer drinkers and 45 percent of male beer drinkers drink cask, compared to 22 percent of women.
So how do we get more young people and women to drink beer. Marketing of course! But this will cost money. To put it simply there is not enough investment in cask beer to solve its problems and nobody will invest in cask beer because of its problems. It’s a chicken and egg situation.
The only way out of this and to get the required investment is for the government to give cask a special duty rate of say 20p less than other beer. So come on, whoever forms the next government do the right thing by cask.
After all it’s the Beer of Britain...
IN THE WORLD OF BEER, MAINTAINING CONSISTENT QUALITY IS PARAMOUNT. HERE KEN KERSHNER, THE GLOBAL COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR OF NUVONIC, OUTLINES HOW IMPLEMENTING UV TREATMENT A CAN EFFECTIVELY SAFEGUARD AGAINST OFF-FLAVOURS CAUSED BY MICROBIAL CONTAMINANTS.
Beer fans know that the perfect brew is a delicate balance of flavours and aromas, but sometimes unwanted off-flavours can ruin the experience.
In the quest to maintain impeccable taste and quality, breweries are turning to innovative solutions like UV treatment to safeguard their brews. Let’s delve into three key strategies employed by breweries to keep their beer safe from contaminants without compromising on taste.
Acetaldehyde, with its unmistakable green apple or latex paint taste, can disrupt the delicate balance of flavours in craft beer.
This compound is a waterborne byproduct of bacteria like Hafnia protea and Clostridium species, as well as oxidation from excess oxygen. UV treatment effectively targets and neutralizes these contaminants, preserving the beer’s purity and taste.
Sulfury off-flavours, characterized by a skunky or rotten egg aroma, are another common nuisance in brewing. These odours stem from anaerobic bacteria such as Klebsiella, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, and Obesumbacterium species, as well as natural fermentation processes or poor sanitation practices. UV treatment acts as a formidable defence, eradicating these contaminants and ensuring that each sip of beer is free from undesirable aromas.
Diacetyl or butyric off-flavours, reminiscent of rancid butter or baby vomit, can sour the beer-drinking experience.
These compounds, produced by bacteria like Hafnia protea and Clostridium species, or caused by factors like shortboiling or mutated yeast, are swiftly addressed by UV treatment.
By neutralizing these off-flavours, UV treatment helps brewers maintain the integrity of their craft and uphold the highest standards of quality.
GOING “GREEN” SHOULD NOT COST MONEY. IT INVOLVES BETTER USE OF RESOURCES AND REDUCING WASTE, IT IS A WAY TO REDUCE COST AND BUILD RESILIENCE, MAKING THE BUSINESS SECURE AGAINST DISRUPTION AND PRICE INCREASES. AND AS THE WORLD AROUND US CHANGES IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE BUILD RESILIENCE INTO OUR BUSINESS MODEL AND OUR COMMUNITY, ARGUES TIM O’ROURKE.
The biggest effects of brewing on the environment come from water consumption, wastewater production, growing barley, packaging, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
The impact on the environment involves more than just climate change. The Cambridge Dictionary describes the environment as “the air, water and land in or on which people, animals and plants live”. It looks at how we interact and influence the world around us.
Changes in the environment impact and disrupt our lives, our activities and can increase the frequency of natural calamities as well as depleting our soils and wildlife. This affects our quality-oflife, happiness, and sustainability.
The influence of human activity on the environment was recognised in 1987 by the United Nations Brundtland Commission who defined sustainability
as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
It is about our children and grandchildren enjoying a similar quality of life as ourselves. It seems crazy that we strive to accumulate money to leave our children an inheritance, but do not invest in the changes needed for a sustainable future. We have already reached a tipping point with a succession of months reaching the 1.5C net increase in temperature above pre-industrial levels which will require adjustment to our standard of living. To relate this to brewing, the wet Spring of 2024 has resulted in late planting of spring barley which is expected to give poor yield and high nitrogens with an increased malt price; the net increase in winter and summer temperatures effects some varieties of hops which will no longer be commercially viable. Unless we take action to limit these changes the impact on the brewing Industry will increase.
The actual brewing process itself has a relatively small carbon footprint but it is necessary to include the whole supply chain when looking at impact of beer production on the environment. All the resources and technology are available for the industry necessary to achieve carbon neutral brewing without expensive offsets and many breweries have made great strides in improving the impact on the environment.
This article looks at the performance of a few breweries to show ways in which industry can save money and improve
the environment. This is only a small selection of all the fantastic efforts that are being made by brewers to support their journey towards carbon neutral brewing with each situation being unique..
Water is essential for life. The brewing industry uses large volumes of water with the average for craft breweries in UK and Europe being 7.8 hl of water per hl of packaged beer.
Small Beer Co in London has concentrated on minimising its water usage by optimising brewing and cleaning operations and cutting water usage to 1.5 hectolitres per hectolitre of beer, not only safeguarding a precious resource but saving more than 6.5 million litres of water since 2017, and reducing effluent which cost 3.5 times more than the incoming water to discharge.
To minimise water usage Small Beer Co, operates a “dry floor” system where all spillages are swept and mopped up. Notice (right) there are no drains. All strong effluent is collected & tanked off site. Around 0.25 litre goes out with the spent grains improving palatability.
Water reduction is achieved by close attention to detail. The Mash/Lauter tun is allowed to fully drain into the kettle recovering most of the extract, fixed rakes fitted with wiper blades ensures almost all the grain is discharged, and any left are swept out. The under plates are brushed clean and washed at the end of the brewing week.
The brewery uses two wort coolers, one with water and the second with glycol. Unlike most conventional operations where maximum amount of heat is recovered by the primary exchanger and the secondary cooler is used a trim chiller.
This system is used to limit the volume of water recovered saving only sufficient for mashing and sparging the next brew. It may be more costly in terms of energy, but it is effective in limiting water usage and waste.
Regenerative farming uses traditional practices to reduce or eliminate the need for chemicals and improve soil fertility through mixed farming growing crops and livestock.
It is based on four basic principles: Minimising soil disturbance, keeping the soil covered with crops as long as possible, minimising the use of chemical inputs and maximising biodiversity, both animal and plants
In this way the soil captures and retains greenhouse gases and makes a healthier environment for wildlife to flourish without impacting yields.
The UK is already classified as one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, nearly one in six species assessed (16%) are at risk of being lost from Great Britain3. (Ref: The Wildlife Trusts September 2023)
Fir Farm in the Cotswolds takes a holistic approach to mixed farming with permanent pasture, arable fields, woodlands, orchards, rivers, and ponds. Soil is the foundation for sustainable farming, and they farm without the use of inorganic fertilisers, pesticides, and fungicides in a way that regenerates soil health and preserves wildlife. For the last 10 years they have grown organic heritage barley varieties for use in brewing.
Clive and Lydia Handy, overleaf, farm 300 acres in the Cotswolds growing malting barley using a no dig system and include companion crops to improve soil fertility. They use a light dose of herbicide to allow the crop to become established. The objective of the farm is to produce high quality cereal with minimum or no addition of chemicals and an underlay of weeds which attracts wildlife (insects and birds) usually absent from conventionally farmed monoculture crops.
Hepworth Brewery’s main reason for investing in green technology is to improve the resilience of the business and security of supply. Brewers have seen huge increases in energy costs and disruption in carbon dioxide availability.
Solar panels on the roof supply 30 kW of electricity with a 4-to-6-year payback which is sufficient to meet the tank cooling duties. It is planned to install a further 40 KW and battery storage on the other side of the brewery.
The chiller works by cooling the glycol and producing heat, which can be recovered through a water-based plate heat exchanger and coupled with a heat pump the temperature can be increased to 40C which is used for keg, cask and vessel cleaning improving the effectiveness of the clean. Unless recovered this energy would go to waste.
Breweries are now looking at recovering the carbon dioxide from the fermentation. Hepworth uses equipment supplied by Earthly Labs to recovers around a third of the CO2 requirement.
The skid mounted compressor works and there are plans in progress to become self-sufficient in carbon dioxide by adding another module and carbon dioxide storage.
The brewery is not on mains sewerage and light waste is treated through a reed bed, but strong effluent is tanked off site to a bio-digester. The brewery has successfully trialled a package anaerobic
digester and is planning to install a bigger system capable of producing 30m3 of methane per day, which can be used as fuel in the steam boiler.
Currently the brewery pays to remove the high concentrated effluent and because it is not on mains gas, uses expensive fuel to generate steam.
Packaging and distribution are a significant part of the carbon emissions and cost to the beer. Rebellion Brewery (right) uses returnable packaging wherever possible to save money and the environment. Most of the beer is sold in keg and cask either through the brewery taproom or to local free trade pubs within a 30-mile radius of the brewery. Recycled casks and kegs have a much lower impact on the environment and limiting the distribution reduces costs for supplying full containers and picking up empties. Rebellion has over 70 00, 10 litre refillable kegs which it supplies to its Beer Club members. Members pay a deposit on the container and once consumed return the empty to
the brewery for a full beer keg. Usually, most customers will also enjoy a pint in the tap room while waiting. The mini kegs have their own carbonation system and are ideal for drinking at home and for family barbeques.
Rebellion is one of the first breweries to reintroduce swing top returnable bottles which are washed and refilled at the brewery. The bottles carry a refundable 30p deposit, but most customers return their empties and take away another full bottle.
Removing bottle labels is always difficult and generates messy pulp. Rebellion have opted to use a simple neck collar label which is easily removed and replace and includes all the necessary legal and market information. Returnable packaging is a brilliant way to connect with your customers and encourage them to visit the Brewery. The Mini Kegs have been used for 30 years and the returnable bottles are recycled on an average of 8-times. Rebellion sells over 83% of all beers in recyclable packaging.
Ramsbury Brewery and Distillery is located on a 2000-hectare farm estate in the Kennet Valley. It is principally an arable farm growing cereals and provides all the wheat which is used directly to make the spirit and barley which is floor malted at Warminster for brewing. It is a mixed farm which mainly farms conventionally but has been able to reduce its dependence on chemical fertilisers through using natural pasture grazing, organic manure, crop rotation and cover crops. It has a large wild areas with forestry, open meadows and a trout river running through the farm.
The farm has many forests and wild areas which are a haven for wildlife with otters on the River Kennet and deer and game birds on the estate. (see overleaf) The game is managed with the excess culled and the meat sold in the Bell Inn and through the brewery shop. A major activity of the farm is Education supporting Schools and Colleges to let
Single use standard bottles
Single use light weight bottes
Single use keg
Aluminium can
Steel can
Re use bottles
young people enjoy the country and find out more about how their food is produced. This is generally provided at no cost to students.
Reducing energy costs is a big focus of the business. It has a thriving forestry and sawmill supplying timber, but the off cuts and sawdust are chipped and used in a biomass boiler to produce all the steam
for heating in the brewery and distillery. All the South facing roofs are covered with solar panels with a generating capacity of 250 kW sufficient to supply 60% of the electricity required by the business. Brewing water comes from aquifers running under the brewery. The grey water is used for watering the market garden while the brewery and
Keg
distillery effluent is treated through a bioreactor to reduce COD before flowing through a reedbed and into the river Kennet which is a pristine chalk stream with trout and otters. Final water quality is vital and is closely monitored by the brewery and the Environment agency
Stroud Brewery (lower right) is located on the outskirts of a vibrant country town and is easily accessible to customers from the town centre and the railway station along a canal path. When Greg Pilley set up Stroud Brewery taproom, he wanted to create a easily accessible location where everyone was welcome. The taproom spans three floors and is the hub of the community; with acrobatics and yoga taking place in the attic, conferences, weddings, and films in the balcony bar on the second floor and a place to chill and eat out on the ground floor. The brewery taproom is a place to meet, a place to eat and a place to relax. The brewery and taproom make savings wherever they can. This means they use 88% less gas than industry standard, 47% less water than industry standard, and 80% less carbon dioxide than industry standard by producing mainly naturally conditioned cask beer. They also use 100% renewable energy with 25% from its own solar panels, only use organic ingredients helping farmers support wildlife with up to 50% more insects, plants and birds living on organic
farms while all the water used to flush toilets is harvested from the roof.
Health and wellbeing are an essential part of creating a good environment for people to be happy and thrive and the contribution to the community and sustainability is recognised by Stroud’s Breweries B Corp accreditation.
Going “green” should not cost money, it involves better use of resources and reducing waste, it is a way to reduce cost and build resilience, making the business secure against disruption and price increases. As the world around us changes it is essential that we build resilience into our business model and our community. These simple examples
show how easy it is to do the right thing and also save money Brewing is part of the leisure industry and beer is a luxury which is not one of the fundamental elements, food , water, and energy considered essential for survival. However, people have been enjoying beer for over 8,000 years and many of us would consider that life is not worth living without having a beer with friends. Benjamin Franklin is often misquoted in saying “Beer is Proof God loves us”, he was really referring to wine in his quote but today I am sure he would have included craft beer!
I would like to thank all the staff at the breweries and farms who so generously gave of their time and shared their environmental journey.
1. The Cambridge dictionary definition for the Environment
2. Brundtland Report “Our Common Future” 1987 from the United Nations Commission
3. Gov UK climate change 2023
4. Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown published by Chelsea Green Publishing
5. Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts Annual Report & Accounts 2022/3
6. Letsrecycle.com 2022/3 overall performance
7. The story of the Hummingbird told by Wangari Maathai https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=JVmDOJcBrR0
The end of the financial year often brings around a period of reflection and review of financial performance. It is a huge positive that so many companies (including Murphys) use this also as the time to begin collating, reporting and analysing environmental performance.
In both these aspects, hitting the sum button of the spreadsheet column can often be revealing in terms of cumulative achievements from marginal gains.
It is often difficult in the high pressure environment of the brewhouse to make decisions beyond the immediate daily operations. Without the need of Capex investment, using tiny amounts of enzyme process aids can boost the profit and planet bottom lines.
Working with Brew Resourceful to independently collect and verify data at London Brewing Company, the annual benefits of a number of products was assessed and the financial and environmental benefits reported.
As a product that has been around for a number of years, the benefit of Trizyme is often underestimated with the enzyme often being used as a trouble shooter. However, this blend of α-amylase, -glucanases and proteolytic enzyme can often offer a boost to extract and mashing efficiency.
As shown in the data above, the use of Trizyme generated a 3% saving on malt bill. Combined with the cost of the enzyme itself, this offered the brewery a £939 saving on costs through the yearto offset the equivalent amount of CO2 would require the planting of 49 trees. Murphys has been a supplier of ALDC (Alpha Acetolactate Decarboxylase) since the 1990’s and its use has been widespread reducing diacetyl and warding off dry- hop creep.
On a savings front, the main boost of ALDC is the beneficial reduction in maturation time, reducing energy costs and freeing up tank capacity.
With the use of ALDC, the tank residency time was reduced by 15% with associated electricity costs reduced by 9%.
Based on 75 fermentations per year, this offered the brewery a potential capacity increase of 17% which could amount to £91,606 worth of extra sales generated. Completing the trio of enzymes, we also took a close look at Brewers Clarity. This selective endopeptidase targets proline rich proteins preventing the formation of hydrogen bonds with polyphenols.
The net result of this is the streamlining of maturation and downstream processing increasing capacity and reducing tank residency time.
In the closer examination of the performance of this product, tank residency per fermentation was reduced by half a day on a typical fermentation.
The knock on gain for the brewer was a 2% increase in annual fermentation capacity with the opportunity to gain up to £11,000 in extra sales revenue.
Working with Brew Resourceful, we have proven how using additions as little as 3g per hl can really make a huge difference to the efficiency and profitability of a small brewery.
In this instance alone potential sales revenue from added capacity was increased by over £100k with a 3% boost on raw material expenditure and real costs savings on fermentation refrigeration energy.
Iain Kenny is the head of the technical department at Murphy & Son. He has a BSc Hons in Brewing and Distilling gained at Heriot-Watt University, which included a placement at Tennants. He was also head brewer for Kelham Island and owned and managed his own brewing and consultancy business.
JUST WHAT IS MOUTHFEEL AND BODY, AND CAN BREWERS ACHIEVE MORE OF THESE DESIRED QUALITIES? ALIX BLEASE, TECHNICAL SALES REPRESENTATIVE AT LALLEMAND BREWING IS ON HAND TO EXPLAIN MORE.
We don’t want thin and watery beer; we all want more body and mouthfeel! Many UK breweries are currently embracing the trend for hazy NEIPAs, low alcohol and lower ABV table beers. In brewing it can be tricky to define the term “mouthfeel” and “body,” as we cannot really assign a numerical value to them as we can for IBUs, colour or haze. So, what is mouthfeel and body? According to the BJCP “Body is technically separate from mouthfeel, which encompasses physical sensations such as astringency, alcoholic warmth, and carbonation. The combination determines how the beer stimulates the palate.” Some major factors which contribute to body in beer are residual sugars, medium length proteins, polyphenols, ions, and levels of carbonation.
Sugars which can contribute to body and mouthfeel include dextrins, maltotriose, maltodextrin and lactose. To maximise dextrins in a beer, you can increase the mash temperature or reduce the amount of adjunct. Maltotriose is unfermentable by some yeast, such as Windsor. Selecting a maltotriosenegative yeast strain for fermentation can help to increase body. Brewers sometimes add maltodextrin to beer to achieve the same effect; however, quite a considerable amount needs to be added to see a difference. In addition to this, maltodextrin is not 100% unfermentable, it will contribute some fermentable sugars to your wort, so it should be used with caution if trying to create low alcohol beers via fermentation. Finally, lactose, an unfermentable milk sugar can provide body and sweetness, however, the addition of lactose does make the resulting beer unsuitable for vegans and requires additional allergen labelling.
Proteins are an important contributing factor to numerous sensory qualities in beer. It has been observed that some proteins help create stable beer haze, others contribute to mouthfeel and others, such as LTP1 and protein Z help to maintain a lovely foamy head. Proteins come from a variety of sources; malted barley, wheat and oats being the most utilised in the brewing industry. But, as every brewer knows, just loading up your mash tun with copious amounts of oats and wheat can lead to a stuck mash, lautering problems, viscous wort, unstable haze and reduced fermentability. There is a delicate balance to be struck when designing an oat or wheat heavy recipe.
AB Vickers have recently released an exciting new tool for brewers to utilise in the quest for achieving more mouthfeel and body in their beers; ISY Enhance. It is already being used by numerous breweries around the UK. They have found ISY Enhance has resulted in increased body, mouthfeel, reduced astringency, and improved drinkability. Northern Monk in Leeds uses ISY Enhance in their low alcohol beers. They report that it “delivers equal if not improved mouthfeel versus maltodextrin, with much less brew day hassle and a better price point.” Track Brewery in Manchester commented that they “saw an increase in mouthfeel, giving a fullness to the beer and also a glossy texture.”
As well as increasing mouthfeel and body, ISY Enhance can reduce hop burn, bitterness, and astringency in dry hopped beers by binding to polyphenols. This leads to a more rounded flavour profile. Bluntrock Brewery in Cornwall remarked “it gave smoother body, elevating the roundness of mouthfeel to balance peaks of flavour. For example, our pilot brewery is a ‘brew in bag’ system which often can
leave an elevated perceived bitterness downstream. We’ve found ISY-Enhance can help to balance that harshness out with enhanced body.”
ISY Enhance is a natural and 100% yeast derived product meaning that, unlike lactose, there are no allergens or additional labelling requirements. Through a unique process developed by Lallemand, the yeast cell walls are weakened to allow the recovery of high molecular weight compounds, such as mannoproteins and polysaccharides from the yeast. The suggested dosage rates are between 20-60g/hl added into the whirlpool. It is easy to carry out benchtop trials to see what the effect of the product would be on your own beers. You can do this by dissolving the equivalent dosage rate into hot water, and then adding this to a sample of finished beer.
“We have trialled ISY Enhance in a few of the low alcohol beers we produce and have been impressed with the initial results with regards to rounding out the
flavour profile and improving body and mouthfeel.
“It is very easy to use (we dissolve in boiled water and add directly to our whirlpool), we have found it has saved us a great deal of time, as it reduces/ eliminates the need to run extensive titration trials on post fermentation additions to improve flavour and body. We have found that ISY Enhance has rounded out any harsh edges that you can get when brewing low alcohol beers.
“We are also considering trialling it in sub 4% pale ales to improve the body and mouthfeel of our beer in that ABV range.,” explained Attic Brew Co.
Delivers equal if not improved mouthfeel versus maltodextrin, with much less brew day hassle and a better price point - Northern Monk.
Somewhere back in 2023, in a California laboratory, it went something like this.
“Folks, I’ve got a great idea. We’re going to fractionate hops and fruit and combine them to make true-to-type, 3d-printed cannabis flavours.
“We’re going to work with cutting edge brewers to dank-ify big, tasty beers in our own annual brewing competition, and across the US. Then, when we know it works, we’ll get Faram’s to distribute it.”
“Faram’s? Charles Faram? You’re going to ask Paul Corbett and co to sell cannabis flavour profiles? In the UK and Europe? Madness! Let’s do it. All aboard the Pineapple Express!”
“skunk-like” scent found in some cultivars. Dank is part of the complexity of modern, hoppy beers and using Abstrax gives a ridiculously easy way of amplifying this category of flavours, giving new experiences to drinkers.
While we build up a bank of feedback from our own brewers in the UK, we can take a look at what the US brewers have told Abstrax. From what’s been said about awards etc., it’s clearly an international enjoyment and not just over there in the States.
Mountains Walking and Sky Flowers Hybrid IPA, the winner of the ‘2023 Abstrax Skunkworks Best In Show beer award’
GORHAM, PR & MARKETING MANAGER AT CHARLES FARAM, EXPLAINS MORE ABOUT THE NEW LIQUID FLAVOUR AND AROMA OFFERING FROM ABSTRAX HOPS AND HOW THEY CAN IMPACT THE BEERS YOU BREW.
Back at Faram’s HQ, we didn’t think it was madness, but we did have a proper think. Beer trends change over time, we’ve all seen that, and in the US there’s a busy, churning, melting pot of dankness and experimentation.
So, let’s open the door to that California laboratory, the home of newcomer Abstrax Hops, and see what happens… Terpenes are aromas and flavours produced by plants. They’re building blocks, so if you can separate them, you can also recombine them to precisely fit a particular flavour profile.
Brewers may be familiar with some of these terpenes like geraniol, linalool and myrcene. There are plenty more. Abstrax are experts at this, having started out with cannabis extraction technology before expanding into brewing in 2023. Abstrax’s brewing liquids use a proprietary, gentle method rather than the usual industry CO2 extraction process. Fully flowable at room temp, as is now the standard expectation. The word dank has existed in the hop and beer world for some time. While it’s long been used to describe particularly pungent hops, today, science has identified the cannasulfur compounds that produce the distinct “gassy” or
I really like the word dank. If you talk to older brewers and younger brewers, it has quite a significantly different meaning, Eric White, Mountains Walking.
When speaking about this beer and the crossover between cannabis consumers and beer drinkers, Mountains Walking head brewer Eric White says: “We’ve had good reception, and people are always excited about when we do something innovative. I think with the way that
cannabis is received by people in the market, it’s no longer a naughty word.” Additionally, Mountains Walking recently ran out of their Beyond Dank beer from an experimental Hazy IPA series called Opaque Thoughts.
White adds: “I really like the word dank. If you talk to older brewers and younger brewers, it has quite a significantly different meaning.
“When we’re saying “Beyond Dank,” we’re not necessarily saying the dankest beer, depending on your interpretation of that word. But almost looking beyond just dankness and what that means. It’s got the cannabis flavours, it’s also got a lot of dank forward hops as well.”
The Sky Flowers Hybrid IPA was infused with Pineapple Express BrewGas Series and hopped with Citra and Experimental Hops HBC 586 and Cryo 602. This dank beer provided an explosion of tropical flavours and aromas that showcased the synergy between cannabis and hops. At Fair State Brewing Coop, they have noticed a certain portion of their clientele
being less interested in the newest fruitiest hops and softest hazy IPAs.
“They want a return to the dank, piney, bitter IPAs of yesterday but with a fresh face and an exciting angle,” says head brewer Joe Wells.
“The use of Abstrax terpenes has allowed us to create an IPA that is both nostalgic and new, a marriage of the stickiest hops to come out of Yakima and the dankest weed aromas to come out of your local grow-op.
“These aromas are very shelf-stable, cost-effective, and exciting to the customers and brewers alike. The ease of use for these terpenes cannot be downplayed, a truly water soluble, flowable product that homogenizes easily and stays in suspension long past packaging.
“I’m a full convert and believe we will see a not-so-distant future with terpenebased IPAs being the norm, not the exception.”
Tel : 01525 718288
E-mail : info@enterprisetondelli.co.uk Website : www.enterprisetondelli.co.uk
I’m a full convert and believe we will see a notso-distant future with terpenebased IPAs being the norm, Joe Wells, Fair State Brewing Coop
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THE DARLING ‘RAINS’ OF MAY…NOT GOOD FOR PUB GARDENS, OR BEER SALES, PERHAPS, BUT, THIS YEAR, THE RAINS IN MAY HAVE BEEN A GODSEND TO THE GROWERS OF MALTING BARLEY,
For many of us, the on/off rain showers have persisted since last September, and certainly as far as farmers are concerned, this year, they seriously got in the way of fieldwork in the critical Spring months of February, March and April.
The perfect ‘window’ for planting Spring barley is mid February to mid March, but this last time around that opportunity never came.
Instead, new crop plantings were delayed well into April, colloquially referred to as “cuckoo barley”, with many farmers less than happy about the seedbed conditions into which they were forced to sow.
At the end of April, when I asked barley growers what they considered were the prospects for their crops, universally their response was: “we need rain throughout May, otherwise the crops will never establish!”
Well, the gods have clearly been on the farmers side, because they got the rain. Now they just want the sun!
We would imagine asking for the sun is less of a tall order these days, extreme interpretations of climate change suggesting that we will all eventually be shrivelled up by it.
But, there is a school of thought, that as far us the U.K. is concerned, we might have got this wrong. Really, we are an island out in the Atlantic, famous for our Maritime Climate.
There are very few official designations of these - U.K., Denmark, a strip along the Belgian coast, New Zealand, and a small province on the west coast of Canada. That’s it, and that is why our malting barley is revered all over the world, it is all down to our very special and unique climate.
But this alternative “school of thought” worries that, due to climate change, the U.K. might be about to become a whole lot more Maritime! In other words, it is never going to stop raining!
However, the far more popular view, and farming opportunists, favour the Mediterranean outcome, hence the enormous expansion of viticulture across the south of England, and typically, that heavily distorted headline that recently appeared on my BBC News app. “Scientists help save the British pint!” This was all about an initiative in Kent to breed new drought resistant varieties of hops.
That hop growers and brewers are concerned about a drier U.K. climate is not something I want to argue with. I have been observing how, over the passed 10-15 years, the Eastern counties of Britain, particularly East Anglia, have been getting drier, which has certainly been impacting the barley crop. It must be all of 12 years ago, driving along the north Norfolk coast, I first observed Spring barley crops being irrigated, in May! No “darling rains” that year.
But, I am not aware that barley breeders are over exercising their minds about drought resistance, so far. I am probably wrong, but, if I am not, they are quite right not to get overly concerned yet. Because there is a much simpler answer than that chosen by the hop industry: malting barley production across our countryside just needs to migrate west.
Forever, East Anglia has been observed as the ‘bread basket’ of Britain, and certainly, for the most part, the brewing industry favoured it’s malting barley production over other regions.
That is why, today, much of the U.K. malting industry is concentrated all along the eastern seaboard of England, from
Witham in Essex to Berwick-on-Tweed in Northumberland. All perfectly situated for barley production on it’s doorstep. But for how much longer?
I would imagine that when Dr Bell first introduced his Maris Otter barley to the farming and brewing public, back in 1965, that he foresaw production being concentrated in those favoured areas for winter barley crops - East Kent, the Tendring Hundred in Essex, and West Norfolk.
I very much doubt that Cornwall ever entered his mind. But for the last 20 years or so, Cornish grown Maris Otter has just been getting better and better! Of course, you do not have to travel that far. Generally speaking, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset, all predominantly the perfect chalk based soils of the Icknield Series, all enjoy more annual rainfall than East Anglia. But there is no malting capacity down here, so, much of it gets shipped to Antwerp!
But that might all be about to change. There is another 300,000 tonnes of malting capacity coming on stream in Scotland, for the whisky industry. This is where the weather, every year, is more Marine than Maritime. Scotland is bound to be viewing the English barley crop to make up some, if not most, of that capacity. So brewers beware, not just “the darling rains in May”, but look out for the distillers!
I have been observing how, over the passed 10-15 years, the Eastern counties of Britain, particularly East Anglia, have been getting drier, which has certainly been impacting the barley crop, Robin Appel.
The beers we, as brewers, like to produce are not always the styles that resonate most with consumers.
But as a business, it’s imperative to know what is selling well and what’s not. And also, the possible reasons behind these decisions.
With that in mind, we’ve enlisted the expert help of four bottleshop owners to share their experiences. Marius Andrici is the owner of A Pint of Hops in Acton, West London, Linda Birch is the owner of Brewery Market in Twickenham, Dave and Naomi Hayward own A Hoppy Place in Windsor while Krishan Rajput is the owner of Stirchley Wines & Spirits. Here they tell us what’s hot - and what’s notin the world of beer.
“We strive to maintain a diverse range of products, with styles that definitely vary by season. The types of styles that sell well are somewhat influenced by our own preferences in how we curate the fridges,” explains Linda Birch.
“Our team has quite varied tastes, so we aim to satisfy everyone’s preferences. IPAs always stand out as top sellers.
Hoppy beers with Citra or Mosaic hops are especially popular among both our regular customers and new visitors.”
She generated a ‘tag’ report from their till system to provide insights into their most popular selling (by quantity) styles. This report covers the period from 6 June 2023 to 7 June 2024. Coming in first was ‘Session’ which covers beers between 3.6% and 5.5%, ‘Strong’ beers between 5.6% and 7.9% were third, low alcohol in eight and very strong beers in excess of 8% were tenth.
According to Krishan Rajput, locality is still a prime influence with their customers in terms of sales, but they are also seeing a rise in sales of both low/no and also Germanic brewed beer. “If we look at it stylistically, however, then there is a trend very much towards the paler end of the spectrum. That would include IPA, Pale Ale and Lagers rather than the more specialist style for example; Saison, Blonde, Mixed Fermentation,” he says.
For Dave and Naomi, they continue to see New England pale ales, lagers, and cask beer (especially bitter) perform the best for, whilst headline beers such as strong New England IPAs and Double IPAs are exciting to consumers, but ordered with less repetition and less frequency.
“We’ve specifically seen a lot more demand for modern fruited sour beers with beer from Yonder and Vault City leading the way,” they explain.
“I think their approachability to people who are not traditionally beer drinkers is really important for the sector overall, and goes some way to delta-ing out the loss of customers due to the cost of living crisis, simple aging, and many other reasons we’re all very familiar with at the moment.”
At A Pint of Hops, Marius Andrici says the demand for classic traditional lagers has been increasing year-on-year but in the last 12 months has become a number one seller at the shop.
“The bottled 500ml German lagers in particular, but also in keg and at the shop we do anywhere between 2-4 keg of lagers every week,” he says. “Sometimes some keg lagers finish on the day that’s for a 30L / 50pints.”
He adds: “The selection with the breweries and suppliers is so wide that very few times we get the same keg in over the course of a year.
“The canned lagers of some known German & Czech breweries have also proven popular at the shop with some UK breweries breaking into the market that for a long time has been dominated by the German and Czech breweries which haven focusing on lagers for centuries.”
For Andrici, the demand for hoppy beers has been dropping and changing in particular on the higher end of the ABV scale. He says that IPA’s & DIPA’s the 4-5% ABV Pale and session IPA’s are still the popular option but have been overtaken by lagers.
“Where the demand has seen an increase for hoppy beers is for the more Classic West Coast American IPA & Pale Ales. The bitter, piny & grapefruity,” he explains.
Birch adds: “West Coast IPAs and hoppy beers with higher IBUs are solid performers and are steadily growing in popularity. However, it’s interesting to note the wide variety of interpretations from different breweries within this style category.
“Alcohol-free options are selling
We’ve specifically seen a lot more demand for modern fruited sour beers with beer from Yonder and Vault City leading the way, Dave Hayward.
exceptionally well. We have the largest selection of no and low brews in our area, dedicating four shelves to these products.
“Typically, new parents and young adults prefer these styles, making them a significant part of our sales.
“I’d also like to highlight the growing interest in experimental UK hops. These hops are starting to gain attention, though they haven’t yet surpassed the popularity of their US and NZ counterparts. Nonetheless, their increasing presence is an exciting development in the craft beer scene.”
For Rajput, he is noticing a shift, albeit a small one towards sweetened beers; “specifically a change in how the stylistic lexicon is applied to certain styles of beer”. He explains: “Sour beers will be requested on a regular basis, however, the expectation is in reality a request for a fruit forward soured beer and those that are analogues for sweet shop type or desert style products.
“Rather than established beer styles (Lambic/Mixed Fermentation/Wild Ale) that are more typically related to the idea of “sour beer”.
“Regardless of this we continue to champion both schools of thinking and will always try to engage and inform customers on this subject.”
At A Hoppy Place, Dave says price sensitivity is such that canned, bottled beer and stronger beer styles have by way of sales volume been in decline. “Your ‘average’ consumer is definitely put off by some of these prices and it’s feedback my team hear more and more often. A £4 can four years ago is likely a £6 or even £7 can now,” he explains. “This leads naturally to a shift towards more approachable styles by price, which tend to be lagers, less aggressively hopped pale ales and of course cask ale.
“In our Maidenhead site, we’re selling far more cask than we were 12 months ago, whereas we’re ordering in significantly less IPAs above 6% in both can and keg. “There’s definitely a ‘craft expert’ customer who still seeks out these beers, but on average - approachability is becoming more of a factor certainly.”
“At least in our bars, we are seeing a huge drop in demand for both imperial stouts, and especially for milkshake IPAs and the like. In effect, beers that are heavily sweetened are significantly less popular than they were two years ago,” says Dave. “I feel like the previous wave of new craft beer drinkers, who have now matured out to some degree, has not been replaced by another, younger generation. “And I remember being very excited by the most extreme of flavour when I first started out before maturing into drinking larger volumes of less strong, more traditional styles.”
He adds: “It feels like there’s a bit of a lack of excitement coming into beer at the moment and we’re not able to ‘hook’ new consumers in quite the way that we were five years ago, which might explain some of this.”
Linda echoes this. “Strong beers and high ABV stouts are definitely underperforming. I believe this trend is largely due to the increased prices resulting from the beer duty changes. “These higher costs make these beers less accessible to many customers,
which is a pity because they offer such rich and complex flavours,” she says. “Despite their decline in popularity, I still believe they hold a special place in the diverse landscape of craft beers.”
She also adds that she’s personally quite disappointed that Sabro beers did not perform very well. “Sabro hops have such a unique flavour profile that I find exceptionally delightful. It’s unfortunate that these beers haven’t resonated as strongly with our customers. Additionally, Sour IPAs seem to have almost disappeared from the market,” says Birch. “For example, “Mash Up The Jam” from Collective Arts is one of my favourite beers, blending tartness with hoppy bitterness in a perfectly balanced way.”
And in Acton, Andrici says that in terms of format the small can packaged craft beer selection like pale ale, IPA & craft lager has seen a decline with many customers opting for the bigger packaged option. “In terms of styles the sours (modern sours & classic Belgian sour beers like saison and lambic) and dark beers (porters & stouts) selection has also been underperforming from previous years, with options in kegs taking much longer to shift sometimes five times longer or more in comparison to the more popular options like lagers and pale ales,” he says.
We strive to maintain a diverse range of products, with styles that definitely vary by season, Linda Birch.
Locality is still a prime influence with our customers in terms of sales, Krishan Rajput.
No and low options are clearly in high demand. From 1 December to 3 February, Brewery Market’s Google AdWords campaign for no- and low received 131,000 impressions, significantly outperforming their standard craft beer ads, which garnered only 41,000 impressions. This data underscores the growing interest in lower-alcohol alternatives, says Birch.
At A Hoppy Place, Hayward explains: “It’s a fact that now 27% of Gen Z do not drink alcohol at all, up 4% on 4 years ago.
“Meanwhile, our core drinkers (ages 35-54) are getting older, moving into retirement, and overall - less people are drinking alcohol as a society. So I do indeed see NoLo as really important for our sector, alongside, naturally, welcoming vibrant hospitality spaces that are in no way exclusionary to any demographic.
“It’s critical that all people feel welcome in modern pubs - whatever they drink - whatever their sexuality. So not just NoLow but making sure that even what I’d call a bleeding edge craft bar also has good wine, good cider, good spirits, teas coffees, and that no drink is a faux-pa.
“I think people are intimidated by both ‘very crafty’ pubs and also the traditional ‘boozer’. They feel it doesn’t represent them. And if one person in a group of six doesn’t want to visit your bar or pub then the whole group won’t come in.”
He adds: “With that in mind, yes, we’ve seen hugely more demand for alcohol free. In 2022, we trialled an AF line on draft in Windsor for Dry January, people were intrigued.
“But demand was relatively low. In 2023 we brought it back, and demand was such that we kept it on, and did the same in Maidenhead. We now always have alcohol free in both sites on draft. This is in addition to an increasing amount of shelf space for alcohol free in our fridges.”
According to Rajput, the company’s long-established range of low/no and gluten free beer is being increasingly well received. This area of specialist brewing, he says, continues to go from strength to strength especially with younger drinkers being very much more conscious of mindful living practices.
While Andrici is also seeing increased demand in this space. “No and low consumption has been increasing with some customers shifting to either longer dry periods or a 50/50 drinking experience with a mix of no and low and the easy 4-5% ABV options,” he says.
“We’ve been working with many breweries over the past five years and many stood out, some come and go some return and stay a bit longer but then go again and some have been there from day one,” says Andrici. “The Kernel has been one brewery we been working since day one that we been working close to and we been enjoying their beers the hoppy and dark beer selection being the most popular styles for us. “One beer that stood out in particular was the Victorian Mild, a collaboration with Redemption. I first had it on cask at The Sutton Arms and when was available we got it in bottles at the shop. We are looking forward for its release again at some point in the future.”
And elsewhere in Europe, Czech brewery Vinohradsky Pivovar has been a popular name for about four years since we’ve been getting them in. Their cans have been popular with customers that love to explore the lager selections and deviate a bit more from the “safe” options.
For Linda and the team at Brewery Market, Azvex is “undeniably outstanding; they can brew no wrong”.
She explains: “According to a report from Untappd at the SIBA BeerX convention, Azvex, along with Mash Gang, were the two fastest-growing breweries in the UK in terms of check-ins, comparing data from 2022 to 2023 and the early part of 2024.
“Personally, I have yet to encounter a single disappointing beer from either of these breweries. Their consistent quality and innovative approaches have clearly resonated with beer enthusiasts.”
Also impressing Linda is The Hastings Project. “This cuckoo brewery brings a unique touch to craft styles by incorporating well balanced malt into their brews, which sets them apart. Additionally, they actively support charities in the Hastings area, making their beers not only delicious but also socially impactful.”
And locally, she’s been impressed by Valtona Mead in Walton-upon-Thames. “They are making exquisite meads. This small producer expertly blends traditional techniques with innovative flavours, offering a range from classic honey meads to adventurous varieties infused with herbs and fruits,” she says. “Valtona Mead has earned a loyal following for its commitment to quality, appealing to both enthusiasts and newcomers alike.”
At Stirchley Wines & Spirits, Rajput says Simple Things Fermentations continue to be a fantastic producer and one they feel is always worthy of keeping an eye on. Especially their “Big Ideas” series of beers that playfully spin on classic styles.
He adds: “Ideal Day Family Brewers were very much a brewery we had our eyes on from the moment that they announced their intentions to open a brewery. “James and Nia (Rylance) have expertly crafted a brewery that is both intriguing and approaches beer from an entirely unexpected direction.
“If we were pressed to pick a standout from the stock we have so far then we have to say their “Ester Beer” First Steps is truly stupendous.”
For Dave, Naomi and their team, they say it’s astounding to see how well Vault City are doing. He says: “In a market that didn’t really exist five years ago in the UK they’re now on their way to becoming Europe’s largest producer of fruited and sour beer.
“The team have a very complete strategy. A great many breweries are good at the beer, but maybe let themselves down when it comes to reach, branding, marketing or so on. Vault City seem to have positioned themselves perfectly, and I’m sure they’ll break out of ‘craft’ and into full mainstream acceptance in the next couple of years.”
He adds: “Secondly, Indie Rabble Brew Co. Who of course I have a holding interest in. Windsor’s newest brewery and currently the UK’s Best New Independent Brewery according to SIBA. The four coowners have taken their (my!) 30 years of collective experience in beer production
and sales and launched a brand that in just nine months selling beer has found it’s product in every part of the country.
“The beer I’m most proud of is “Big Stick Energy” - a recent collaboration with Indie having invited Amity Brew Co’s Russ Clarke down to brew. It’s a 9.2% imperial West Coast and for me a real throwback. “To beer produced before operating profits and margins were quite as critical as they are today. To the initial US explosion of craft and the origins of craft beer both there, and in the UK. It’s beer like that that got me excited by beer, rather than just drinking macro lager, and I’m so proud of what we’ve produced.
“Of course, Indie is still a very young brewery. But I’d like to think we’re brewing beer that belies that youth. I’d suggest people pick up a can and give us a try, be it the Big Stick, or anything else we’ve put out there.”
The Kernel has been one brewery we been working since day one. The hoppy and dark beer selection
being the most popular styles for us, Marius Andrici.
FOR BREWERIES, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS NOT JUST ABOUT ADOPTING NEW TECHNOLOGIES; IT’S ABOUT LEVERAGING THESE TECHNOLOGIES TO ENHANCE PROCESSES, IMPROVE PRODUCT QUALITY, STREAMLINE OPERATIONS, AND FOSTER INNOVATION.
It will probably come as no surprise that the brewing industry, steeped in tradition, faces unique challenges and opportunities with digital transformation. Traditionally, brewing has been something of “an artisanal process”, relying heavily on the brewer’s expertise and experience.
However, the incorporation of digital tools and technologies offers a wealth of benefits that can elevate the craft to new heights.
One of the most significant advantages is the enhancement of production efficiency. Advanced analytics and Internet of Things (IoT), as Christian Barden of Konvoy explains in this comment overleaf, devices enable real-time monitoring and control of the brewing process.
Moreover, digital transformation can significantly improve supply chain management. By utilising data analytics,
breweries can gain insights into demand patterns, allowing for better forecasting and inventory management.
This ensures that breweries can meet customer demand without overproducing, which not only reduces waste but also optimises the use of resources.
Blockchain technology can be employed to enhance transparency and traceability in the supply chain, ensuring that every ingredient used in the brewing process is sourced sustainably and ethically. This transparency can be a powerful marketing tool, appealing to increasingly conscientious consumers who value sustainability and ethical practices. Customer engagement is another area where digital transformation can have a profound impact. Breweries can leverage social media, mobile apps, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to build stronger relationships with their customers.
These tools allow breweries to gather valuable feedback, tailor marketing strategies to individual preferences, and offer personalised experiences. For example, breweries can create loyalty programs that reward repeat customers with exclusive offers and experiences. Additionally, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies can be used to provide immersive experiences, such as virtual tours of the brewery or interactive tastings, enhancing customer engagement and brand loyalty.
Innovation is at the heart of the brewing industry, and digital transformation can fuel this innovation by providing brewers with the tools to experiment and iterate more efficiently. With the help of advanced data analytics, brewers can analyse the outcomes of different brewing techniques and ingredient combinations more accurately.
This allows for a more scientific approach to brewing, where data-driven insights guide the experimentation process, leading to the creation of new and unique beer varieties. Additionally, collaboration platforms enable brewers to share knowledge and collaborate with peers across the globe, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. From a marketing perspective, digital transformation enables breweries to reach a wider audience through various online channels.
Digital marketing strategies, such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media marketing, allow breweries to target specific demographics and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns in real-time.
This level of precision and agility was not possible with traditional marketing methods. Furthermore, e-commerce platforms provide breweries with the opportunity to sell their products directly to consumers, bypassing traditional distribution channels.
This direct-to-consumer approach not only increases profit margins but also provides valuable data on consumer preferences and purchasing behaviour. Digital transformation also plays a crucial role in regulatory compliance. The
brewing industry is subject to stringent regulations regarding production, labelling, and distribution.
Digital tools can help breweries stay compliant by automating record-keeping and reporting processes. For instance, software solutions can track and document every stage of the brewing process, ensuring that all regulatory requirements are met.
This reduces the risk of non-compliance, which can result in costly fines and damage to the brewery’s reputation.
Workforce management is another area where digital transformation can provide significant benefits.
Automated scheduling, time tracking, and performance management systems can streamline administrative tasks, allowing staff to focus on more valueadded activities.
Additionally, digital training programs and resources can help employees stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement. In conclusion, digital transformation offers a multitude of benefits to the brewing industry. By embracing digital technologies, breweries can enhance production efficiency, improve supply chain management, engage more effectively with customers, foster innovation, and ensure regulatory compliance.
Moreover, digital tools can provide breweries with valuable insights into consumer behaviour and preferences,
enabling them to tailor their products and marketing strategies accordingly. As the industry continues to evolve, those breweries that leverage the power of digital transformation will be better positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive and dynamic market. The future of brewing is not just in the hands of skilled brewers but also in the capabilities of advanced technologies that can help realise their creative visions. Here are some ways forward-thinking businesses in the world of beer are doing just that.
Heineken has recently partnered with Blue Yonder to further transform its supply chain planning capability. It will implement cognitive demand planning, a next generation cloudnative, microservices-based saas solution, that utilises artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning (ml) to improve forecast accuracy and reduce bias by considering dynamic external and internal variables.
Heineken has been implementing Blue Yonder solutions for multiple years unlocking value for its business, especially with the potential to improve forecast accuracy through ML demand forecasting solution.
It has selected Blue Yonder, as one of the current major supply chain solution providers, to future proof its demand
planning process and leverage AI/ML, autonomous scenario planning, planning process orchestration and solution extensibility.
Corneel Hindriks, manager, digital & technology – global planning at Heineken said: “We want to continuously improve our supply chain processes and adopting Blue Yonder Cognitive Demand Planning is an important step in that ambition.
“Working together with Blue Yonder will support us in our ambition to become the best-connected brewer and foster functional excellence in demand planning, leading to improved customer experience.
“And with the right supply response it could generate a positive impact on our sustainability targets as well, for example by reduced write-offs and less goods movements.”
Once the Blue Yonder Cognitive Demand Planning solution is implemented, Heineken expects to achieve benefits such as making more informed, datadriven decisions, manage complexity and boost accuracy, and being able to create and deploy customised and extended solutions.
Beak Brewery is an independent brewery and taproom in the historic brewing town of Lewes. They are known for making everything from hop-forward IPAs and best bitters to saisons and imperial stouts. Here, they explain how they are utilising modern brewery management software to greatly improve their business.
“We needed to improve our efficiency and allow all of the data, information and orders to flow through our complete business, to all of our teams and from our other sales platforms,” they said. “Our daily tasks are made so simple and it was soon apparent just how much time we had lost to now unnecessary admin using the previous setup.
They add: “One of the main reasons for us not changing sooner was the fear of
changing to a new platform, learning the processes and migrating the data. The company supported us so well throughout the whole migration process it was far from daunting – in fact, the whole process was very simple, and it has proved hugely beneficial to our business.
“Advanced deliveries. This small addon has saved hours of time. Our most efficient delivery routes are solved in seconds at the click of a button in Breww. We can easily allocate the order to our own vehicle or courier network, streamlining our whole delivery operation saving me alone 2-3 hours each week where I can focus on growing the sales and making our business more profitable.
“It has such a detailed, vast customisable reporting suite, allowing me to drill down and evaluate month-on-month our sales performance.
“And even break the figures down further to view our sales trends and make confident strategic decisions for our sales push and, as a result, influence our production drive, highlighting the key products to focus our efforts and when. “Its platform is so visual, you can see the sale highlights and know accurately where you are in seconds, the customer map detailing demand and recent sales history gives a great overview of the sales performance or purchase history per customer or customer type.”
Last month Stewart Brewing hosted BrewMan’s inaugural ‘Technology in Brewing’ day, welcoming representatives from Theakstons, Wicklow Wolf, Black Sheep Brewery, Inveralmond, CC Breweries, Deya Brewing, Edinburgh Beer Factory, Thistly Cross Cider, Ossett Brewing, Secret Garden Distillery and Tayport Distillery.
Attendees were all users of BrewMan’s brewery management system and travelled across the UK to discuss how software is being utilised in their different businesses, and to learn what they could
bring back to their own systems and ways of working.
The focus of the day was a recently launched, significant update to the ‘Production Management’ area of the BrewMan system. Their team had worked closely with Stewart Brewing to develop the new features and test the changes before release.
The update allows users to create ‘Batch Templates’, a pre-planned structure for their batches where they can specify ahead of time the various processes, recipes, blends and packagings that a single batch will undergo.
These improvements allow enhanced streamlining of operations and ensure even more consistency to records and tracking.
The team at Stewart took our attendees through a live demonstration of recording a batch in their system so everyone was able to see how they were maximising their use of the software.
This sparked discussion around different approaches to using BrewMan and how the new user flow would work for the wide variety of recipes and processes utilised at the attendees’ companies.
Sam Williams, commercial director at BrewMan, said “We were delighted to host this event and get the opportunity to see so many of our users in person and in one place.
“We are really thankful to the Stewart Brewing team who were wonderful hosts and so enthusiastic about sharing best practice with other brewers so that collective feedback can help improve and drive forward systems even further in the future.”
Labour shortages and high staff turnover are plaguing manufacturers across the food and beverage industry. A perfect storm of profit loss weakened operational flows and increasing energy costs are hindering manufacturers from reaching peak production capacity. There are several ways for drinks companies such as breweries to tap into their potential and increase efficiencies across its production lines. Steve Adams, CEO of LineView Solutions, explains how.
Data has become a critical tool in this process, enabling manufacturing teams to streamline processes and navigate these challenges and uncertainties. However, merely having data is not enough. Just as ingredients require a recipe and skilful hands to craft a delicious meal or perfect bake, data in manufacturing requires interpretation and analysis to unlock its true potential. This is where our consultancy steps in, educating and empowering manufacturing teams by providing the right information, effective focus and appropriate action to deliver results to drive both immediate and long-term improvements across manufacturing lines.
Each business has its own set of unique challenges, and nobody understands these challenges better than the teams that operate the manufacturing lines. The sector is struggling to attract and retain skilled talent with manufacturing being one of the industries most impacted by labour shortages. Despite projections that 3.5 million new manufacturing jobs will be created by 2025, over two million of these are expected to go unfilled due to a lack of skilled workers.
With younger employees increasingly prioritising their values and job satisfaction, attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent, whilst using team time efficiently becomes not only a necessity but a strategic imperative for manufacturing companies to succeed. This is where Leading Excellence programs become important. These programs provide a strategic solution to address talent shortages and create a more sustainable workforce.
By empowering strong leadership and supportive working environments whilst fostering a sense of value and boosting career progression, these programs can significantly improve team performance, elevate operational efficiency, and deliver exceptional customer service. In a sector facing fierce competition for talent and historically lower wages, investing in Leadership Excellence programs becomes a strategic differentiator.
Actionable data also serves as a valuable resource for manufacturers, offering critical insights into line performance, production, and operational efficiency. However, the real challenge lies in interpreting and effectively utilising this wealth of data to drive meaningful improvements in manufacturing operations.
An estimated 64% of manufacturers are still in the early stages of their digital transformation journey, unable to extend their digital activities due to a lack of the required skills and resources to mine their data for commercial value.
Tailored Line Balancing Optimisation (LBO) training is another tool that can support manufacturing teams. It is designed to equip manufacturing teams with the tools to balance operator and machine time effectively. With unplanned downtime costing typical businesses close to $125,000 per hour, these disruptions result in extensive profit losses but also hinder production capacity, preventing manufacturers from meeting fluctuating market demands. Through LBO training, manufacturers can streamline operations, minimise downtime, and unlock hidden efficiencies by focusing on improving control, accumulation, speed, start-up, and runout times across lines.
By ensuring that team members are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to identify and implement LBO opportunities across the business, firms are then well-positioned to unlock additional capacity across multiple lines. For example, following two weeks of LineView’s LBO training Britvic PLC unlocked an immediate capacity increase of £2.9M, directly impacting their profitability, whilst also revealing a further 2.5M in capacity gains through enhanced control optimisation.
Not only does upskilling the team empower them to identify inefficiencies and implement solutions across entire
organisations, but it also fosters job satisfaction which encourages sustained production efficiency through a commitment to continuous improvement. Through their work with Britvic, we observed a noticeable difference in team motivation. Witnessing middle managers and senior team members actively involved in measuring progress across lines served as a powerful motivator for the teams, fostering a culture of support and growth throughout the organisation with a bottom-up approach.
Engaging and energising teams to succeed is crucial, especially in the face of current labour shortages, as this not only increases employees’ satisfaction in their roles and productivity ensuring teams are maximising their time. With downtime and labour shortages casting a shadow on manufacturing productivity and profitability, the need for streamlined processes and empowered teams has never been more pressing. Data holds immense potential to help manufacturers overcome these industry challenges by unlocking new possibilities and driving continuous improvement, but it requires skilful interpretation and analysis – which can only come from training and increased understanding.
Our consultancy offerings could be the solution, enabling manufacturers to understand how to transform raw data –which they already have at their fingertips - into actionable insights uncovering the true potential of their operations.
Many companies find themselves sitting on a goldmine of data but struggle with the transition from raw information to refined commercial insight. A quick but comprehensive training programme is often all that’s needed to tap into significant capacity gains.
CHANGE IS TOUGH EVEN WHEN IT’S FOR VERY GOOD REASON, THAT’S WHY WE IGNORE IT, RESIST IT, PUT IT OFF, AND COMPLAIN ABOUT IT. HOWEVER, CHANGE WILL HAPPEN, AND OUR TERRIFIC INDUSTRY WILL ADAPT AND SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT COME WITH IT ONCE AGAIN, ARGUES CHRISTIAN BARDEN, CEO UK & EUROPE AT KONVOY.
Icannot remember the first time I heard “If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less” or who said it, but it remains equally as relevant today.
Consciously, deliberately, or otherwise, embracing change is what got so many of us, our families, and our businesses through COVID-19, and now it feels like the economic heat’s been turned up.
Reflecting on some iconic brands from my past, I remember that during prohibition, many American breweries, distilleries, and vineyards had to dramatically change their ways, instead of closing. Coors became the world’s largest supplier of malted milk. Anheuser Busch was one of the most innovative breweries, producing more than 25 different non-alcoholic products, including soft drinks, corn syrup, ice cream, frozen egg products and truck bodies.
Closer to home and eras, during lockdown, Signature Brew pivoted to give us the “Pub in a Box” and Sprout (now Mr Yum) pivoted to give us track and trace for any social environment.
In a post-COVID era Gipsy Hill are taking on the complex challenge of carbon negative beers with no offsets, 5th Ingredient and Breww have taken brewery management software to a new level, AB InBev together with Boston Dynamics have a robot inspecting lines to drive efficiencies, and Heineken are collaborating with Seimens for their multi-phase decarbonisation program at breweries and malt houses.
But it seems like there’s no end to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and
ambiguity in the drinks and hospitality industry.
The constant, unpredictable change that is now the norm, is being squeezed even harder by the cost of living, cost of finance, compounding taxation and UK’s “technical recession.” It’s tough right now and I feel for everyone fighting to keep their businesses and livelihoods.
In a world of ever-evolving tastes, trends, and technologies, the beer and hospitality industry stand as resilient and enduring cornerstones of social culture and economic vitality.
While the fundamentals of brewing and hospitality may remain timeless, adaptation and innovation are essential to meet the demands of a rapidly changing landscape.
“The world was so overrun with war, and pain and misery. The daily grind was so exhausting and often unjust, maybe the only answer is to find some prodigious improbable dream that that seemed worthy, that seemed fun, that’s a good fit and chase it with an athletes single minded dedication and purpose” wrote Phil Knight as he contemplated starting what we now know as Nike in 1962, but it could apply to many of us in the present day.
Right now, there’s so many things impacting potential and performance but having ruthlessly fact-based clarity about what those things are is a key to embracing the change needed to survive and thrive.
The next few paragraphs will be common sense to many but if they spark an idea, force some careful contemplation or just reignite belligerent determination then
it’ll have been worth putting pen to paper.
Purpose will always be a booster rocket to achieving anything. Purpose drives long term strategy with everyday attitude and actions from team hiring to firing, to product development and deletion. With simplicity, clarity and repeatability, whatever that purpose is it becomes infectious and builds momentum.
People will always make the difference whether consumers, colleagues, customers, communities, suppliers, or investors. Create the right stretch, support, safe environment, and your purpose will be taken care of. Enabled the right way, people tell you and each other exactly what’s happening. Enabled the wrong way, problems become more frequent and more painful. When your good people go quiet, it leads to even bigger problems. We’re fortunate that between the BBPA, BII and UK Hospitality (to name a few) that we have industry bodies banging the drum on topics ranging from legislation to taxation and beyond. We should certainly applaud them, but we should also contribute to them succeeding on our behalf wherever possible and relevant.
Our planet needs us to change and get to net zero now. It’ll take time to turn the super tanker and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is just around the corner requiring companies to report on the impact of activities on the environment and society. Early compliance with CSRD will throw up other opportunities when getting a grip with apparently non-financial indicators, driving innovation across the production
and supply chain processes. Developing the right sustainability reporting and framework is a serious challenge.
The number of metrics across Scope 1, 2 and 3 is vast and varies by industry, company size and complexity.
The earlier the anticipation, the more agile and future-proof to face these challenges whilst creating all kinds of competitive advantages.
Technology can be an enabler and accelerator of so many goals. It needs to be selected and used with discipline. It can be immense when deployed for the right reasons.
From automated brewing systems, e-commerce platforms and digital marketing tools, and internet of things (IoT) enabled assets, technology will continue to reshape every aspect of our industry, supply chain and consumer experience.
Subsequently, leveraging data from technology enables more informed insights and decisions to optimise operations, enhance product quality and
consistency, and engage consumers through digital channels to the point of connection.
Profit comes with many levers. The “grand slam” of growing volumes, growing revenues, reducing costs, and growing market share probably feels out of reach right now but it is possible. It becomes much easier to pursue with unwavering focus on what your organisation can be truly passionate about, can be best in the world at and what drives your economic engine. And that “prodigious improbable dream” can be very different for every organisation and team. There is no single simple answer to overcome the challenge and anguish of the extent of change that’s upon us globally.
Change is tough even when it’s for very good reason, that’s why we ignore it, resist it, put it off, and complain about it. However, change will happen, and our terrific industry will adapt and seize the opportunities that come with it once again.
Technology can be an enabler and accelerator of so many goals. It needs to be selected and used with discipline. It can be immense when deployed for the right reasons, Christian Barden, Konvoy
KNOWN AND CHERISHED FOR THEIR EXCELLENT BEERS, AND EQUALLY BRILLIANT SPACES TO ENJOY THEM IN, LEFT HANDED GIANT ARE ONE OF THE UK’S MOST REGARDED BREWERIES. NOT BAD GOING FOR AN OUTFIT THE FOUNDERS CONSIDER SOMETHING OF AN “ACCIDENTAL” BREWERY. HERE JACK GRANGER AND RICH POOLE, TWO OF THAT FOUNDING TRIO, TALK US THROUGH THEIR WHIRLWIND JOURNEY TO DATE.
We got to the point with Finzels Reach where Bruce said if we don’t get it, someone else will’ and we’ll have to walk past it every day for the next 20 years wishing we’d taken the f*cking risk and done so.”
Bristol is of the UK’s great beer cities. Blessed with brilliant breweries such as Arbor Ales, Bristol Beer Factory, Lost and Grounded, Moor Beer Co and Wiper and True to name but a few, along with its pubs and bars, there’s a reason so many people love living there and so many others make regular pilgrimages to soak up all it has to offer.
And for the last 10 years, an ever-present suggestion would be Small Bar on Bristol’s famed King Street. Namely ‘You have to go to Small Bar!’ or ‘How was Small Bar?’.
But for the last five years, there has been another name on that list - Left Handed Giant’s Brewpub in Finzels Reach.
A mixed use development site located in central Bristol, the floating harbour was formerly an industrial site that once housed a sugar refinery while Georges
Bristol Brewery, which was founded in 1788, would grow to occupy most of the site by the mid 20th century, when it was the largest brewery in southwest England before going on to be known as the Courage Brewery, which operated until 1999.
And thanks to the determination of Bruce Gray, alongside his business partners Jack Granger, Rich Poole and some 1500 shareholders, brewing would once again commence on that revered site. So if you’ve been to Bristol, you’ve probably paid Left Handed Giant’s Brewpub a visit. Failing that, you’ve probably admired it from afar, even if you weren’t aware of the wonders that await inside.
However the irony of running a massively successful brewpub, alongside their production brewery at St Philips, is not lost on the trio that - initially at least - had no real intentions to be brewery owners.
“To be honest, we didn’t really mean to be a brewery,” laughs Jack Granger. “When Bruce started Small Bar at the end of 2013, the idea was essentially to be a showcase venue for the best small independent producers in the UK and beyond.
“So we’d be working with breweries like Magic Rock, Beavertown, Buxton, The Kernel, and Thornbridge.”
Small Bar had been trading for around a year and to utilise the space in one of its rooms, they’d install a small 200l brew kit. “The plan was for me to learn how to use this kit and then hopefully collab with breweries that would come down for tap takeovers,” recalls Granger. “But I brewed a couple of times on it and swiftly realised that I’m completely sh*t at brewing!”
All was not lost however. Enter Rich Poole….
“I was probably homebrewing for around 20 years so I like to think I got pretty good at it, I think,” says Poole. “I set up a very small brewery in my garage which I called Rocket Science Craft Ales and ran that for something like a year and a half.”
To be honest, we didn’t really mean to be a brewery, Jack Granger
Around the same time Granger was trying his hand in making a Saison on the new 200l Small Bar kit and had turned to Michael Wiper, co-founder of Wiper and True, for guidance. “He told me Rich was the man to talk to!” he recalls.
Poole had some of his beers to sell and in Granger and Small Bar, he found a willing customer. “I remember Jack talking me through how pricing works
and I realised I didn’t know nor care. I had so little beer that I’d be happy with any price he suggested,” he says.
“Through Jack I’d meet Bruce and pretty much all of the beers I’d make over the next year or so would go through Small Bar. In effect I had a year-long interview with my beers.”
Granger adds: “I think at that point Rich was putting his beers into corny kegs for us. So we were buying beer that he was brewing in his garage on his homemade kit and we were listing them next to beers like Gamma Ray and stuff from The Kernel, and it was absolutely great.
“Bruce and I knew a thing or two about running bars and distribution but not about making beer so that’s where Rich came in. It just took us a while to convince him!”
“Well, I had a pretty good job in pharmaceutical drug development,” he smiles. “But when it came to the beer world, I knew I could make the beer
but I wasn’t very good at the business and selling side of it. So it’s a good partnership, really.”
Granger adds: “Rich ticked all the boxes we didn’t have and we ticked all the boxes he didn’t, so it all fit together quite nicely.”
Through Rocket Science Craft Ales and then later as part of the team at Left Handed Giant, Poole’s beers would adorn the hallowed board at Small Bar, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last December.
Listed alongside established names, it gave Poole a platform. But in running Small Bar, Granger had his own platform and freedom to promote a wealth of excellent beers. “Our only really brief was to support small, independent companies,” he says. “I’m really proud of the role we’ve been able to play in giving these breweries visibility in Bristol. “And even now, while we have some representation of Left Handed Giant here, the beers have to be of the highest quality to secure that place otherwise they won’t be stocked.”
As volumes scaled up, the team would enlist the help of various partner breweries to produce beers for cask and keg such as a 5% Porter, a 4.1% Pale Ale, a 5.5% US Pale and a 5% hoppy red release. “Those beers are probably indicative of how style preferences have changed a bit in that time,” says Granger.
With several units already in their possession in Bristol’s Wadehurst Industrial Park, the team already had a location a possible bigger brewery could be housed. That would prove to be the case until they took on an additional spot in the same industrial park, which is where the St Philips Brewery and taproom resides to this day.
“We were brewing in the other units until COVID but with this newer premises available, and the inability to maintain safe social distancing, it accelerated our move,” says Granger. “Essentially during those COVID years we built a new brewery up here.”
I was probably homebrewing for around 20 years so I like to think I got pretty good at it, I think, Rich Poole
The St Philips facility produces approximately 70% of all Left Handed Giant beer, with the rest brewed at the Finzels Reach Brewpub. Both operate 25HL brewhouses with St Philips boasting a larger cellar capacity.
“Across both sites we did 5200HL last year, and we’ll do about 6600HL this year. But with new venues opening up all the extra volume goes towards supplying and supporting those,” he explains.
While Small Bar and St Philips continue to satiate consumers with fresh Left Handed Giant beer, the opening of their Finzels Reach Brewpub continues to transform the business, just as it has altered the hospitality landscape of central Bristol.
It was a site that the team had considered countless times over the course of a year, each time concluding it was too big for their needs. “We’re a small group,” says Granger. “But when Bruce knew we’d regret not taking the plunge there was no going back.”
A visit to Newcastle to see Dave Stone and the team at Wylam during the brewery build at their stunning Palace of the Arts home was “the kick up the ass” the team needed when it came to taking the risk. “These opportunities don’t come about often. We were originally looking to rent the building but the goalposts moved and we had to purchase it instead, says Granger.
“We don’t come from money but thanks to investment from the local community we could make it happen.”
And since then, they haven’t looked back. It’s a premises that is frequently “phenomenally busy” proving a hit with locals and visitors alike.
“I think our beer gets into the hands of a load of people who maybe wouldn’t have been exposed to our beer otherwise. We’re also brewing beer on-site, with it going from an FV into a serving tank that’s two metres from someone’s glass,” Granger explains. “So the beers are fresh, and they will taste as good there as they’re going to taste anywhere on the planet.”
At Finzels Reach a significant amount of the beer produced are lagers as well as their popular Dark Mild on cask, which is a permanent fixture. St Philips, on the other hand, will output a lot of punchier IPAs and sours, among others.
These beers reach consumers across the UK and further afield but Bristol is very much at the brewery’s heart, with more than 80% of their 1500 shareholders having BS postcodes.
“We’ve always had a focus on getting beer, certainly, our keg beer drank as close as possible to the brewery as we can. Our bars sell about 55% of our beer and Bristol, which includes our bars sells a touch over 70% of our output,” says Granger.
He adds: “Richard is from just outside Bristol, Bruce is Scottish and I’m Australian but Bristol loves people who are willing to put their time and effort into Bristol and they respond with a great deal of support for independent businesses like ours. We are all hugely connected to Bristol and its people.”
Another commitment made by the team is that to environment and those in it. As a B Corp, they are externally audited and certified by the B Lab as operating to the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility.
“To us,” says Granger, “It shows our commitment to prioritise our people and our planet ahead of our profit. Our ethics
are now written into the fabric of our business, ensuring that every decision we make, from the boardroom, to the brewery, to the bars, is led by our desire for our business to be a force for positive change.
“While we are newly certified as a B Corp, the process and certification speaks to our founding ethics. We set out to create a company which challenged the traditional approach to operating a brewery and a business.
“Our ethics inform every decision
we make. It commits us to being the change we seek, within our business, our community and our environment. Our B Corp certification places us amongst a global community working towards a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy.”
And looking ahead, the team don’t expect the brewery to grow much more when it comes to volumes it produces, instead opening up more venues in and around Bristol.
“The plan has always been to stay small. And rather than measuring our growth on volume produced, we measure our growth based on the quality of the product, the quality of life that the people who work in the company have and the impact we can have in our community,” he says.
“Bristol is, and always has been in our focus. We are committed and we are in this for the long run.”
WATER IS, UNSURPRISINGLY, FUNDAMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO BREWERIES. IT DIRECTLY IMPACTS THE BREWING PROCESS, THE QUALITY OF THE FINAL PRODUCT, AND THE OVERALL EFFICIENCY OF BREWERY OPERATIONS. IN THIS FEATURE, WE TAKE AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THIS TREASURED INGREDIENT AND ALSO SOME OF THE INDUSTRY SUPPLIERS THAT HELP WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR WATER NEEDS.
Did you know that beer contains approximately 90% water? As a result, the importance of the liquor to the quality of your end product cannot be overestimated.
“Historically a correlation was observed between the liquor composition of an area and the type of beer that the region could best brew. The Pale Ales of Burton-on-Trent and Edinburgh, Porters of London, Stouts of Dublin and Lagers of Pilsen are classic examples,” Iain Kenny, head of technical at Murphy & Son tells us.
“Water falling as rain, hail, sleet or snow
is pure, but dissolves gasses such as oxygen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. “On reaching the ground the water runs off into rivers, streams and lakes and on in some cases to reservoirs. The composition of the water in the reservoirs is dependent upon the nature of the catchment area.
“In areas where the rocks are hard, the water will not penetrate deeply, and will be ‘soft’ – that is low in dissolved salts. In areas where the rocks are more permeable – gypsum or limestone for example – water will penetrate readily and dissolve many minerals on its way to the reservoirs to become ‘hard’.”
The water, he explains, supplied by local Water Authorities is required to be potable – that is fit to drink and free from pathogenic organisms. In order to reduce microbiological counts chlorine will usually be added, but the water is not sterile.
Fortunately however the micro organisms found in water are not beer spoilage organisms, being unable to survive the conditions of high ethanol and hop resin levels and low pH found in beers. So the objective of liquor treatment is to convert the water sent to us by the Water Authorities into acceptable brewing liquor. This is achieved by the removal of unwanted ions and addition of required levels of desirable ions.
Of the ions required for brewing, calcium is by far the most important. This is because of the acidifying effect that calcium has on the wort.
Kenny adds: “Wort contains large amounts of phosphates derived from the malt, and these have a buffering effect – that is they tend to mop up hydrogen ions and keep the pH higher than desired. Calcium ions precipitate phosphates as insoluble calcium phosphate and release hydrogen ions into the wort.
“It is worth mentioning at this point that whilst the pH of the wort is critical, that of the water in the Hot Liquor Tank (HLT) is not.
“The pH of water may vary from about pH 5 to pH 8 dependent upon the levels of dissolved carbon dioxide – even deionised water can have pH levels as low as 5 after exposure to the air. However, the carbon dioxide is driven off by heat in the HLT and the pH of the water will rise.”
A combination of the presence of calcium ions and the decrease in pH has a number of effects on the brewing process: the lower pH improves enzyme activity and thus wort fermentability and extract.
The optimum pH for ß-amylase activity is about 4·7. Wort produced from liquor
containing no calcium has a pH in the order of 5·8 – 6·0, compared to values in the range of 5·3 – 5·5 for worts produced from treated brewing liquor. The activity of the ß-amylase then is greatly enhanced by the addition of calcium, this exo enzyme increasing the production of maltose from Amylose, and thus making worts more fermentable.
Calcium has an almost ‘chicken and egg’ effect in the precipitation of wort proteins, both during mashing and during the boil. Protein-H + Ca2+ —> Protein-Ca + 2H+
The hydrogen ions released further reduce the pH which encourages further precipitation of proteins. Proteins are also degraded, that is converted to simpler substances by proteolytic enzymes called proteases.
These are found in the malt, and have optimum activity at pH values of about 4·5 – 5·0. The reduction in pH then caused by the presence of calcium encourages proteolysis, further reducing protein levels and increasing wort Free Amino Nitrogen levels (FAN).
According to Kenny, FAN compounds are utilised by the yeast during fermentation for the manufacture of Amino acids, and an increase in FAN levels in the wort improves the health and vigour of the yeast.
High protein levels in beers also have negative effects, making beer more difficult to fine and encouraging formation of hazes, in particular chill hazes. Product shelf life can also be adversely affected. Calcium ions protect the enzyme a-amylase from inhibition by heat.
a-amylase is an endo enzyme, cleaving the internal 1,4 glucosidic links of amylopectin resulting in a rapid reduction in wort viscosity. The optimum temperature range for a-amylase is 65 – 68°C., however the enzyme is rapidly destroyed at these temperatures. Calcium stabilises a-amylase to 70 –75°C.
It can be seen then that the presence of calcium has positive effects on the activity of both a-amylase and ß-amylase, two of the most important enzymes in the brewing process. The drop in pH encouraged by Calcium ions in the mash and copper helps afford
the wort and subsequent beer produced a greater resistance to microbiological infection.
The reduced pH of the sparge liquor reduces extraction of undesirable silicates, tannins and polyphenols from the mash bed.
The extraction of such materials is encouraged by alkaline sparge liquor. These materials are very undesirable, contributing to harsh flavours, hazes in the finished beer and decreased beer stability.
Calcium precipitates oxalates as insoluble calcium oxalate. This again occurs in both the mash tun and the copper. Oxalates cause hazes in finished beers and also contribute to the formation of beerstone in FV’s, CT’s and casks.
Oxalates are also thought to promote gushing in certain beers, although this is not generally a problem to the micro brewer.
The presence of calcium reduces colour formation in the copper. This is due to the reduction of extraction of colour forming compounds such as anthocyanogens and pro-anthocyanidins during the sparge. The reaction: Reducing Sugar + Heat —> Melanoidins is also inhibited.
Calcium ions improve beer fining performance. Calcium ions encourage yeast flocculation – being a divalent Cation it has a natural affinity for negatively charged yeast cells.
He explains: “With all the above advantages of the presence of calcium and reduction in pH there is one minor disadvantage: the reduction in pH causes a decrease in hop utilisation, giving less bitter beers.
“This increases hopping costs, since more hops will be required to achieve a desired level of bitterness.
“However the optimum pH for hop isomerisation as used in the commercial production of isomerised hop extracts is about pH 10, so a reduction from pH 5·8 in a mash with untreated liquor to pH 5·1 out of copper for a treated brew is not too critical.”
You will see that much of the calcium added to the mash is lost – precipitated out as phosphate, proteinate or oxalate. Since calcium is specifically required in the copper for further precipitation
of these materials it is common to add calcium to the grist or Hot Liquor Tank and to then make a second addition to the copper. Where this is not practical it is quite acceptable to make a larger addition to the grist or to the H.L.T.
This ion needs to be very closely controlled in order to achieve good beer. High levels of bicarbonate cause high pH values throughout the brewing process
It should be noted that bicarbonate ions are rather more effective at raising wort pH than calcium ions are at reducing it. The conversion of bicarbonate to carbonic acid is reversible until heat is applied, which drives off the carbon dioxide. This effectively removes the acidic hydrogen ion from the system by using it to form a stable water molecule. The wort pH therefore remains high and all the advantages derived from the presence of adequate calcium levels and reduced pH are lost.
We therefore see the following: Harsh after-tastes in the finished beer, Extract will be reduced due to lower ß-amylase activity, Reduced protein precipitation due to high pH, Worts and beer more prone to infection, Increased extract of undesirable materials in the sparge, notably silicates, polyphenols and tannins and Hop utilisation will also be increased, giving more bitter beers.
The net result of this, Kenny says, is then to decrease beer stability and shelf life and to increase the likelihood of troublesome hazes. Colour will be darker, and flavour will be detrimentally affected. It is then also essential to ensure removal of excess bicarbonate.
As shown in the table at the top of this article, hard water may contain 250 mgs/l of bicarbonate. However, the maximum level that can be tolerated without adverse effect for the production of pale
ales is 50 mgs/l and the preferred level would be about 25 mgs/l. It should also be noted that whilst additions of calcium may be made to HLT, grist and copper, the removal of bicarbonate must be achieved in the Hot Liquor Tank.
This may be done in a number of ways. Deionsiation: Very effective, but high capital and revenue costs. Lime treatment: Addition of carefully controlled amounts of lime (calcium hydroxide) to the HLT will precipitate the bicarbonate as calcium carbonate. There are 2 major drawbacks:
The amount added needs to be exactly calculated and over addition may result in an overall increase in alkalinity.
The precipitated calcium carbonate can form a sludge on the bottom of the HLT that will need periodic cleaning. While boiling again is a traditional method of removal of bicarbonate (Temporary Hardness) but again has 2 drawbacks: It’s very expensive and only effective where the alkalinity is present as bicarbonate. If the levels of sodium, potassium or magnesium carbonates or hydroxides present are significant boiling will not be effective.
Acid treatment is now the most widely used method, for a number of reasons: It’s relatively inexpensive, easy to use and does not produce sludge in the HLT, may add desirable anions – sulphate or chloride and can use phosphoric or lactic acids if no anions are wanted – eg for lager beers.
It is essential to rouse the liquor when acid treating in order to encourage the removal of the carbon dioxide. This can have corrosive effects on the materials of construction of HLT’s if left in solution. Magnesium is an essential element of brewing liquor because it is required by yeast as a co-factor for the production of certain enzymes required for the fermentation process. It is invariable formulated into liquor treatments at relatively low levels.
However caution must be exercised for three reasons: Excess magnesium can interfere with the reactions of
calcium because its phosphates are more soluble, above about 20 mgs/l magnesium can give beer a sour and bitter taste, in excess magnesium has a laxative effect.
Sodium is present in all beers. Excessive levels are undesirable as it imparts a sour and salty taste at high concentrations. The flavour is more acceptable when the sodium is present as chloride than as sulphate.
According to Kenny potassium, like magnesium, a yeast co-factor and is required at trace levels for satisfactory fermentations.
It is more acceptable than sodium from a flavour point of view, giving a salty taste without the sour notes.
It is also gaining some favour as Doctors warn of the effects of high sodium intake on blood pressure.
However potassium salts are very much more expensive than the sodium equivalents, and in excess potassium has laxative effects on the beer.
Sulphate and chloride is convenient to discuss the effect of these two ions together. Much is made in brewing literature of the impact of these ions on beer flavour characteristics – sulphate gives beer a drier, more bitter flavour, whilst chloride imparts palate fullness and to an extent sweetness. However what must be noted is that it is the ratio of the concentrations of these two ions that is significant, rather than simply the actual concentrations.
A ratio of about 2:1 sulphate to chloride is about right for a bitter beer, and it makes little difference if the actual values are 500:250 or 350:175 mgs/l.
As will be seen in Figure 3 ratios of 1:2 sulphate:chloride are recommended for mild ales, whilst a ratio of 1:3 may give best results for stouts or porters.
Sulphate and chloride is convenient to discuss the effect of these two ions together. Much is made in brewing literature of the impact of these ions on beer flavour characteristics – sulphate gives beer a drier, more bitter flavour, whilst chloride imparts palate fullness and to an extent sweetness.
However what must be noted is that it is the ratio of the concentrations of these two ions that is significant, rather than simply the actual concentrations.
A ratio of about 2:1 sulphate to chloride is about right for a bitter beer, and it makes little difference if the actual values are 500:250 or 350:175 mgs/l. As will be seen below ratios of 1:2 sulphate:chloride are recommended for mild ales, whilst a ratio of 1:3 may give best results for stouts or porters.
Sulphur is essential for the fermentation process, since the yeast needs to manufacture the two sulphur containing amino acids, cysteine and methionine. Some yeast strains will use sulphur from sulphate ions for this purpose and will then excrete any excess as sulphite ions. These can then be reduced to form hydrogen sulphide or sulphur dioxide. Both of these materials have characteristic pungent odours and even at low levels can give unacceptable sulphury noses to the beer.
Bacteria also have the ability to produce a wide variety of sulphury off flavours, including rubber, garlic and cooked vegetable.
When it comes to nitrates, the levels
are beginning to drop generally due to greater control of the use of nitrogenous fertilisers, says Kenny. Nitrates themselves are not a problem at levels below 50 mgs/l, however they can be reduced by yeast or bacteria to form Nitrites. These ions can then react with wort amines to form Nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic.
With trace ions metals such as Iron, Manganese, Copper and Zinc may be found in small quantities in water and are all utilised by yeast at levels below 1 ppm. Higher levels can cause colloidal hazes and metallic off flavours, particularly with higher levels of Iron. High levels of heavy metals can also be toxic to yeast. Silica should also be at very low levels in brewing liquor because of the likelihood of colloidal hazes being formed. Ammonia should be absent in brewing liquors, being indicative of contamination by sewage.
Fluorine, present in most waters at about 1 ppm for dental purposes, has no detectable effect on the brewing process. Chlorine is used for sterilisation and may be at relatively high levels at certain times of the year. This can cause problems since chlorine is a very reactive chemical and will readily react with
organics to form chlorophenols. These have a medicinal (T.C.P.) flavour which is in some cases detectable at levels below 1 ppb. Chlorine will be lost to some degree by the heat in the Hot Liquor Tank, but not all water used within the brewery is from that source. Some brewers may use untreated liquor to break down to gravity in fermenter, and rinsing following caustic or acid cleaning cycles will typically be with untreated mains liquor.
One solution is to treat both Hot and Cold Liquor Tanks with 10 ppm of Salicon Liquid 169 (20 mls in 10 brls liquor) and rouse vigorously to remove the chlorine. The sulphur dioxide reacts with chlorine in the manner described below – reducing reactive, undesirable and potentially harmful chlorine ions to chlorides.
The company’s surface water team offers a range of wastewater consultancy services across all sectors. Regulatory requirements vary slightly across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but with experience throughout the whole of the UK, they can deliver the correct solutions to meet the demand of the relevant regulatory bodies.
Adhering to environmental compliance standards they will work with businesses to identify pragmatic solutions for wastewater discharge and disposal, and obtain an environmental permit or licence. They aim to provide practical and cost-efficient solutions, without compromising on the risk to the environment. Their strong scientific and technical knowledge means we deliver exactly that.
Water is the most widely used natural resource. It is precious and needs to be conserved by minimising wastage. At Envireau Water, they have the expertise to develop suitable schemes to treat water for a wide range of potable, process and other uses. The company understands that effluents can vary greatly, not only between different industries, but also between different sites handing similar products.
The production of a beer (Lager, Ale, Porter, Stout) benefits from filtration as the method for controlling the flavour, stability, appearance and shelf life of the packaged product.
The areas where filtration, Fileder explain is used fall into four categories: Incoming water, rough filtration, trap filtration and sterile filtration. Different brews use different processes, meaning one, two or all three of these filtration stages may be required dependent upon the brewer’s desires for the final product.
Fileder is an established, independent company specialising in the advice and supply of water filter systems, water treatment products, process filtration, water filter housings, microfiltration filter cartridges, particulate filtration, ultraviolet (UV) disinfection systems and reverse osmosis systems.
Kirton provides effective systems for distillery and brewery wastewater treatment, ensuring that its clients can continue their daily processes in an eco-conscious fashion. It is essential, they explain, that the water used in the manufacture of beer and spirits is clean and safe. That’s why their state-of-the-art water recycling systems are described as the “perfect solution” for treating distillery and brewery wastewater. Treating and reusing wastewater is one of the most effective ways that the beverage industry can improve efficiency and keep costs down.
Wastewater doesn’t have to contribute to increasing environmental issues; with Kirton, they say you can treat, recycle and create a more sustainable process. They understand the water is a necessary part of these industries and are constantly testing methods to improve the way water is used. For the brewing industry, Kirton’s operations involve the collection and treatment of existing brewery wastewater. We then treat the water so that it is suitable for use in beer and spirit manufacturing. Their main aim with the beverage industry is to prevent an excessive amount of water consumption and allow their clients’ processes to become more efficient.
Brewing water treatment contributes significantly to the taste of a beer, Lubron explain, as rarely raw water is locally available in the respectively required, optimal water quality. However, the composition of the ingredients in the brewing water, decisively determines the taste of the beer. Each type of beer (for example, ale, pilsner, wheat beer) requires its own, individual brewing water composition, which can only be provided with the right brewing water treatment. An unsuitable brewing water quality not only affects the taste, but also interferes with the brewing process and thus increases the production costs.
Every spring water, well water and surface water has its own primeval composition. This is mainly due to the different soil layers and rock types with which the water came into contact on its long journey. As a result, the composition of the raw water differs from place to place and thus its influence on the
taste of the beer. The treatment of the brewing water must therefore be adjusted not only to the beer to be brewed, but always also to the individual raw water composition on site. Lubron’s vision, they said, is to transform the way the world uses water by providing purer, more efficient, and environmentally friendly usage through bespoke end-to-end pure water solutions. They will do this by focusing on supreme quality, technical leadership and a positive, consultative approach, and their core belief of solving problems for their customers.
Omex Environmental develop and market a range of nutrients and neutralisers for all types of wastewater treatment, including acidic wastewater treatment, sludge treatment and septicity control. The company are industrial wastewater treatment specialists and offer a wide range of expertise and solutions for wastewater, trade effluent and environmental management.
This includes the evaluation and treatment of industrial wastewater and trade effluent from manufacturing and industrial processes to ensure cost and process optimisation is achieved; and environmental compliance standards are met and maintained. When it comes to acidic wastewater, OMEX supply the Magmex range of products, a safe and easy to regulate alternative to the more traditional hazardous products such as caustic soda.
Magmex is a range of Magnesium Hydroxide suspensions used for acidic wastewater treatment, to control pH levels within both anaerobic and aerobic systems. Traditionally, sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and calcium hydroxide (lime) have been used to neutralise acidic wastewater.
However, these compounds can cause high pH levels if not controlled correctly, which can lead to the high consumption of the neutraliser. The Magmex range is the environmentally friendly answer for acidic wastewater treatment. It is safe, easy-to-use and overcomes the majority of problems associated with traditional neutralisers. In addition, and in certain applications, it can be used as a means of odour and/ or septicity control by binding hydrogen sulphide immediately during formation. The range can be made available in both bulk and IBC containers.
Brewing companies are setting targets around reducing energy and water consumption as well as decreasing their overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The brewing process-including the actual brewing, cleaning of vessels and producing the power needed to run a brewery-is both energy and water intensive. Breweries are making significant strides in reducing the energy and water needed; in the early days of
the industry, producing one hectoliter of beer required using five times as much water.
Today, many major brewers have set aggressive goals of reducing the water needed in the brewing process-potentially approaching and breaching 2 hl/hl.
With a global team of experiences professionals, Veolia said it is uniquely positioned to deliver the solutions needed by brewers to create a more sustainable brewery, design more efficient ways to produce power, install water solutions to improve efficiency and water recycling and reuse, and provide the infrastructure necessary to use available resources more effectively.
Water Treatment Services offer a comprehensive range of specialist industrial water treatment and water safety solutions that bring together the expertise of trained water management professionals with the latest high performance water treatment techniques to deliver real performance, reliability, cost and safety improvements to their clients. Their expert water management solutions encompass boiler water treatment for industrial boilers and steam generating systems, cooling water treatment for cooling towers and cooling water systems; and water management support for closed system heating, closed cooling and closed loop chilled water systems.
The company’s water hygiene solutions include specialist water disinfection and legionella control procedures for the management of waterborne pathogens including pseudomonas and Legionnaires’ disease.
They also offer a full range of engineering support solutions including water softeners and reverse osmosis installations, cooling tower cleaning and maintenance, water tank refurbishment and replacement, and specialist coatings for tank relining.
WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU’RE LEFT FRUSTRATED BY THE VARIETY OF GREAT BEER ON OFFER IN YOUR LOCAL AREA? WELL, LIKE MANY GREAT BREWERS BEFORE THEM, GEORGE COLLINS AND HUGO ROADS WENT ABOUT MAKING IT THEMSELVES. AND HALFWAY THROUGH 2024, CORNWALL-BASED BLUNTROCK HAVE JUST MOVED THEIR ITS NEW SUSTAINABLY-FOCUSED FACILITY THAT WILL HELP CATER FOR EVER-INCREASING DEMAND BOTH LOCALLY AND FURTHER-AFIELD.
We’ve all been there. Be it in a pub or bar and you’re faced with a selection of beers that fail to excite. Perhaps they’re great beers but ones you’ve had time and time again, and you were ready for a change. Rewind a few years and that’s exactly the dilemma that was facing good friends George Collins and Hugo Roads.
“Living in this part of Cornwall meant there was often a lack of choice, and a lack of places to go to enjoy exciting new beer,” recalls Roads. “We’re obviously in a very seasonal environment so as a result, much of what’s on offer is targeted at that type of casual consumer.”
Trusted venues had closed and refocused their offerings, leaving very little else when it came to a semblance of choice, but help was soon at hand. “I remember being at at BBQ and quizzing George about all-things beer,” says Roads. “I enjoyed my beer but didn’t have the knowledge that he, with his brewing background, clearly did.
“It swiftly became obvious that he had the idea of doing a brewery of his own at some point but the timing had to be right. But the more we talked, the more we got excited and before long we started looking around for how we could make this a reality, to make this work.”
Bluntrock would start in Rock, Cornwall
in 2021 by Collins and Roads. Starting his brewing career at Sharps Brewery in Rock, Collins spent two years in training there before moving on to Padstow Brewing Co where he helped to develop their one-off range. After a period of planning the duo joined forces to bring their newly discovered obsession of quality-focused, US-style pale ales and IPAs to their local area.
These beers, as Roads laments, were making waves in the craft beer industry, but they couldn’t find access to them in their little pocket of North Cornwall. Something needed to change...
“I heard on the grapevine that my old surf life saving coach was calling time on his great career and he had a yard which was used for his boats and trucks,” recalls Roads. “With nine years still left on the lease, we agreed to take it on and before long we were in, brewing and selling beer!”
The initial iteration of Bluntrock comprised a tiny brewery, taproom and beer garden that had been built out of recycled yellow shipping containers. That said, it was a beautiful, vibrant place for the modest team to share their passion for fresh, diverse styles of beer.
They’d move in with containers on site in February 2021 with early beers sold direct from some small fridges. An opening party followed in August 2021 with all beer selling out, including their flagship release, a hazy pale ale called Pagan Juice. However, it would take until early the following year for capacity to increase, with Brexit, the Suez Canal blockage and COVID-19 all playing their part in the process.
“Support from local enthusiasts grew the demand for our beers, and out flowed countless pale ales, IPAs and other modern styles,” he says.
“Soon after setting up, the 150L brew kit reached full capacity, and since then we’ve been doing our best to keep up with the demand from the taproom alone.
“Selling out of beer all the time is, obviously a great feeling but it’s also incredibly frustrating, too,” says Roads.
“We knew early on it wasn’t sustainable so even though now, in 2024, we’re expanding it’s something that’s been on the cards for much longer than that.”
So after two and a half years of non-stop brewing and exploring countless recipes, they are now opening the next chapter in the Bluntrock journey. The team have been busy building a new, state-of-theart brewery, just 600 metres from the original Bluntrock container brewery in Rock, Cornwall.
“Here, not only will we aim to produce much more beer, but we’ll aim to achieve new heights of innovation and quality in our brewing techniques, along with doing our best to operate in the most inclusive, sustainable, and honest way possible. All while continuing the fun,” says Roads.
In March 2023, Roads says the team were lucky enough to acquire a 15HL three-vessel brewhouse at an auction in London, and have since re-installed it
Alongside the brewhouse, this new facility will feature eight 30HL dualpurpose fermentation vessels, two 30HL brite tanks, and two 45HL traditional square fermentation vessels. This setup will give a total production capacity of roughly 100HL of beer per week, or about 17,500 pints.
It’s a substantial increase from the 4HL, or 700 pints, brewed per week at their container brewery. In fact, the majority of the equipment acquired for the new site has had a previous life, extending the life of existing equipment. Ideal for the brewery and the planet.
And naturally as the business expands, the team has started to grow. Simon Howers (ex Padstow Brewing Co) and Thom Yates (ex Goodh/Skinners Brewery) have joined George in the brewing team as operational and
with SSV Ltd at the new brewery site in Cornwall with the kit commissioned in mid-May.technical brewers respectively.
“As a diverse team of three, they have a combined brewing experience of over two decades, and a whole load of passion to come with it!” he smiles.
Increasing capacity was imperative for the team at Bluntock but a central pillar of this project has been the importance of sustainability during expansion, too. Roads says growing up in Cornwall has given him an affinity for the natural environment so any impact his brewery will have on that needs to be considered.
“The brewing process is resource-heavy and has large emission sources, from the agricultural emissions in the ingredients used, right through to the transportation of beer to customers,” he explains. “We want to do everything we can to help future-proof our beloved industry, so with the realisation that our impact was only going to grow with the brewery, we put a lot of thought into the best investments that we could include in our expansion, to help us become a more sustainable business.”
According to Roads, initially the most obvious choice to them was the opportunity of carbon dioxide recoverywhere the CO2 produced as a byproduct of fermentation of beer is captured, rather than letting it drift away into the atmosphere as a wasted byproduct. Once captured, the CO2 is then cleaned, stored and re-used for use in carbonating
the beer, in the packaging process and for purging tanks.
This creates a closed loop, effectively taking a waste by-product and streaming it back into the business for reuse.
The circular economy approach that carbon capture achieves resonates perfectly with their sustainability goals, so including this technology in the brewery expansion became a top priority.
He explains: “CO2 recovery systems are relatively new to the craft beer industry, having previously only been scoped for larger breweries, but the technology is achieving greater accessibility and effectiveness year on year.
“SSV recommended the new HyCrC CO2 recovery system by the India-based company Hypro; a compact, user-friendly solution for smaller craft breweries, which delivers a supply of 99.998% pure liquid CO2 at a rate of more than 15kg per hour. At our new site this will save Xkg of CO2 every 15HL batch!
“We’re delighted to say that Bluntrock will be the very first Cornish brewery to have one of these systems installed, and we can’t wait to put it to the test.”
Being based on the Cornish coast comes with many advantages, having an average of 1758 sunshine hours per year is one of them. Solar power was therefore another obvious choice. As you can read elsewhere in this issue, local clean energy company Clean Earth delivered an 87kW solar power system, consisting of two hundred 435W solar modules, mounted on the roof of the new brewery.
“Once fully commissioned, we expect to yield an incredible 82,650kWh per year across the system, all of which will help to run our fully electric brew house,” says Roads. “The excess energy we generate from our solar panels when our own demand is low, but energy production is high, will be exported off to the grid.
“Any energy that we buy from the grid will be sourced from our provider’s green energy tariff, to help us keep things clean. It’s going to be exciting to see just how self-sufficient our brewery will be when fully operational.”
On the water front, a local, family run company called Aquasource installed a bore hole for Bluntrock right outside the front door of their new site. Having the
ability to access their own water supply offers us a dependable and independent water source, reducing reliance on the sometimes unreliable mains water of the local area.
He explains: “By tapping into the water table right below the brewery, we’ve secured a consistent water supply which is not only Cornish, fresh and delicious, it’s also less susceptible to regional water restrictions and droughts, ensuring our operations are uninterrupted. The borehole usage also alleviates pressure on our local Cornish reservoirs.
“All three of these investments help to better our business resilience and stability, and give us a firmer grip on our co2, water and energy use in the brewery.
“As we become less reliant on the market supply, we are less affected by extreme market price fluctuations. The money we save in co2, water and energy costs can also be reinvested back into future sustainability projects and operational improvements.”
And looking ahead, expanding has given Collins, Roads and the team the
We’re obviously in a very seasonal environment so as a result, much of what’s on offer is targeted at that type of consumer, Hugo Roads.
opportunity to tackle the environmental challenges the industry faces from more than one angle, and they want to be as transparent as possible, which is why they’re working closely with carbon accounting firm Zevero.
“Using their platform, we’ll be able to
closely monitor our scope 1,2 and 3 emissions, giving us an in depth insight into where we are having the biggest impact.
“This will allow us to effectively target the areas of our supply chain that are having the biggest impact, and to implement specific strategies to help reduce our emissions across the whole supply chain,” he says.
“By May 2025, we’ll be able to complete our first full company carbon audit, after a year of tracking our operational data.
In light of the current climate crisis, Roads says the brewery wants to have integrity and accountability that as a company they are doing our part to move towards the UK’s goal of net zero by 2050.
“So to further our commitment to the net zero mission, we’ve set ourselves the goal of achieving a B-Corp certification by 2026,” he says.
“At our core, we’re just a bunch of likeminded folk who want everyone to be able to enjoy a world class, planet friendly beer!”
PLAY AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN THE BEER PACKAGING PROCESS, OFFERING NUMEROUS BENEFITS THAT ARE PIVOTAL FOR A BREWERY’S OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, PRODUCT QUALITY, AND ALSO MARKET COMPETITIVENESS. BUT
IT’S ALSO AN INVESTMENT DECISION THAT NEEDS CONSIDERATION, TOO.
Canning lines are a key addition to many modern breweries, providing benefits that range from quality preservation and operational efficiency to cost savings and enhanced market presence.
But if you’re thinking of Investing in a canning Line, there are a number of issues worth considering. “If you’ve been brewing for any length of time –and if your business was like most who faced challenges from the COVID-19 global pandemic – you may be thinking about investing in your own canning line to gain some autonomy over the packaging process and the distribution of your product, explains Mike Davis, global can filling product line leader at PneumaticScaleAngelus (PSA).
He says: “Many brewers start with mobile
canners or contract packagers and shadow them as a means to learn about the packaging side of the business and get a feel for the process without the pressure of being solely responsible for its success.
“Since COVID, many brewers have evolved their business model and invested in canning equipment, finding the opportunity to reap the advantages: saving time, saving money, and scheduling canning runs on their own timeline rather than someone else’s.
An early customer of PSA’s CB100F system, Dan Kopman, CEO of Heavy Seas Brewery has said that if you’re going to brew your own beer, you should really decide how you’re going to package it before you even brew it. From his perspective, if you spend time making great beer, why would you risk degrading its quality by putting it in the wrong package?
“We agree with that line of thinking, which is why we started designing craft beverage lines, and it’s why we prioritize innovation,” says Davis.
“It’s a big decision to invest in canning machinery, so we partner with each brewery we work with, learning about their production needs and goals, their product mix, and their preferred packaging formats.
“It’s important to also think of the entire line to make sure the canning system is compatible with upstream or downstream equipment.”
Davis goes on to say that brewers at any stage should focus on their process and make quality, consistency, and repeatability their priorities. No piece of equipment, no matter how robust, can fix a broken process. Brewers need to feel confident in managing their product to allow their canning line to do what it’s designed to do, as well as being aware of
the potential impact of any changes they make.
This means understanding variables like the utility supply for carbonation and chilling, the need for space for other packaging machinery like accumulation tables or depalletizers, and the available space for supplies, finished goods, and shipping.
And, of course, hygiene is key. Since craft beer is typically not pasteurized, it’s critical to keep everything clean that comes into contact with your product to prevent spoilage.
If you follow Dan Kopman’s line of thinking, then who you choose as your partner for packaging equipment is critical. As you evaluate potential suppliers, you’ll want to consider a number of factors.
Davis says: “What seaming technologies does the supplier use, and are you confident that the machine will create a seam with the integrity to protect your brand. What filling technology is used, and how easy is it to clean the machine?
“What is its versatility in product mix and how easy is it to quickly change over from one to the next?
“What support is available after your purchase, and are there financing options available if you need them? Most importantly, what is the experience and level of expertise from the team you are considering?
“Purchasing a canning line can be intimidating for brewers who haven’t been exposed to packaging,” adds Adam Brandt, VP of new equipment sales for PSA.
“But comparing the cost of purchasing versus the drawbacks of being dependent on a mobile canner or copacker, it’s easy to see how owning their own line has distinct advantages.” Look for a supplier that delivers fast, skilled support and in-stock parts. And make sure they offer training on the equipment which should be intuitive enough that you feel confident in your ability to be self-sufficient in running it.
“It also means making friends with your can suppliers. Quality and repeatability are just as important in can selection as it is in the brewing and canning process, and a bad can will never achieve a
proper fill, so be sure you work with can suppliers and consider them a vital partner in your success,” Davis says.
At Vigo, part of the Rawlings Group, they supply carefully chosen equipment and consumables to drink producers. Ross Kennedy explains that the process of canning has truly stood the test of time and that is largely due to its numerous benefits. “Even now canning has a big influence on our modern lives. The process not only preserves the product but can also increase its shelf-life,” he says.
“Its versatility provides a wide range of beverages to be preserved whilst exhibiting numerous benefits for customers and manufacturers alike.
The company has recently announced a new official partnership with Comac for
the UK market. Comac is known for its work in the field kegging and canning automated filling systems. Their systems and equipment are installed in more than 90 countries around the world, with their canning systems filling up to 12,000 cans per hour.
Kennedy adds: “Offering convenience, long shelf life, global availability, and a sustainable alternative to other packaging methods. By implementing canning into your business, you can expect consistent quality, higher market visibility, reduced risk of breakage and distribution efficiency. “As we look ahead to a future of increased sustainability, the use of cans in the beverage industry will continue to grow. That is why we are fully committed to providing the best canning equipment, support, and customer service to their clients.”
IN AN EVER-CHANGING ENVIRONMENT, BREWERIES CAN USE RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES TO REDUCE THEIR ENERGY COSTS, MINIMIZE THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT, AND ENHANCE THEIR SUSTAINABILITY PROFILES. IN THIS FEATURE, WE LOOK AT SOME OF THE WAYS YOUR BUSINESS CAN UTILISE THESE TO IMPROVE YOUR BREWING BUSINESS ACROSS THE BOARD.
Incorporating renewable energy technologies not only aligns with environmental stewardship but also provides tangible economic, operational, and reputational benefits, making it a strategic choice for breweries looking to thrive in the modern business landscape. And it’s all part of the bigger picture, too.
As Tim O’Rourke, founder of The Brilliant Beer Company tells us, last year was the warmest year on record with an average temperature increase of 1.35C above preindustrial times.
For consecutive months, he explains, the increase in temperature reached 1.5C, which is the maximum limit set at COP21 in Paris in 2015.
“There is a clear link between climate change and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, insulating the Earth and preventing heat escaping,” he explains.
“For centuries emissions were balanced by the natural carbon cycle where carbon dioxide is taken up by plants on land and algae in oceans to maintain a stable atmospheric CO2 concentration of under 300 mg per litre of air.”
O’Rourke adds: “After 1900, industrialisation, burning fossil fuels, (coal, gas, and oil) released bound carbon dioxide into the atmosphere overwhelming natural cycles, resulting in higher concentrations of greenhouse
gases which has risen to 424 mg per litre of air last year.
“CO2 remains in the atmosphere for between 300 to 1000 years and if we are to continue to enjoy our current quality of life, then all individuals and stakeholders in industry and government must work together to reduce carbon emissions immediately.”
By implementing renewable energy technologies in our breweries, we can collectively benefit from cost savings. Renewable energy systems like solar panels and wind turbines can significantly lower electricity costs by generating on-site power, reducing reliance on the grid while renewable energy can protect breweries from volatile energy prices, providing a more predictable and stable cost structure over time.
There are also obvious environmental benefits. Breweries can significantly cut their greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to the fight against climate change while utilizing clean energy sources helps in preserving natural resources and reducing pollution, aligning with broader environmental sustainability goals.
It’s also worth noting that adopting renewable energy aligns with broader CSR goals, demonstrating a brewery’s commitment to responsible and ethical business practices. Also, breweries adopting renewable
energy can position themselves as leaders in sustainability within the industry, setting benchmarks and encouraging others to follow suit.
One such company that has been working with breweries to transform their business proposition is Wadebridgebased CleanEarth, which has carried out a number of solar power installations across the UK.
“In simple terms it’s sunnier in the south, and a gently-pitched, south-facing roof will perform best. But we’ve completed successful solar projects a long way north of our HQ in Cornwall, and on some pretty odd-shaped roofs,” they explain.
“Every solar PV system needs to be sized for the expected electricity demand – not just to fill the available space. Getting the design right for the demand profile is critical in making the installation a commercial success.”
Their latest brewery install took place at Bluntrock Brewery in St Minver, on Cornwall’s north coast, which has joined a growing band of breweries that have invested in rooftop solar power.
“They recently installed a solar PV system that will generate over 80,000 kWh per year, cutting their energy costs and significantly reducing their carbon emissions,” says Ed Lennon, commercial manager at CleanEarth.
Hugo Roads, co-founder of Bluntrock, adds: “When we first decided to pursue our brewery expansion project, we were determined to maximise the sustainable potential of our future operations, and to include sustainability as a core way of life at Bluntrock. Now, we’re generating our own clean energy as part of our commitment to the net zero mission.”
The system was installed by CleanEarth Energy and their in-house team, who have recently completed projects for Dartmoor Brewery, Wiltshire’s Dark Revolution, and St Ives Brewery (and their cold store).
Lennon explains why solar PV is proving so popular with breweriess: “It takes a fair amount of energy to brew beer, and that’s costing a lot more than it did a couple of years ago.”
The drive to decarbonise is also gaining urgency. “You just can’t ignore it,” says Lennon. “And the brewing industry is more tuned-in to the environment than most, because it relies so much on natural ingredients and processes.”
While the southwest is especially blessed with sunshine, CleanEarth have
also worked with breweries in Wales and the Midlands to help them reach their sustainability targets.
Bluntrock, however, is barely four miles from CleanEarth’s Wadebridge HQ –handy for a pint of solar-powered beer.
CleanEarth operate throughout the UK from their HQ in Cornwall. They have been developing solar and wind projects for businesses large and small since 2010. Their renewable installations in the brewing sector include Budweiser Brewing Group, Goodh Brewing Co, Left Handed Giant, Moor Beer, Verdant Brewing Co - as well as the abovementioned Keltek Brewery, Ludlow Brewing Co and Wiper & True.
Another existing installation has the approval of Gary Walters, Ludlow Brewing Co’s managing director who said that “solar power is the cornerstone of our sustainability strategy.”
The company opted to double this again in 2023, bringing their installed capacity to 120 kW. “This has been instrumental in future-proofing the brewery’s energy infrastructure, to help us create long-
term operational efficiency and reduce emissions and costs,” he says.
Another business striving to help breweries become more sustainable are Energy Oasis. Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, they offer a number of renewable energy solutions.
Managing director Mike Kaye argues that as the brewing industry looks for ways to reduce its carbon footprint and energy
The brewing industry is more tuned-in to the environment than most, Ed Lennon, CleanEarth.
costs, microgrids emerge as a beacon of efficiency and reliability. But, he asks, why are breweries particularly well-suited for this technological leap?
“Renewable energy microgrids are localised energy grids that can operate independently or in conjunction with the main electrical grid. They harness power from renewable sources such as solar, wind, and biogas—resources that are abundantly available and environmentally friendly,” says Kaye.
“The ability to generate and store energy on-site offers unparalleled resilience and autonomy, ensuring that breweries can maintain operations even during power outages or peak demand periods.
According to Kaye breweries, with their substantial and predictable energy consumption, stand to benefit significantly from microgrid adoption. The brewing process, characterised by high thermal and electrical demands, presents an excellent opportunity for the integration of renewable energy solutions. Microgrids reduce long-term costs, increase energy security and show your customers you care about the planet, he says.
Transitioning to a microgrid system, despite its evident benefits, requires meticulous planning. Key technical
aspects involve evaluating energy requirements, choosing an optimal blend of renewable sources, and incorporating storage solutions.
Financially, the upfront costs may appear significant, but it can be broken down into affordable pieces. Starting with energy reduction via smart energy monitoring and controls, coupled with government incentives and grants, makes the investment far less daunting.
Kaye adds: “With the rise in energy expenses and a surge in the call for sustainable change, it is increasingly crucial to explore alternative energy solutions.
“Now is the time to tap into renewable energy microgrids to pave the way for a secure energy future, substantial cost reductions, and a clear commitment to sustainability for your customers. “Regardless of whether you operate a local microbrewery or a large-scale operation, embracing microgrids will benefit your business and the planet.”
O’Rourke concludes, telling us adopting sustainable practices needn’t be difficult and also should be self-funding. “Looking after the environment has benefit for the employees, is better for the profits and will receive endorsements from the customers,” he says.
With the rise in energy expenses and a surge in the call for sustainable change, it is increasingly crucial to explore alternative energy solutions, Mike Kaye, Energy Oasis
APPRENTICESHIPS ARE DELIVERING GREAT RESULTS FOR INDIVIDUALS, TEAMS AND PUB BUSINESSES – AND IN MANY CASES, IT IS FREE WITH TRAINING PROVIDERS ON HAND TO HELP THE PROCESS RUN SMOOTHLY AND DELIVER THE BEST RESULTS, EXPLAINS HIT TRAINING’S LICENSED TRADE DIRECTOR JEREMY SCORER.
On-the-job training in the form of apprenticeships can have real impact on any business, particularly breweries and pubs, in terms of developing individuals, broadening their skill set and releasing fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm for driving the business forward.
People like to feel valued and invested in, and offering a range of apprenticeships
– no matter how small or large your business is – can boost energy and enthusiasm for the role, as well as bringing a fresh approach to the day-today way of doing things.
Apprenticeships aren’t only for young or new staff members. Anyone, including the head brewer or licensee, can sign themselves up to a course, upskilling in areas where someone has little knowledge or to build on current qualifications. There are levels for
everyone too, from basic training up to a degree and masters level.
Publicans and brewers engaged with apprenticeship programmes describe it as a win, win situation. And for those who may be reluctant to commit time and money the positive impact on businesses and individuals shouldn’t be underestimated.
Having an active apprenticeship programme attracts committed and
progressive individuals to your business. For the younger generations, having an opportunity to improve and develop through training is important.
Figures show that apprentices are more likely to remain within an organisation because they feel supported by their employer. A staggering 80% of businesses have significantly increased employee retention rates as a result of engaging in apprenticeship activity.
Another key benefit is customer satisfaction scores. When you consider the three elements that make up great customer service – knowledge, skills and behaviour – we see customer service scores measurably increase in terms of customer satisfaction levels when they have been served by an apprentice, or someone who is being coached and developed on the job.
Achieving better customer feedback scores is good for business, as it drives footfall and spend-per-head.
1. To attract talented people with career aspirations. Research shows that go-getting individuals are more likely to want to join your team if they know you are making an investment in training.
2. Retain great staff through career opportunities. We found that over twothirds of employees (35.1%) have always been interested in training and would love the opportunity to master their skills through an apprenticeship and take the next step on the career ladder.
3. Be a more efficient business through better skilled people. By upskilling your staff, you’ll have more team members who are able to operate across different functions, and this will help business grow.
4. Free up managers’ time. Building a home-grown skilled workforce means you’ll have more competent individuals in your team who require less supervision. Creating a team that delivers high-quality customer experiences entices people back time and time again and gets people talking about your establishment for the right reasons.
5. Make your managers better. Providing skills that increase efficiency, productivity and enable innovation, in turn, boosts the bottom line. Investment in training and development of staff always pays dividends and helps staff retention.
As customers, we know that we go to places for a great experience and there is nothing more satisfying that being served by someone who is well-informed, knowledgeable about the products on sale, and has great service skills. I know that my spend is highly likely to increase, as well as any return visits becoming more frequent.
Any old-fashioned notion that apprenticeships are complex and bureaucratic should be forgotten. All that is required is an employer who is committed to the programme with a team member who is enthusiastic to learn.
All a successful apprenticeship programme requires is a commitment from the employer, the apprentice and the training provider.
Running a successful brewery, pub or licensed premises requires an expert team with the best chefs, kitchen staff, servers, brewers and managers.
At HIT Training, the team of expert trainers know what the best of the best
looks like. We know that investing in staff can make a world of difference to a team’s expertise, practical and social skills whether it be complying with latest licensing regulations or meeting the highest compliance standards possible. And attracting the best of the best is easier than you think. Work-based apprenticeships have a proven track record of bringing huge benefits to business. And it’s not only affordable but worthy too.
Don’t forget the Levy too. Whether you are a licensee of a pub, head brewer or the chief executive of a pub chain, are you aware of all the apprenticeship funding options?
If you are a company with an annual wage bill over £3 million, you will automatically be paying into a funding scheme developed by the government called ‘The Apprenticeship Levy’. These funds will be lost to the Exchequer unless they are used to provide approved apprenticeship training -
another reason why you should be using apprenticeships.
‘Use it or lose it’ is the phrase we like to use. For smaller businesses that don’t pay the apprenticeship levy, you still have access to the government’s coinvestment fund to support with the cost of apprenticeship training.
The government asks that employers make a 5% contribution, and the government pays the remaining 95% of funding set for the apprenticeship.
Also, the government will fully fund apprenticeships in small businesses by paying the full cost of training for anyone up to the age of 21. This means your future training requirements could already be paid for.
Venting out the CO2 produced during fermentation has long been entrenched as a customary practice in the craft brewing industry, serving as its foremost source of carbon emissions.
In response to this, an increasing number of craft breweries are now investing in CO2 recovery systems to curtail their carbon footprint.
While CO2 recovery has been a topic of discussion in the brewing industry for many years, its implementation has been hindered by lack of available technology and/or financial constraints, particularly for craft breweries.
Four years ago, we entered the market with a small-scale CO2 Unit and has in the meantime sold 15 units in UK and 55 units in total on the global market.
Over the past two years, this innovative technology has gained considerable traction among craft breweries in the UK, with many embracing and eagerly adopting this new technology in their breweries.
Two other vendors are now knocking the door to the UK market, each offering distinctive CO2 recovery solutions tailored for craft breweries.
The craft brewing industry in the UK felt the impact of the CO2 shortage from September 2022, enduring its effects well into 2023.
As procurement prices skyrocketed, reaching up to 600% in some instances, numerous breweries faced production disruption.
This circumstance ignited a strong desire among many UK breweries to attain full self-sufficiency and autonomy in their CO2 supply. The pursuit of autonomy from gas suppliers has proven to be of paramount importance, in anticipation of future CO2 shortages.
Throughout the developmental phases beginning in 2018, we collaborated closely with Ørbæk Brewery and Svaneke Brewhouse in Denmark to refine their system. This partnership yielded invaluable insights into the operations of a craft brewery, significantly influencing the technological advancements of our CO2 recovery units.
These recovery units boast a distinctive purification process, effectively eliminating oxygen from the recovered CO2 due to the patented condenser and rectifier system.
Some customers using O2 analyzers from Pentair, Orbisphere or Anton Paar typically find remarkable low oxygen levels in the liquid CO2 ranging in the interval 2 ppb -16 ppb.
The CO2 recovery units by are equipped with state-of-the-art components, including a patented 3-stage variable speed, oil-free and stainless-steel compressors.
This compressor produces a pressure of 35-45 bars and enables liquefaction in the Dalum CO2 condenser at temperatures ranging from -5C to 2°C, and thereby allowing the use of conventional cooling sources e.g. glycol. This innovative approach has proven instrumental in enhancing cost efficiency, thereby reducing both variable electrical and capital costs.
A customer in Germany has over a long period been tracking energy consumption and output of their CO2 Unit and concluded the electric consumption was 0.18 kW/kg CO2 plus what was consumed in the glycol chiller calculated theoretically to below 0,1 kW. Recognizing the dual importance of both environmental sustainability and economic viability, we slashed the unit price by about 50% due to very compact proprietary technology and parts and by decreasing energy consumption. Through their CO2 recovery solutions, they deliver tangible environmental and economic benefits to breweries, aligning
Through their CO2 recovery solutions, they deliver tangible environmental and economic benefits to breweries,
with the industry’s goals of reducing carbon footprints while maintaining financial viability.
These Dalum CO2 Units come in a range of theoretical displacements, from 5kg/h to 30kg/h, catering to breweries with production volumes spanning from 1.000 hl per annum to 100.000 hl per annum. This versatility ensures that craft breweries of varying scales can find an ideal solution tailored to their specific needs.
The units come equipped with a sophisticated PLC and remote access capabilities for online service and remote troubleshooting. Furthermore, the latest update to the PLC enables the CO2 recovery units to autonomously identify and resolve issues, supporting uninterrupted operation and seamless production flow.
The purification system in our CO2 units has been improved and simplified considerable and thereby made very robust compared the classic purification process used in conventional CO2 plants. The Dalum purification system is to stage system and without the use of consumables to be replaced on monthly basis.
Especially the large British customer
base has helped us sharpening the product quality procedures and recommended customer quality procedures for ensuring continuous documented high CO2 quality, by using a method combining the use of gas detection tubes, burette, instruments, and human senses.
Dalum Beverage Equipment and other suppliers making craft-scale CO2 recovery systems have observed a burgeoning interest among UK breweries keen on achieving self-sufficiency and independency from gas suppliers. To date, we has retailed over 55 units globally, with 15 currently in operation across the UK.
The deployment of these CO2 recovery units alone has resulted in a significant reduction in carbon footprint, equivalent to removing 1200 cars from UK roads annually and a substantial 4.400 cars globally so far.
Based on extensive conversations with breweries utilizing Dalum Beverage Equipment’s CO2 recovery units, it’s evident that the return on investment typically varies between 1 to 4 years and about 90% of the users become selfsufficient with natural CO2 for their beers. Notably, most breweries achieve breakeven within just 2 years of installation. This underscores the significant financial benefits associated with adopting this sustainable solution in the brewing industry.
In recent times, there has been an increasing interest from funding programs, encompassing both government initiatives and private funds, in endorsing sustainable investments within craft breweries. Some of these programs offer substantial support, covering up to 50% of the investment costs, and in certain instances, even moreI was lucky enough to get a job at Fuller’s. Lucky, because this was a great time to join them. They had just started to reinvest in their brewery and they were led by progressive directors.
AN ACCIDENTAL BREWER THAT HAS GONE ON TO BECOME ONE OF THE FINEST IN EUROPE, COLIN STRONGE HAS CREATED A WEALTH OF SUPERB BEERS IN HIS CAREER TO-DATE. HERE, HE TELLS US HOW HE GOT THERE AND OVERLEAF, SHARES AN EARLY RECIPE ALONGSIDE A MODERN ITERATION TOO.
Ifound my way into brewing by complete accident, but soon fell in love with the process involved. When it happened, I couldn’t have told you the difference between malt and hops!
I was working in a brewpub in Liverpool behind the bar after leaving university and was at a bit of a loss what to do with the rest of my days.
The brewer there was the son of the guy who ran the pub and they could not work in the same building - they argued like cat and dog until the brewer had had enough and decided to leave.
His dad recognised my obvious flourish for the role (I was the only person there with enough time on my hands!) and I needed something a little more full-time to keep me occupied and pay the bills.
Young Marc stayed on long enough to teach me the processes required to make the beers on that system and he was the first person to ignite my interest in brewing. But I was lucky in the timing of this little piece of happenstance. I soon learned what all the ingredients were and where to put them.
I found that I really loved the smells and the textures of working in a manual brewery. The aromas of the first bags of malt in the mash tun in the morning; the flavour of the firstrunnings; the colours and aromas of the fresh leaf hops in my hand and the heat of the spent grain.
I loved the mixing of the yeast; pulling the first FV sample, seeing the colour and checking the gravities; and the heady gasses in the air as fermentation began were all exciting and fascinating to me.
So within a few months what was supposed to be a short stop-gap ended up becoming a career.
The second piece of luck was a chance encounter with another brewer. Steven McCormack, formerly of Wychwood Brewery had moved to the city for a year whilst his wife finished her doctorate at Liverpool University.
He offered to come in for a couple of days a week to make the house beers but also to teach me how to improve my processes. His passion for beer was evident and really rubbed off on me. Having worked at Wychwood from the age of 16 and having gone on to get his BS(c) in Brewing Science and
I loved the mixing of the yeast; pulling the first FV sample, seeing the colour and checking the gravities; and the heady gasses in the air as fermentation began were all exciting and fascinating to me, Colin Stronge
Practice at Newcastle University he knew the process and the science well.
He talked to me at length about not only beer and brewing, but he is probably the person most responsible for getting me back into guitars and punk music after a few years listening mostly to techno and hip-hop.
In those days brewing was a much more malty experience than it is today. Most of our recipes contained more bittering hops than aroma varieties, and most of what we used at that brewery were English varieties like Fuggles, Goldings and Bramling Cross and in very sparing amounts.
It was a time as the Firkin brewpub chain was winding down (ask your older beer friends) and before the second wave of UK cask brewing; where hops started to dominate more than malts; and our recipes were definitely of the former camp.
Usually malty and session strength, most recipes only required around 0.5g/l of aroma hops. Most beers on the current scene would baulk at 10 times that sort of addition as being a bit reserved!
Fast-forward 24 years later and my wife and I have finally stepped forward to open our own brewery. Having both worked at some of the best breweries in the UK and having been the custodians to some of the most celebrated beers there also, we finally took the plunge and decided it was time to take our lives and those of our beers into our own hands.
We won’t be making many beers like this, but overleaf thought it would be fun to have a look at a recipe that was one of the first I was involved in formulating, dating from 2000-2001. I then follow-up something similar that might look like how I could approach this recipe today. that bad things do happen but it’s how you deal with them and move forward that makes you who you are.
HE’S BEEN KING
TO SHARE AN EARLY RECIPE ALONGSIDE A MODERN TAKE ON THE SAME BEER. AS HE SAYS, HAPPY
When Steven McCormack started working with us most of our beers were in the 3.8-4.5% range. We decided that this is what the customers wanted so we weren’t going to deviate from that too much.
But we wanted this beer to be a little more complex than our other offerings without scaring the horses. We used a more complex malt bill to give this beer a fuller body and changed the yeast from the house S-04 to Windsor to help with the body and mouthfeel also.
We mashed the beer at 65-66c with 2.25 l/kg liquor. Mack always liked his mash to be dryer as it helped with the mouthfeel of the beer later on.
Whilst talking about mouthfeel it would be remiss not to have a quick think about the water profile. Luckily for myself I have been very lucky to work mostly in areas where the water has been quite soft and Liverpool was no different, being rated as medium soft.
The total hardness was ~5.18 and a fairly balanced sulphate: chloride level (latest numbers I could find suggest 21.0:23.4) so the water is very well balanced for brewing. So to help with mouthfeel we would be looking to add chloride to help drive the malty characteristics of the beer, more like a NEIPA than a West Coast in which you would add more sulphite to keep the body light and drive more of the hoppy characteristics desirable for the style.
For a lower abv bitter like this we would be looking for a chloride ion concentration of about 75-100 ppm.
But in order to keep the beer balanced we would like some sulphate in there too and, ideally, look for a sulphate : chloride ratio of 0.6-0.8, so we would add x0.7 of calcium sulphate as to the weight of calcium chloride to give us the balance we are looking for.
To balance all this malt we wanted soft, yet noticeable bitterness which we would also derive from the Bramling Cross so would add a not huge charge of this just before boil started to give us 22 IBU theoretical.
We wanted a tawny hue to the beer so the addition of cara, crystal and chocolate malts helped us out there and to reflect the colour we wanted a nice, hedge-row berry flavour from the fruits, so we decided to single hop the whole brew with Bramling Cross. The recipe looked something like this:
Stronge, Lost Cause
Mash @ 65-66c & 2.25:1 Liquor:Grist for 60 mins
All malts from Warminster Maltings
91.5% Marris Otter
5% Caramalt
3% Crystal
0.5% Chocolate
We would then recirculate the mash for 5 minutes, or until we were happy the first runnings were clear and then begin collection to the kettle.
Collect in kettle until final runnings are reading under 1.010 and then stop run off and dig out/throw out/feed the chickens your mash.
Bittering Hop:
Bramling Cross @ 8.4%aa. Calculate weight for 20 IBU
When the beer is just about to boil; if you have temp readouts
I’d do this at 98c, if not as you start to see disturbance on the top of the wort; add your bittering charge of Bramling. Boil for 60 mins.
Kettle finings: Protofloc
5 minutes before boil end add protofloc to your desired levels. With our water profile in Liverpool we would add 3g/hl, but if you have done optimisation on this with your setup then follow those.
At boil end turn off the heat and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Aroma Hop: Bramling Cross
Add your aroma hop. This charge of Bramling will give you the
hedgerow fruit berry flavours and aromas we are looking for, but this was the year 2000, so addition was 0.5g/l. Give it a stir in and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Yeast: Fermentis S-04 @
Get your heat exchanger, casting set up and FV sterilised and set up to receive wort. Begin hydrating your yeast. After this time recirculate the wort to clear any trub, then begin casting. For S-04 we would pitch half way through casting, with the temperature ideally at 18c. If your set up doesn’t allow for this hold off pitching until the wort temperature reaches this level. Check your OG is in spec before this too. That will help! Hold the fermentation temperature at 18c until the yeast has hit high krausen and then allow to free rise to 21c until completed.
Targets
OG 1.042
FG 1.0095
IBU 22
Colour Tawny with hints of red Final ABV 4.2%
If I were brewing this beer today I would probably look to reimagine it as a West Coast Red IPA, keeping the colour but with a slightly altered mash bill to get a similar colour but with less crystal sweetness, up the bitterness and aroma hops to give it a more modern feel and a bigger flavour impact. This is never the best-selling style of beer, but one the connoisseurs love and it’s one of my favourites too!
Malt all from Simpsons Malt
90% Golden Promise
10% Dextrin Malt
9% Crystal T50
1% Pale Chocolate
This will probably be a little lighter than the original recipe but will give a textured body to the beer. The Dextrin malt gives a smoother body, the T50 colour without as much sweetness, and the pale chocolate will give some more depth to the colour without too much flavour impact.
We are looking for a similar balance here, so keep the salts the same. The larger hop charge could mean a significant raise in bitterness, so we will keep the malty salts profile to counterbalance this.
So we would like a similar hop flavour, if just a bigger and slightly more modern twist on the style, but still based in the red fruit/hedgerow target of the original. We will reduce the bittering hop to a sprinkle and allow the majority of the bitterness of the beer to come from the increased aroma hop addition. Theoretically we should get around 30 IBU from this
Bittering hop
A sprinkle of Cascade
Aroma Hop
3 g/l Bramling Cross @ 8.4%aa
1 g/l Cascade @ 8%aa
1 g/l Mosaic @12.2aa
Fermentation
As before hold at 18c until at high krausen and then free rise to 21c
Dry-Hopping
To bring this recipe up to date lets get a small but perfectly formed dry hop into the beer to make the hop notes sing! Wait until the beer has reached terminal gravity and then drop the temperature to 16c. Hold this for ~24 hours to allow yeast a trub to settle, drop that off and then add this in:
2 g/l Cascade
2 g/l Bramling Cross
1 g/l Mosaic
This combo of hops will give us plenty of the fruity notes we want whilst bringing the flavour up to date.
Add the hops, allow to stand at 16c for ~48 hours then crash chill as cold as you can get it for 3-4 days.. Remove the dry hops, trub, yeast, etc and package as you wish. I’d suggest carbonating to 2.3 vols of CO2 in the desired way and enjoy!
We’re launching our popular, high quality beer yeast in 100 g pouches (so packs, under inert atmosphere), bridging the gap between our 11.5 g sachets (so packs under inert atmosphere) and 500 g bricks (hard packs, under vacuum). So now, whatever your brewer’s profile, you get extra convenience and flexibility.
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With brewing enzymes, you can experiment with the taste and texture of your beer as well as off-set raw material costs. Enzymes give you greater exibility in brewing recipes while helping optimise the brewing process.
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AWARD-WINNING BREWER ANDY PARKER KNOWS A THING OR TWO ABOUT MAKING A GREAT BEER. BUT IN CONDUCTING RESEARCHING FOR HIS UPCOMING BOOK, THE MODERN HOMEBREWER, CO-AUTHORED WITH JAMIL ZAINASHEFF, HE PAID A VISIT TO SIMPSONS MALT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE WORK THAT GOES INTO THE PRODUCTION OF QUALITY MALT.
The production of quality malt starts even before the barley seeds are planted in the ground. The producer must select the optimal varieties to use for the agronomic conditions (there are many varieties of barley, not just the long established ones such as Maris Otter!) and know when to plant them.
I visited Simpsons Malt in Tivetshall, Norfolk and had a chance to sit down with Rob Austin who is their Southern Supply Chain Manager.
He explained the complexities of growing barley and the recent changes within the UK Farming Subsidy system that is driving changes to the way we farm.
“At Simpsons we aim to work directly with the farmers and build long-term relationships to give both the farmers security and our customers confidence we can continue to supply them with high quality grains.
“We utilise the data we receive from the AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, an organisation funded by farmers through levies placed on every grain collection) and our knowledge of what works well in the soil to decide which barley varieties we want the farmers to sow (drill).
This varies between Tivetshall and Berwick because certain varieties will be preferred over others based on the local soil and climate. Laureate is the main variety in Anglia and Diablo and Laureate (along with some specialist distilling varieties) further north.
Diablo and Laureate are dual purpose varieties that can be used in both brewing and distilling applications and both typically give good yield, with low nitrogen levels.
He continues: “We work with farmers to maximise the return on their barley crops. In addition, subsidies are now available to growers in England via the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).
“SFI is replacing the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) with the last BPS payment being in 2027. Farming subsidies were introduced after the second world war to give farmers incentives to grow food at an affordable price, whilst giving them enough income to reinvest in their own businesses and maintain food security for the country.
“However, as technology got better and yields increased, this led to surpluses in the 1980’s. At one point, farmers were incentivised to not plant and were paid a subsidy to set land aside.”
“As time went on, demand increased again and certain world events such as the war in Ukraine hindered world production.
“With the UK leaving the EU, less money is now available for subsidies and the BPS scheme began the transition to SFI. SFI encourages farmers to maximise the use of their land and also incentivises them to reduce CO2 emissions by limiting the use of pesticides and insecticides.
“SFI incentives could significantly change what’s being grown by farmers so we’re entering into discussions about how crops are grown to reduce CO2 emissions in the first place, getting ahead of future requirements where possible.
“Businesses might end up buying carbon credits from farmers, so there’s an added incentive to farm in an environmentally responsible way.”
Most pale or base malt produced in the UK comes from spring barley and this is planted from February to April.
The aim is to get it in the ground as early as possible but the ground cannot be too wet. The farmer will wait until it is fairly dry and February’s typically cold snap has subsided. Spring barley has a six month growing window and is generally harvested in August.
Barley will be rigorously tested and screened to determine the quality at point of harvest and any which does not meet the required parameters for malting will be sold on for other applications such as animal feed.
Any signs of disease or rot such as ergot (a disease of cereal crops caused by fungus) will see the whole crop from affected fields rejected
When barley is harvested, it must be stored, known as putting it into dormancy. This dormant phase is an important part of the development of malt as it protects the barley from germination while the seed develops.
When barley comes off the field if it is above around about 14.5% moisture then it will be air dried until it reaches that point, then be placed into storage in silos or warehouses, known as flatbed stores.
The dormancy period typically lasts at least four months and malt will be tested towards the end of this period to determine when it is ready for germination.
The requirement for a dormant period obviously creates significant storage pressures on the malt producer. Add to that the financial pressure, given the farmer is usually paid at time of harvest, and you start to see how the growth of barley and onwards production of malt is a fine balancing act and that is before you consider the risks of spoilage and weather related complexities.
The malt producer is looking for barley which has low nitrogen content, low moisture and kernels which are plump and full. Given the challenges around storage, it is imperative that the barley placed into dormancy is of the highest possible quality to ensure onward malt yields are maximised.
Graham Kendall is the Operations Director for Simpsons Malt in Tivetshall and he distils the objectives of the malting process down very simply, saying his operation aims to “deliver the brewer a nice fat package of starch and the scissors with which to cut it open”.
High quality malting grade barley grain is nice and plump with sufficient levels of enzymes to get to work during the malting and mashing processes to turn those starches into simple sugars.
The maltster’s challenge is to consistently modify the grain so it yields the level of fermentable sugars, soluble nitrogen and other essential metabolites to achieve the brewers requirements for beer of the right flavour, body, aroma and colour.
The bulk of operations at Tivetshall is the production of pale or what they refer to as white malt. Kendall explains: “White malt provides the bulk of the brewers mash and is the main source of fermentable extract for the yeast to work on. The job of the maltster is to take the raw barley grain and
break down the protein and glucan cell wall matrix in the endosperm.
At the end of the process, you have a source of starch that can be extracted. The malt also provides the enzymes that break down that starch to produce sugars, glucose and maltose (such as alpha and beta amylase).
He notes that “It’s also important to think about the extent to which to break down the starchy endosperm as this influences the amount of fermentable and non-fermentable sugars that are left behind. Yeast metabolises glucose and maltose quickly.
“Anything that’s a trisaccharide (more than two glucose chains long) is inaccessible to some brewers yeasts.
“The maltster can influence the quantity of these and socalled longer chain sugars in the malted barley and this creates a differentiator across malt and beer brands as each maltster will work to their own target values.
“Long chain sugars can create body in the beer and are the source of malt sweetness that’s desirable in some styles of beer.” Additionally, the level of fermentable sugars in the brewing wort impacts the level of the ethanol in the final beer.
Nitrogen levels in the barley are key to producing good malt and ultimately good beer. Kendall continues: “There is a rule of thumb. The more total nitrogen in the grain, generally the less starch the granules will contain when coming off the field. Once you get over around 1.6-1.8% nitrogen, the starch extract drops off in the finished malt.
“The aim is that each malted barley grain is a packet of energy and enzymes. The more protein they contain, the less extract you generally get. However, there is a risk with too little nitrogen. You can’t drop nitrogen levels too far though as some FAN (free amino nitrogen) is needed for a healthy fermentation.
“Brewers can experience this when adding high levels of adjuncts. Too low a concentration and you risk over-diluting the FAN in wort to the point you impact fermentation”.
He goes on to note that “with white malt, flavour is also a consideration. We aim to create a homogenous product with consistent flavour from batch to batch. The quality of the source barley is key to creating good malt. When we take barley in at harvest in the UK, it’s typically coming in at over 14% moisture so we dry it down before placing it into storage.
“Barley that contains too much moisture may potentially spoil by rotting in storage or will respire and even pre-germinate and will not be viable for malting.
“Grain that has been dried to the right moisture level can be stored for a very long time but we try to process it all before the next harvest as we only have a finite amount of storage.
“Two row barley gives a more consistent grain size and therefore a more consistent end product. Six row barley has more protein and beta glucan, which is good for feed but less so for malting. Around 95% of the malting grade barley grown in the UK and Europe is two row.”
When being brought out of storage for malting, the grains are first dressed. That process involves aspiration and screening as they travel to the holding silo, removing any undersized grains, dust and loose husk material. Grains are then steeped to bring the moisture levels up to kick start germination. This is the primary phase of the malting process. Timings vary depending on the grain type being malted and the target parameters of the final malt. Barley grain is typically steeped for 40-48 hrs. Rye, oats and wheat are normally steeped for a shorter time.
The aim of steeping is to mimic rainfall and trick the barley into growing! The most common type of steeping tanks are cylindroconical in design and look a lot like beer fermentation tanks. The grain is typically around 11%-14% moisture at the start of the process. The steeping process involves a cycle of water immersion and air rests.Grain is usually immersed in water a minimum of twice but it can be as many as three or four times. As well as increasing the moisture content of the grain, the process washes the grain.This generated wastewater requires treatment before being discharged. At their Tweed Valley Maltings in Berwick-upon-Tweed, which mostly produces distilling malt, Simpsons Malt’s Water Treatment Plant has Reverse Osmosis (RO), which enables most wastewater to be treated to a standard where it can be reused in the steeping process in another batch.
During the steeping, the grains pick up moisture and start to respire, consuming oxygen and emitting CO2. While the grain is immersed, aerators bubble compressed air through the grain to mix the vessel contents and aid even water uptake. During air rests, fresh air is drawn through the grain bed and CO2 actively removed. The aim is to keep the barley at around 18-22C allowing it to initiate germination. Uncontrolled germination and the grain generates excessive heat resulting in quality problems or even killing the grain. At the end of this process and when the moisture is in the range of 42-45%, the grain is ‘chitted’ meaning the root has just emerged. It is then ready to continue growth in the germination phase.
It should be noted that good quality malting grain should have the capacity to be close to 100 % germination. General contract acceptance levels require germination at >98%. Grain loads at less than this imply the grain is dead or dormant and will not malt and thus should never be received into the malting facility.
Once chitted, the grains (at 42-45% moisture) are transferred from the steep vessel into a germination vessel. In germination the grains continually grow and left to themselves have the capacity to develop into a complete plant.
An acrospire and rootlets become increasingly visible over the 4-5 days of germination. Within the grain, enzymes are
released and begin to act on the endosperm. The cell walls, comprised of protein and beta glucan, gradually break down. Hence the term modification. In essence the grain’s starchy endosperm is being modified. Other enzymes such as alpha and beta amylase develop which remain dormant until activated in the brewery mash.
There are multiple types of germination systems, known as GV (Germination Vessel) and GKV (Germination and Kilning Vessel).
Commonly they are either rectangular or round or as a drum cylinder. As the names suggest, a GKV acts as a dual germinating and heat kilning vessel so once the germination phase has ended the grain is heat dried in the same compartment.
During germination, grain is turned a couple of times per day. The turning machine has vertical screws which rotate to prevent the short rootlets from getting entwined.
The grain may also be sprinkled with water to maintain the moisture levels. In some systems the turning machine is static and the floor moves and in other systems the turning machine travels through the grain.
All these germination vessels have a perforated floor to allow for air circulation through the grain bed. The process involves blowing humidified air through the grain bed to control its temperature and moisture.
The 42-48% moisture level reached during steeping is maintained throughout the germination process. Moisture may drop slightly towards the end of germination but not typically below 42%.
Some germination systems are drum based. In drum germination systems, the grain is placed in a large horizontal cylinder.
The drum will rotate the barley during germination. The rotating drum prevents the rootlets from entwining and negates the need for turning.
Once germination has reached the desired level of grain modification, it is then arrested by heat kilning by gradually drying the grain to 4-5 % moisture.
During this process hot, dry air at 30-60 C (increasing in temperature as the process progresses) is blown through the grain bed and in 10-20 hours, the grain will drop from 45 % to around 10-20% moisture.
At this point we reach what is known as the break, which is where air is able to pass freely through the grain bed and break out of the top. Kilning will continue until the moisture content has dropped to around 4%.
The last stage of the process is known as curing and this affects final malt properties in terms of colour and enzyme activity.
During curing, the temperature is raised to 65C to 80C or even >90 C. Final cure temperature considerations are based on
the customer specification of desired moisture, enzyme and colour level.
This would be typically different for Ale, Lager, Distilling or Highly Kilned (Munich / Vienna) malts.
Granular sulphur can be burned in the air supply into grain at the initial phase of kilning. This is traditionally done to prevent the development of NDMA (nitroso dimethyl amine).
NDMA levels at elevated concentrations are considered carcinogenic. Keeping final NDMA levels below 2.5 PPB in the final product is required.
The burning of sulphur in the air stream prevents the formation of the precursor for NDMA development. Quantities of sulphur required may vary depending on the type of grain, kiln construction and air flow. Lab analysis is the primary check to ensure NDMA levels are acceptable in the final malt.
At Simpsons Malt, GKVs are used for the bulk of their pale malt, so it is germinated and kilned within the same vessel.
For speciality malts, the standard GVs are used and the malt is then kilned in dedicated roasting vessels.
These vessels, which work in a very similar way to coffee roasters, can raise the grain to much higher temperatures and allow the maltster to create darker or roasted malts, in fact their entire range of barley products for anything that isn’t pale malt!
Each malt product will have its own kilning recipe and this information is often a closely guarded secret as it can be what differentiates each malt provider from its competitors.
Highly roasted malts, such as roasted barley and black malt have no enzymatic activity as the temperature required to achieve the level of colour they bring effectively denatures any enzymes present. These malts are all about flavour rather than extract.
Because of this, they can skip the germination phase altogether and go straight from dressing to roasting. The below table shows the parts of the process that each type of grain follows during malting.
As mentioned, the roasting drum is similar to a coffee roaster. Malt tumbles through hot air and is heated according to the
recipe depending on the malt product being made. Crystal and caramalts are created in a slightly different way. During the roasting process, they’ll still be heated up as other products would but the malt is stewed or sweated by closing the air outlet and allowing humidity to build up in the roasting drum. The enzymes in the grain become active and will naturally breakdown the starch. This is known as saccharification.
Subsequent further heating then causes the grain to crystallise, then, depending on the colour of crystal required, further heat is applied to create a maillard reaction which brings all those lovely caramelised flavours.
In kilning, broadly the longer and further you go, the darker the end result and the more flavour you develop.
Knowing when to stop the process and discharge the malt from the kilning vessel to cool is crucial and the roasting technician will draw regular samples throughout the process.
The myriad of malt products available around the world are all as a result of much evolution and experimentation during this kilning stage and malting really is an art rather than pure science.
Andy Parker is owner and head brewer at award-winning Berkshire-based Elusive Brewing and was named the British Guild of Beer Writers Brewer of the Year in 2022. He co-authored CAMRA’s Essential Home Brewing book and champions the vibrant British homebrewing scene from where his love of beer and brewing developed. This September, his latest book The Modern Homebrewer is published. Co-authored with Jamil Zainasheff, it’s a hands-on, practical guide to the most modern and up-to-date home brewing ingredients, equipment, and processes. The new book will equip both novices and the most experienced brewers with the skills they need to produce professional quality beer at home.
On a final note, in 2021 we were lucky enough to win a tender in Sweden for a Rye IPA, which turned out to be a rebrew of Rye Member Me. It’s a moment that will always remind me that bad things do happen but it’s how you deal with them and move forward that makes you who you are.
Ludlow Brewing Co. commissioned their first solar PV system in 2021. A year later they doubled the size of it. And then they doubled it again.
At CleanEarth we’ve been working with them since their first foray into solar generation, and have brought their installed capacity up to 120 kW. They are now generating their own clean electricity at less than 4p per kWh. That’s a small fraction of what they were paying for power from the grid.
With cost savings like that – and with more than 20 tonnes of carbon kept out of the atmosphere every year – it’s no surprise they keep coming back for more.
“Solar power is the cornerstone of our sustainability strategy. CleanEarth have been instrumental in future-proofing the brewery’s energy infrastructure, to help us create long-term operational e iciency and reduce emissions and costs.”
Gary Walters Managing Director, LudlowHere are some of the other breweries we’ve worked with:
• Goodh Brewing Co.
• Le Handed Giant
• Moor Beer Co.
• Keltek Brewery
• Verdant Brewing Co.
• Wiper & True
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Create super pale beers that allow your hop and fruit flavours to sing. This malt also pairs exceptionally well with crystal malts in making vibrantly coloured ales as the super low colour allows the red, amber and orange hues to shine through. Contact the Muntons sales team to find out more.
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