As a brewer, you want to make sure your customers get the optimum experience when they order your beer in a bar. One of the most important aspects of that experience is, of course, the quality of the beer. After all, beer should be drunk as the brewmaster has intended it: brewery-fresh. But, how do you make sure the quality of the beer does not get affected during transport or storage? In this blog, I explain which factors have the largest influence on the quality of beer and how you can optimize your transport and storage accordingly.

High quality, brewery-fresh beer

More and more breweries are advertising with “brewery-fresh beer”. But what makes beer “brewery-fresh”? And can you serve brewery-fresh beer outside your brewery? Brewery-fresh beer is, of course, beer that is served directly from the lager tank in the brewery. Here the taste of the beer is exactly as the brewmaster has intended it. Or, in other words: it is the best possible quality beer can have.

Ideally, you would want to serve brewery-fresh beer outside of the brewery too. However, to be able to serve it outside of the brewery, you need to preserve the taste of brewery-fresh beer all the way from the brewery to the bar. To make this possible, storage, packaging, transport and dispensing method all need to be chosen carefully.

What are the factors that affect high quality, brewery-fresh beer?

Packaging has a significant influence on the way beer is stored, transported and dispensed. In order to serve brewery-fresh beer in a bar, you will need to select the type of packaging that best supports you in preserving your beer during transport and while in storage. But what factors affect brewery-fresh beer?

Light

Light has a large effect on the quality of the beer. When beer is exposed to light during transportation or storage, the quality of the beer diminishes. For that reason, most packaging methods protect beer from light. There are a few exceptions, however, such as bottles and one-way kegs. The one-way keg is different because it makes use of the bag-in-keg technology, which uses an aluminium coated inner-bag which shields the beer from the light.

Temperature

A constant temperature gives beer — and especially its taste — a huge advantage. However, at the same time, maintaining a constant temperature during transport and storage is one of the biggest challenges, as it is dependent on the total logistical channel from the brewery to the glass. In order to perfectly maintain the beer’s taste, the package needs to be cooled at all times, which means the whole logistical channel needs to be controlled.

Oxygen

Also oxygen has a large influence on There are two ways for oxygen to penetrate into the beer: air can remain in the packaging during filling or oxygen can migrate during storage. The amount of oxygen that remains in the packaging during filling depends on the shape and size of the package.
Kegs are prefilled with CO² to drive air out of the keg. Cans are flushed with CO² during canning and filling, but a lot of CO² is needed to minimize the amount of air inside the can. The one-way keg does not need CO² during filling, since during this process counter pressure is created by adding compressed air to the outside of the outside of the bag (which is inside the keg). In a 0,5 litre bottle, a bottle cap can migrate 1.5 mg per litre in half a year. Stainless steel kegs and cans have the best oxygen barrier.

The right serving conditions of brewery-fresh beer

Besides packaging, the way beer is poured into the glass also contributes to its taste and appearance. If you pour beer into a glass from a can or a bottle, you only need to make sure the glass is clean and the can or bottle is the right temperature. And, of course, you need to pour it correctly.
Draught beer is different. Here the installation and type of packaging makes a big difference. Maintaining clear lines is one of the most important factors with draught beer. If an installation is not well maintained, this will affect the taste of the beer dramatically.

Besides that, the cooling installation also needs to be considered. Not only the kegs and tanks need to be cooled, but also the beer lines and tap columns. Beer pythons have been developed for this purpose. These are insulated beer lines packed together with a cooling line. This cooling line is connected to the beer cooler and a cooling pump makes sure that the beer lines are kept cool.

How to serve brewery fresh beer in any pub

Besides packaging and storage, there are several other factors that influence the overall quality of the beer you serve in a bar. To support you in serving the best possible version of your beer, I have summarised all factors that affect brewery fresh beer in a whitepaper. I hope it will be your guide while optimizing your beer quality. Download your copy of the Brewery Fresh Beer Whitepaper here.