For growing breweries, inventory management, workflow efficiency, COGS tracking, and making sure you’re getting the best ROI are incredibly important. While it’s possible to manage all of these things on your own using spreadsheets and Google Docs, utilizing brewery software to keep track of your data can be vital. Brewery software can save you time and money and can help you brew a more consistent and fresh product.
Brewery software aids brewing teams in overseeing the brewing process from grain to glass. Software plays a pivotal role in ensuring production efficiency and lets beer makers get back to the fun parts of brewing so you can get back to creating new recipes and taste testing.
But brewery software comes in all different shapes and sizes and differentiating between them can be difficult if you’re just starting out. Oftentimes, a brewery software will target one aspect of the brewing lifecycle and stop there. For example, some software companies may focus on inventory, sales, and accounting with features that help you keep track of your cost of goods sold (COGS), while others help with tax reporting and compliance needs, and only a few software options have features that help manage the production and quality control processes that go along with brewing beer.
With Beer30 you can find all of these features under one roof so you can manage the entire brewing process from start to finish all in one place. Beer30 is also the most modular brewery management software on the market, meaning you can add features over time as your business needs change, and only pay for what you need in the meantime.
With Beer30 you can:
See our full bundles and features list to learn more.
Spreadsheets have been the old standby for years – but let’s face it, they get messy real quick.
Depending on what brewery software you choose, you could get an all-in-one solution that replaces ALL spreadsheets at the brewery, or a partial solution that still requires some spreadsheets (and paper logs) to manage parts of your process
If you’re looking to replace all of your spreadsheets and have everything organized in one place, Beer30 is the way to go.
With Beer30 software, you can bid farewell to the endless scrolling and searching for different sheets. You’ll have a single source of truth for all of your documents and It lets you keep a digital eye on everything and keep all of your data organized.
Spreadsheets can generate reports, but it's not their strong suit. Beer30, on the other hand, takes your data and spins it into gold – insightful reports that give you a bird's-eye view of your brewery's performance.
Not only does Beer30 give you priceless insight to what’s going on, you can also easily keep track of every step of the brewing process. Log every step, every measurement, and every tweak. So, when that imperial stout ends up a tad too bitter, you can trace back to the hop addition that got a bit too enthusiastic.
Finding the brewery management software that’s right for you and your brewery can be overwhelming. There are a lot of options out there and it’s hard to know which ones fit your needs. Some of the more popular ones include: Beer30, Ekos, Ollie, and Orchestrated Beer just to name a few.
So how do you know which one is right for you?
Well, it’s important to do your due diligence. Other than looking at the company website, review sites like G2.com are a good place to start, but if you really want to find out what other brewers are saying, you should look at places like the Reddit community r/TheBrewery or Facebook groups like Craft Beer Professionals. Communities like these will give good insight into what other brewers have experienced.
You’ll also want to look at what you’re getting with each software.
The Beer30 Difference
For us at Beer30, we pride ourselves on being beer nerds.
Part of the Beer30 difference is that our team is made up almost entirely of former brewers and this shows through in our product. The Beer30 Core System is beer-focused with brewery-specific features you may not get with other software like recipe management, yeast genealogy, and the brew-to-package process to help you streamline your production process.
Beer30 also acts as your path to profitable growth with the industry's most accurate COGS. Our cost of goods sold calculations will help you accurately manage your margins, adjust to change, and drive profitable growth. Streamline your sales workflow to save time, easily manage accounts, and make sure you never miss a sale.
While other software may only cover a few reports, Beer30 is your one-stop shop for tax compliance, reporting, and insights. Having powerful reports that cover all aspects of the brewing process, gives you full insight into what’s going on in your brewery so you can make data-driven decisions for your sales strategy.
With Beer30 you’ll also be getting industry-leading support with fast response times (77% of tickets answered within 30 minutes) and unlimited training over WhatsApp and Zoom, all at no added cost.
To see all of the ways that Beer30 distinguishes itself from the competition, check out The Beer30 Difference.
Once you’ve done your due diligence, it’s time to pick your top choices and book a demo of the software you’re interested in. If you’re interested in booking a demo with Beer30, you’ll get a free sandbox trial of the software before you make your decision.
For most brewers, having a solid brewery management software is a great place to start, but depending on your personal needs, you may want to stack your software with a few other applications to really get your brewery running like a well-oiled machine.
Here are a few other add-ons you may want to consider:
Accounting Software
Keeping your finances in check is like the not-so-secret sauce for any successful business, including your brewery. The right software can help you keep tabs on expenses, revenue, and inventory costs, all while doing the math on payroll and taxes automatically. That means no more late nights scratching your head over spreadsheets, plus it keeps everything legit, saving you time and steering clear of those nasty financial mishaps.
Our recommendations:
Sales, CRM, and Payment Collection
Everyone wants to sell more beer, but the sales process can sometimes be cumbersome. Good sales management software can help take the load off. This means your orders, invoices, and payments all glide in effortlessly, sparing you from any unnecessary stress. The result? A quicker cash flow, less paperwork, and a much smoother sales experience.
Our recommendations:
Fermentation & Brewery Monitoring
Fermentation is arguably the most important aspect of brewing beer. Brewery software can team up with high-tech monitoring gadgets to give you real-time updates on things like temperature and pressure during fermentation. It's like having a brewmaster's eye 24/7. With the right setup, you can keep your beer's quality and flavor in tip-top shape.
Our recommendations:
Brewery management software can be extremely helpful to manage your day-to-day operations and get a full understanding of what’s really going on at your brewery. Finding the right software that integrates production and business operations can give brewery owners a more efficient workflow. The choice of software will ultimately depend on the scale of your brewery and the needs of your business.
For breweries looking to find out more about the functionalities we offer at Beer30, we invite you to schedule a demo. Book a demo today and you’ll get a free sandbox trial of the software.
Our Customer Experience team works hard to make sure our customers have the support that they need. We wanted to take a moment to introduce the team for those of you who may not know them already.
So, what sets us apart and makes The 5th Ingredient’s Customer Experience (CX) team an industry leader in the Brewery Management Software space?
We’re hose draggers, valve turners, brewery managers, and community builders! We’ve donned boots and goggles for 3:30 a.m. mash-ins, worked canning lines, underlet stuck mashes, managed inventory, filed taxes, and set production schedules. We know the challenges you face because we’ve faced them. Our respect and gratitude for the work that you do comes from a place of experience. That makes us uniquely suited and motivated to help you overcome your challenges and find solutions so that you can Brew More and Brew Better with Beer30.
 CX Specialist Rachel connects her Knockout line at Oozelfinch Beers and Blending |  CX Specialist Lindsy hard at work on an early morning shift at Stomping Ground brewery |  Sr. CX Specialist Dave, prepping brinks for a yeast harvest at 49th State Brewing Company |  Head of CX Gabi Swider along with the Pink Boots Las Vegas crew host Lisa White of White Labs |
Lindsy Greig is our Australian-based CX Specialist. Lindsy’s love of beer first took her to New Zealand in 2016 to manage a craft beer bar before making her way to Australia in 2018, where she spent five years at Stomping Ground Brewery in Melbourne working her way to Cellar Lead and Senior Brewer. She is a Certified Cicerone and National Coordinator of the Australian Chapter of Pink Boots Society.
One of Lindsy’s favorite memories from working in the beer industry was meeting Dr. Ron Beatson, the man behind Nelson Sauvin and so many other incredible New Zealand hops.
“I moved to New Zealand in 2016 knowing little about the country EXCEPT it was the home of Nelson Sauvin hops (#beernerd). By early 2017, I was visiting the facilities at NZ Plant & Food Research and got to participate in a hop rub of new varietals with Dr. Ron who at one point jokingly told me that I should take his job. Joke or no, that moment gave me confidence in my sensory abilities - especially when it comes to identifying hop aromas and flavours compounds. I recently ran into Dr. Ron in New Zealand (while there with The 5th Ingredient for Brew NZ) and he remembered me from that hop session 7 years ago.”
Rachel Howard is our East Coast-based CX Specialist. Before joining T5I Rachel spent six years at Oozelfinch Brewery in Hampton, VA, working her way up from Lab Tech to Head Brewer, and eventually to Chief Operating Officer. At Oozelfinch, Rachel was also a customer of Beer30’s. Rachel’s experience as a Beer30 customer, combined with her time developing brewery lab programs, running packaging lines, and heading brewing operations make her extraordinarily well-suited to helping you through any challenges you face.
Among Rachel’s favorite memories in the brewing industry is traveling with her production and management team to a blueberry farm in North Carolina where the team spent the day hand picking blueberries for a future barrel-aged sour blend release.
David Short is our Alaskan-based Sr. CX Specialist. Dave is certified in brewing technology through the Siebel Institute of Technology, a Certified Cicerone, and joined the team after more than a decade in the brewing industry working every role on the production floor and as a Brewmaster and Production Manager.
“One of my favorite memories in my time in brewing came just after we won a Gold Medal at World Beer Cup in 2018 for our Smoked Marzen. A few months later a couple of us from the brewery had the opportunity to travel to Bamberg, Germany and visit the iconic Schlenkerla Brewery, who I still hold as the best smoked beer brewery in the world. We were able to take a private tour with their recently retired Brewmaster, Martin Knab. Touring the cave cellars and having Martin pour us all varieties of rauchbier off the lagering tanks was something I’ll never forget.”
Gabi Swider is our West Coast-based Head of Customer Experience. Gabi brings a unique and important perspective to our team with a Master’s Degree in public policy and a passion for community building. While leading customer-focused teams for technology companies professionally, she joined the beer world at the grassroots level, spending time homebrewing and beer blogging. In 2019, she used her public policy background to help push forward a critical bill for Texas craft breweries
“In 2019, I was working at several different breweries in Austin, TX while the Texas Craft Brewers Guild was championing their "Beer-to-Go" bill pushing Texas to become the final state in the country to legalize take-home sales from manufacturing breweries. Since I'm very passionate about both public policy and craft beer, I really enjoyed getting to tell our brewery patrons about the bill, and rallying the local tech scene to support the bill via a statewide hackathon project to support the Guild's lobbying efforts. When Beer-to-go sales from Texas' manufacturing craft breweries became legal on September 1, 2019, it was a huge victory for the community I'd grown to love, and I'm proud to have been able to contribute a small part to making that happen.”
To Learn more about our CX team, visit our Team page.
Responding to customer questions and feedback is a large part of what we do, but providing a great Customer Experience goes beyond answering emails and WhatsApp messages. Our team spends much of their time:
Part of being the industry leader in Customer Experience isn’t just what you bring to the table, but when you bring your expertise to the table. In our case, that is pretty much at all times. Our remote team coordinates to strategize and collaborate through Daily Stand Up Meetings, but predominantly we work independently in order to let our remote work culture be a strength for our customers as we cover time zones from around the globe.
Lindsy comes online in the morning in Melbourne, Australia allowing her to provide primary support to Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asia. She is also able to provide morning support for our European breweries and afternoon support for our West Coast North American Customers.
Rachel comes online in the morning in Virginia providing primary support to our East Coast and Central North American Time Zones, as well as Central America and any late afternoon support needed in Europe.
With Gabi on the West Coast and Dave in Alaska, we are able to provide primary support for our West Coast and Mountain Time zone customers, as well as the early morning hours for Australia and New Zealand.
Being a remote company is not just a nice perk for T5I employees, it is also a unique advantage for our customers and helps make us an industry leader. Having CX Specialists located across the globe allows us to find solutions for you when you need them.
If you're not a 5th Ingredient customer and want to learn more about Beer30 or Bucha30 brewery software please book a demo and find out more about how you can get great support from our CX team!
At The 5th Ingredient, we’re proud to announce the release of Version 10 of Beer30 and Bucha30 Software. This update represents a major milestone in the ongoing development of the software, offering breweries a range of fully customizable features. With Version 10, breweries can now take advantage of the Demand Planning Module and KPI Scorecards, empowering them to streamline operations, optimize production, and maximize profitability.
The new Demand Planning module is a game-changer for breweries, providing enhanced planning and coordination between Sales, Purchasing, and Production. By delivering the freshest product precisely when the sales team needs it, this module helps breweries reduce their cost of goods and improve overall efficiency.
Key Benefits of the Demand Planning Module:
Zach Volkman, Head of Revenue Operations at The 5th Ingredient and former COO of O’Connor Brewing Company, shared his experience: "Our management team spent hours every week trying to keep production plans and sales forecasts aligned across multiple flagship beers, rotating seasonals, and tons of packaging formats, all while trying to factor in seasonality and trends in the market. Despite our efforts and multiple spreadsheets, we often missed the mark. Whether it was missed sales or expired beer down the drain, underproduction and overproduction were both huge problems. Beer30 and the new Demand Planning module was the missing link."
The Version 10 update also introduces KPI Scorecards, providing brewery managers with instant visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs) to keep their teams on track and improve overall performance.
Key Benefits of KPI Scorecards:
Pulkit K. Agrawal (PKA), Founder & CEO of The 5th Ingredient, explains the significance of KPI Scorecards: "The KPI Scorecard is letting brewery owners finally take their hundreds of data points in Beer30 and get a customizable dashboard to help them improve their performance and efficiency. One of the main reasons I began this company and launched the Beer30 software was to provide these data points to brewers at their fingertips."
Beer30 and Bucha30 Software Version 10 marks a major step forward in brewing software technology. With the Demand Planning Module and KPI Scorecards, breweries can streamline their operations, reduce costs, and achieve optimal efficiency. The fully customizable nature of the software allows breweries to tailor the features to their specific needs and goals, ensuring they get the most out of the software.
These features paired with improved COGS tracking, reporting, and quality control make Beer30 the best brewery management software to drive ROI, and to help you brew more and brew better.
Book a demo to find out more today!
When it comes to being a business owner, there’s probably no term that’s more important than ROI (return on investment). Your ROI is a key performance indicator on how profitable your brewery is, and if you want to be successful then a major key to that is being profitable. Naturally, with profitability being such a major factor in a brewery’s lifespan, brewery owners spend a lot of time searching for ways to drive their brewery’s ROI.
At The 5th Ingredient, we want breweries to be successful - which is why we created Beer30 brewery management software. From material resource planning to process optimization and beyond, our software is designed to drive brewery ROI. Here’s how.
For starters, Beer30 software helps breweries with process optimization. Brewers can track, chart and quickly identify variances, opportunities for improvement, and problem areas in: brewhouse efficiency, filtration/transfer yield and packaging yield. This helps improve and control brew to package yield, which results in increased output per batch and reduced COGS per BBL / L / HL.
Brewers also have the ability to analyze and understand key fermentation metrics and establish optimal cellar schedules. They are able to compare trends across batches and recipe variations including: daily gravity, daily pH, temperature, VDK, and more. This leads to a minimization of tank turn time, which results in increased overall fermentation cellar capacity and also eliminates the need for further capital investment in tanks.
Beer30 also captures critical quality control data check points, with real time brewing feedback and sign-offs at every step of the process. Brewers use Beer30 to identify and mitigate costly production mistakes and issues before they move further down the process and consume additional resources such as materials, time, and tank space. The software features real time proactive notifications for brewing (red / yellow / green) which allows the Head Brewer to be notified if a brew is out of specification. This gives them the ability to intervene immediately and potentially save a batch before it moves too far along in the process.
In addition, Beer30 tracks yeast pitch, harvest, and propagation data and yeast genealogy from batch to batch. Using Beer30, brewers can easily develop a yeast management program to maximize repitching generations and minimize fresh pitch costs. Simultaneously, brewers can identify fermentation issues, such as lagging fermentation or under-attenuation, and proactively phase out a problematic yeast strain to prevent issues in subsequent batches.
Need help with inventory management and/or material resource planning? Say no more. With Beer30, brewers can use MRP to develop just-in-time purchasing processes for raw materials and packaging supplies. This results in: minimized cash and warehouse space tied up in excess inventory, minimized losses due to expiration of raw materials, and minimized losses due to obsolescence of packaging materials from phased-out or seasonal brands.
In addition, with Beer30’s real-time inventory visibility and future inventory forecasting, brewers can make accurate purchasing decisions to ensure operations run smoothly while keeping cash flow in check.
Another area in which our software can help improve your brewery’s ROI is with Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). Beer30 offers access to exact COGS for each brand and pack type, which allows brewers to gain visibility into profitability of each SKU that the brewery sells. Brewers can identify individual SKUs with high costs and opportunities to reduce cost with recipe optimization and adjust prices to ensure an attractive margin. By tracking COGS from batch to batch, Beer30 can be used to identify shifts in COGS over time and adapt your purchasing, operations, or pricing strategies.
As the old saying goes: “time is money.” Beer30 can help breweries save time in a variety of ways including:
Last but most definitely not least, our brewery management software can help with sales and distribution. With real-time brewery inventory that is easily accessible and mobile friendly, your Sales Team members will know exactly what and when beers are available. This means that your team: will never miss a sales opportunity due to unclear inventory availability or production timeline, can minimize overcommitments and confidently work through backorders when they occur, and have smooth transitions between seasonal or limited release brands.
At the end of the day, our goal is to help your brewery become as successful as possible. Our software was built for brewers, by brewers - so we really nail down the pain points that breweries face. If you’ve been searching for an all-in-one brewery software management system that will help you save time, increase profits and brew better beer, then schedule a Beer30 demo today!
Chances are you’ve heard about MRP (material resource planning.) For those who haven't, MRP is a game changer! It works by taking a brewery's current inventory, all planned purchase orders, and all planned production, then based on the recipes for planned production, it automatically calculates future inventory for all raw materials and packaging items. From there, it automatically creates suggested purchase orders based on item lead times.
In short, material resource planning takes one hundred percent of the effort out of the process of figuring out when brewers need to buy things to hit production.
Because automated inventory forecasting and suggested orders makes it simple to prevent running out of either raw materials or packaging supplies. This can help you avoid an array of bad outcomes such as running out of either raw materials or packaging supplies. Keep reading to find out more.
This one may seem obvious, but each day that you're out of a finished product that is in high demand by your accounts or distributors, is another day of lost revenue. A loss of income spirals further out, if, while out of product, shelf/cooler space and/or tap handle placements at bars and retailers are replaced with competitive brewery brands.
The landscape is so competitive right now that retailers won't deal with empty shelves. Especially large retailers like grocery stores and liquor chains. There’s a chance they will replace your brewery’s products with competitive products despite your product being in demand. Further costs can then be incurred as your sales and marketing teams have to win back placements that used to belong to you.
Failure to properly plan and forecast production can lead to increased shipping costs as you have to expedite shipping. Simply put, faster shipping costs more. Further costs could be incurred as improperly forecasted orders can cause brewers to have to order partial pallets and partial container loads of raw materials.
Quality loss and inconsistencies can occur if the incorrect raw materials are on hand. Instead of halting production until the correct materials are on hand, a brewery may decide to substitute ingredients in. This could sacrifice recipe quality or create inconsistencies from batch to batch.
There can also be a secondary level of fallout on a personal level as your wholesale customer and retail accounts trust you less to be able to provide product consistently. Your operations team can also suffer from frustration as scheduling delays, cancellations, and other inefficiencies occur.
As soon as you lose the trust of the quality of your beer, you’re dealing with an uphill battle to regain that trust – which could have been prevented if you had the proper raw materials in the first place!
Dave Short is a Customer Experience Specialist with The 5th Ingredient. Formerly Dave was Brewmaster and Production Manager with 49th State Brewing Company in Anchorage, AK. Here is Dave’s experience with material resource planning:
“As the production manager it was really all about keeping us on schedule and just maximizing the amount of beer we could put out. I had two brew pubs and we were building out a third production facility. We actually had, not only the busiest brewpub in the state, but the busiest restaurant in the state of Alaska. So we went through a massive amount of draft beer just at one of our locations and quite a bit at our second location as well.”
“And by mistakes I mean like running out of ingredients or raw materials. Not only did this include items like grains, hops, or adjuncts, but also bottles, bottle caps, brand specific labels for our brands. If we had one minor slip up in the summer it would cause us to be out of a beer on the shelves. And that was a major, major problem because it was an income loss for us.”
“Having an MRP tool like what Beer30 offers is such a massive time-saver. For starters, fewer mistakes are made. But it also makes all the information available in one place versus having to collect hand counts and trying to map them up with my purchase orders, then looking separately in the brew schedule, and trying to create Gantt charts. I did all of that manually and was learning to be successful at it, but it was a challenge.”
Zach Volkman is the Head of Revenue Operations for The 5th Ingredient. Formerly Zach was Chief Operating Officer of O'Connor Brewing Company in Norfolk, VA, and prior to that, was a Process Engineer at Ballast Point Brewing, in San Diego, CA.
“At my previous job, I ran our purchasing of packaging materials for about six months, using nothing other than spreadsheets and a Google calendar. At the time, we were bottling, canning and kegging five days a week. I would say, at times, I was spending at least 10 hours a week manually calculating and trying to forecast out exactly what my consumption rate was going to be on every single item. Then I was trying to stay ahead of four to eight week lead times, especially for printed boxes and items like that. Not to mention, we're trying to buy it in bulk to hit price points.”
“And then all of a sudden you're tying up a bright tank. You can't even necessarily filter the next beer or switch to something else. From there, it’s just a cascading effect that could be a total headache. I couldn't agree more that MRP was a huge motivation to go for craft brewery software. One thing I like most about Beer30 is that it has a lead time feature with suggested purchase orders.”
When used correctly, the MRP tool in Beer30 can be a major game-changer for your brewery. It’s important to keep in mind that MRP is only as good as a couple of things. It's as good as your real inventory count, production plan and as your lead time from your vendors. Therefore it’s important to do the following for accurate results:
Beer30 was built for brewers by brewers. Due to our team’s decades of experience in the brewing industry, we know firsthand the pain points breweries face with inventory management. So, when designing Beer30’s MRP features it was important for us to address those issues.
One thing that sets our MRP module apart is the fact that brewer’s have the recipe in Beer30 and can easily track substitutions. This helps breweries keep their inventory accurate and remain prepared. In addition, another big one that helps MRP run smoothly with Beer30 is that cellar activities are also included within the recipe. So any dry hopping, cellar additions, adjuncts like pineapple or mangoes, cold side changes, or packaging gets factored in as well. Last but not least, Beer30 offers suggestive ordering by automatically calculating when and how much of an item to purchase.
If your brewery has been struggling with material resource planning, Beer30 could be your knight in shining armor! Schedule a demo today to learn how our craft brewery software could help you brew more and brew better.
You’ve put all of the effort into crafting the perfect brew. So, you may as well make sure you’re serving it properly to achieve the ideal drinking experience. After all, craft beer serving temperature is important to make sure that the beer isn’t too flat and the flavor still comes through the way you want it to.
Most people are aware enough to know that a hot beer left out in the sun all day won’t taste its best. But the effect of temperature on beer doesn’t have to be as extreme to make a difference.
As craft brewers, you know that temperature control is a crucial aspect of the fermentation process that can alter the flavor of a beer significantly. A similar element is at play when serving a craft beer, though admittedly on a much smaller scale. The serving temperature of a beer (depending on the type) can influence the activation of certain flavors and aromatics in the beer.
Generally speaking, the colder the beer is served the less nuance you can taste when it comes to flavor. That’s because at a certain point cold temperatures suppress flavor in our taste buds. When it comes to beer, serving certain brews at too low of a temperature can affect the release of some flavors and aromatic elements of the beer.
Even though there’s no “one temperature fits all” guide for craft beer serving temperatures, craft brewers benefit from a small variation in temperature range.
The majority of craft beers will ideally be served in the 40°-55° F temperature range. The only beers that should be served at lower temperatures than 40° F are mass market American Light Lagers. While these can be refreshing beers because of the icy cold serving temperature, they are also light on flavor. In that way, the colder temperature enhances the drinking experience because it adds a layer of sensation to what otherwise would be a light, potentially flavorless beer.
As a general rule of thumb for craft beer serving temperature, the stronger and darker the beer, the higher the serving temperature.
| Craft Beer Type | Serving Temperature Range | |
| American Light Lagers | 33° – 40° F | |
| Pale Lagers, Pilsners | 38° – 45° F | |
| Blond Ale, Cream Ale | 40° – 45° F | |
| Nitro Stouts | 40° – 45° F | |
| Belgian Pale Ales, Abbey Tripels | 40° – 45° F | |
| Wheat Beers, Lambics | 40° – 50° F | |
| Dark Lagers | 45° – 50° F | |
| IPAs, American Pale Ales | 45° – 50° F | |
| Stouts, Porters | 45° – 55° F | |
| Real Ales, Cask Ales | 50° – 55° F | |
| Belgian Dubbels, Tripels, & Quads | 50° – 55° F |
The chart above can be a handy quick reference guide for serving your craft beer. There are some other considerations to keep in mind for an ideal drinking experience.
You want to account for the loss of temperature when pouring the beer into the room temperature glass as well as the transfer of heat from someone’s hands when holding the glass after being served. Sure, this may seem a bit nit-picky, but if you serve your beer one degree cooler than its ideal temperature, you’ll compensate for the heat transfer and loss of cold pretty easily.
If you’re running a draft system, the default temperature of most is 38° F. Keep this in mind when operating and maintaining a draft system. While this is an acceptable temperature point for lighter lagers, pilsners, wheat beers, and even Belgian ales, it may be too cold for heavier and darker beers like IPAs and stouts.
At this point, we’ve covered why you want to avoid serving darker, more layered craft beers at overly cold temperatures. However, that doesn’t mean that you want them at room temperature.
When it comes to light beer, serving it too warm will lead to an unpleasant experience because there’s not much flavor there to enjoy.
Darker beers shine when they’re served in the 45° – 55° F temperature range. This allows for the drinker to experience the full palette of flavor in balance with the bitterness of the hops. If the beer becomes any warmer than that, it can actually lose its hoppiness as well as its carbonation. In short, it becomes flat.
Craft beer serving temperature impacts the flavor and carbonation of beer. These are both a huge part of the drinking experience! Serving a beer below or above its recommended temperature range can lead to flavor loss and the beer becoming flat for different reasons.
Of course, each craft beer has its own unique properties and flavor profiles. Before serving your brew, try drinking it at the low and high range of ideal temperatures to see which one is more enjoyable. Ultimately, a degree here or there will only matter to very experienced beer enthusiasts. The key to finding the best temperature for beer is making sure that you’re in the ten degree range recommended for a given type of beer.
Beer30 brewery management software was designed for brewers by brewers. The goal of our software is to help brewers save time, increase profits and brew better beer. Learn how to perfect your craft with our software.
There is no denying that 2021 was an interesting year that followed an even more interesting 2020. It has had massive and above all, devastating effects on the craft beer industry. Although, far fewer breweries have ended up closing than initially predicted.
But we are happy to announce that it hasn’t all been bad news in the brewing industry. Many breweries have adapted and transitioned to new ways of doing business. They have increased their outdoor space and changed how their brews are consumed.
From the low and non-alcoholic beers to the smoothie beers, the industry is used to changing and chasing trends. With about 9,000 breweries in just the US, it's nearly impossible to keep up!
This is true unless you’re committed to continually tasting an unending number of flavors and styles. Luckily, the brewery industry is very much committed to growing, changing, and bringing new flavors and types of beer to your tastebuds.
Here are a few popular beer trends that are likely to remain more popular than ever this year.
Beer drinkers are now asking for lower alcohol or non-alcoholic beers. Whether this choice is driven by people who are wanting to maintain an active or athletic lifestyle, or those who think that it is a healthier choice, we can definitely expect to see more breweries making these brews.
Gluten-free beers are becoming more common as well. Breweries have experimented a lot with this in the past. But now they have been able to figure out how to make low and no-alcohol beer that actually tastes like beer. Better yet, it tastes really good!
Removing alcohol from beer has very much been seen as a way of stripping beer of its best asset- flavor. While other non-alcoholic brands may have failed to make a non-alcoholic beer that tastes like beer, there is now a huge range of non-alcoholic beer offerings that have raised the bar.
Now, there is even a huge range of flavors such as fruited sours, coconut stouts and hazy IPAs. The flavor of these beers is able to rival the alcohol-filled cans. Plus, the beer is now able to be fully brewed and fermented like normal before the alcohol is removed.
While the market for this type of beer was small, more breweries are now beginning to offer this option. It is certainly expected to increase in popularity over the next few years as we provoke a healthier society.
The rise of the seltzers has been no joke. In fact, sweet and fruity hard seltzers continue to rise in popularity. While this isn’t technically beer, many breweries are now making their own unique versions of seltzer to stay competitive in the market.
Previous trends show that there is always at least one sweeter alternative alcoholic beverage that is trendy. However, it is expected that seltzer will continue to sit on this throne for a long time to come.
Now, we get to take a look at a very popular creation that is rising up the ranks, fruity beer smoothies and beer ice cream! There is a huge chance that you live by at least one brewery that is making a fruity beer smoothie, push pop, sundae or other similarly named beer style. These beers are usually packed full of delicious, sweet adjuncts such as:
The wide array of flavors and colors in fruity beer smoothies and ice creams have quickly become popular in the beer world. Some breweries are even building their brand on the trending style.
The tides have changed in terms of craft lagers. While lager is one of the most brewed and consumed beer styles on the planet, it has a reputation for being considered boring by some craft lovers. So, hearing the words craft lager in the same sentence was a tad taboo - until now! Craft lagers are swiftly rising from the ashes and boasting in popularity in breweries everywhere.
There used to be a notion that Russian imperial stouts and barrel-aged stouts had to be relegated to colder months. Nowadays, this is no longer the case. Plenty of breweries around America are now releasing barrel-aged stouts year-round.
Better yet, they are packed with flavors thanks to a syrupy, thicker, stout base that evolves as it pulls flavors from the rum or bourbon barrels. Adjuncts such as vanilla beans, coconut and coffee are also added for full flavor. Barrel-aged stout is one of the beer trends that is expected to remain popular for a long time.
At The 5th Ingredient, we are passionate about craft beer and helping breweries. In our mission to help brewers brew more and brew better beer, we developed Beer30. Beer30 is all-in-one brewery management software designed for brewers, by brewers. Learn more about Beer30 or schedule a demo today!
It’s a common misconception that craft breweries don’t need to worry about managing cash flow. Some believe that brewers don’t have to pay high rent, large utility bills or any other bills that drive traditional businesses into financial straits. However, we know that couldn’t be further from the truth!
You still have expenses and need to pay attention to them if you want your business to stay in the black. Here are some tips on managing cash flow at your craft brewery with ease.
Consistently monitoring your cash flow is one of your most important financial responsibilities. You must assess how much money you have available, the amount of fixed and variable expenses you will face, the amount of money you will earn, and when that money is available.
Remember that even local weather and traffic can impact your craft brewery business. Plan for some wiggle room that you can fall back on if you run out of cash to avoid uncertainty.
At the very least, you should review these figures weekly. When sales are down, or expenses are up, it’s always easier to spot trends sooner rather than later. From there, you can adjust your business accordingly.
Improving your inventory control systems should be a top priority. A good rule of thumb is to keep enough items in stock to last about a month. Beyond that, you risk amassing a large amount of excess inventory, which can be detrimental to your business. Here are a few reasons why you don’t want excess inventory:
One of the most frequent mistakes brewers make when managing cash flow is not accepting various forms of payment. While it’s possible to have your primary point-of-sale register set up for cash only, customers won’t appreciate being turned away and will likely take their business elsewhere.
Keep your patrons happy by accepting credit cards, which are generally easier and more convenient than paying with cash. You can also consider offering other ways to pay, such as mobile apps or gift cards.
These options allow you to receive payment in advance, giving you a better chance of managing cash flow daily.
The old cliché “cash is king” still holds when running and expanding a brewery. Cash reserves above and beyond those required for day-to-day operations should be seen as capital that can be utilized to fund expansion or reinvestment in the brewery.
Make sure that you have a clear idea of how much operating cash you will need to run your brewery before considering cash versus credit.
Both can impact your bottom line, whether you’re short on cash or short on credit. It’s essential to know how much cash is coming in and when and how much inventory you have (and when it will be gone).
This way, you can tell if you need to keep an eye out for sales or expand your client base to bring in extra cash. If you’re too far in debt and struggle to make payments, work with a lender to get organized.
When it comes to managing cash flow at your craft brewery, cost of goods (COGS) are vital. COGS are considered the raw material ingredients and packaging material costs that go into making each batch of beer. You should review your cost of goods for every batch and check for any changes or trends over time. From there, you can make pricing decisions based on COGS to ensure that each batch of beer makes a healthy gross profit margin.
When determining how to fund development, it’s essential to consider the debt you already have and how much you’re comfortable adding to it. A small business’s credit rating will suffer if it takes on more obligations. Nobody wants that!
Not to mention, your ability to acquire a loan and get favorable conditions will be influenced by your current debt and other financial and business factors.
Credit may be the best option if you have a manageable level of debt and can get a line of credit at a reasonable interest rate. Even if you or your lender is concerned about your debt, it may be best to create the discipline of utilizing cash to support your company’s expansion carefully.
Cash flow is a significant issue for small business owners, including proprietors of small craft breweries. If you don’t handle your operating costs and cash flow, in general, well, they might eat away at your profits before you know what happened.
However, the mentioned brewery cash flow management tips can help you stay on top of cash flow to know where and when it will be coming back to you. All the above tips can work perfectly for a craft brewery. But be sure to weigh your options and go with what works for you.
Running a small business means dealing with cash flow daily. It also means finding ways to reduce your expenses and optimize income. With Beer30 brewery management software, brewers can manage cash flow by optimizing their planning and purchasing.
Hard seltzer is everywhere. Commercials, billboards, your local grocery store aisle…You name it (within reason) and there’s probably a trace of seltzer there. It’s pretty easy to state that this is a trend in the brewing industry that shouldn’t be expected to go anywhere any time soon!
As a brewer, you know the importance of standing out in a crowded market. It’s evident that brewing seltzer is one of the latest and greatest trends to hit the industry. With so much competition how can you diversify? Well, we’re here to help.
Here’s how you can take your brewery to the next level by using these brewing techniques for seltzer and ways to market your new product lines.
Luckily, as an established brewer in your market, you have all the tools you already need to make hard seltzer. The two main ingredients are easy enough to find: water and sugar (either sucrose or dextrose).
The other flavors are up to you, but fruity flavors are typical during the fermenting process. For fruits, the most effective flavors come from concentrates, purees, and flavor extracts from natural sources. One reason to use flavor extracts is that they have precise ingredient labels that comply with FDA regulations.
When deciding how to make hard seltzers, planning ahead is a major key to making time for this process.
Consider starting your pilot batch during a slow time of year or when you typically sell fewer flavors of your ordinary brews. This will give you time to manage staff schedules, order ingredients and set up equipment.
Remember that your equipment may need a few days to create the batch. Also, storage bays will need extra room for two weeks while your hard seltzer ferments ahead of canning or bottling.
To can or not to can – that is the question. Cans and bottles can affect how the seltzer tastes when someone takes their first swig. Even the color of the bottle can change the flavor profile of your product.
The answer? Stick with cans or bottles you already use because they work on your existing equipment. Depending on which one you go with, you will have to adjust flavors after your test batch to see what happens after the hard seltzer sits on the shelf for several weeks.
You have two choices for brewing at the beginning.
Either one works to get your desired strength and flavor. It largely depends on how many tanks you have available for the process when you divide your brew tanks into fermentors.
One option for small breweries is to use wine yeast for fermentation because it produces fewer esters without needing to dilute the mixture.
Your water selection isn’t as critical with beer because it has more flavor elements to it. However, chlorinated tap water may throw off the flavor of hard seltzer because you have fewer chemical processes. This can make any chlorinated flavors or smell disappear on someone’s palate.
We recommend brewers consider using purified water as the liquid base. Of course it makes hard seltzer taste better. But it also allows you to alter the chemistry and physical processes more easily because pure water has very specific physical properties you can easily work with for temperature and pressure.
Malt provides many nutrients for yeast to work with your beer. However, hard seltzer doesn’t have this advantage. Brewers need to use the right yeast, and then perhaps supplement it to have it ferment completely. Consider yeast hulls and nitrogen at around 275 parts per million for extra nutrition.
Then you have to tweak aeration, temperature and pitch to see what happens and if your flavor profile or alcohol content match what you expect. If it’s too warm you get too many esters. Too cold, and the nutrients don’t work right.
Start with the yeast you already use for beer because you already know how to tweak the fermentation. If that doesn’t work, distiller’s yeast for hard liquor may do the trick.
Your pH changes as the batch ferments, just like beer. It will start around 5 and you want it to bottom out at around 3.5 to 3.1. Any lower, and it’s too acidic. Any higher, and there’s not enough zing. You can add some sodium bicarbonate to neutralize some of the acids if the taste is too strong.
Even though flavor extracts and concentrates are popular, don’t be afraid of using 100% real fruit. While the cleanup is messier, it’s a great marketing tool to say your hard seltzer has natural ingredients in it. Who doesn’t love all-natural these days?
Experiment with flavor combinations that aren’t your normal, typical, single-fruit hard seltzers. Citrus fruits and strawberries are popular. But what about star fruit, dragonfruit, papaya and the list goes on.
Beer30 brewery management software was designed for brewers by brewers. Our software puts a whole new meaning in “all-in-one” management. From scheduling tasks to yeast management to fermentation analysis to the brew process, Beer30 has your seltzer covered. Learn how you can brew more and brew better today.
Ingredients:
Brew Specs:
Brew Steps:
Fill your kettle with water and heat to 90C/194F.
Add Dextrose to a Gravity of 1.046 SG or 11.4 Plato.
Bring the wort back up to 90C/194F and hold for 20 minutes for pasteurization. Do not boil.
During the pasteurization step, add the following and mix:
Knock out wort to FV @ 18C/64F.
Pitch Lallemand EC1118 yeast at 35g/hL or 1.4oz/BBL.
On each ferment day from day 2-6 or until the Seltzer reaches 1.012 SG or 3.0 Plato, add the following into the fermenter:
Raise the Fermentation temperature to 20C/68F and wait until Final Gravity is reached.
Add Citric Acid to adjust pH to 3.25.
Filter with Active Carbon, dilute (if desired) and add your flavoring.
Drink and enjoy!
This will give you a brewed Seltzer base at about 6.6% ABV. This can then be diluted with De-aerated Water to sell strength. If you do not wish to dilute, use your favorite Beer recipe formulation tool to calculate your desired Original Gravity.
Let’s talk taproom sales!
The bread and butter of your brewery is how much product you are able to sell. A brewery’s ability to generate revenue should be a key primary focus of their business.
One of the best ways to boost this is through a taproom. Taproom sales can not only improve sales but help you learn more about what interests your customers.
Now it’s unlikely that you don’t know what a taproom is. But, essentially a taproom is a space dedicated in any brewery to selling its own beer directly to consumers.
Some breweries’ sales come from wholesale distribution to retail partners. However, taprooms allow you to supplement that revenue stream with your wholly-owned space that can better illustrate the brand you want to be.
Taprooms can be as extravagant or as simple as you want them to be. Don’t think of a bar! Think more along the lines of developing a community of supporters and fans that can help generate some positive word-of-mouth about your beer.
As we mentioned before, revenue should be a key aspect of any brewery looking to make it in this competitive environment. That means that even your taproom should be looking at ways to improve their ability to sell in order to better supplement your businesses’ revenue streams.
The most clearcut way to improve taproom sales is to try to get more customers to visit your brewery to try your beer.
One of the biggest hurdles some breweries face is the lack of awareness regarding their taproom. People can’t visit if they don’t know it exists!
Start getting the word out there. This can be done through positive word-of-mouth or some more advertising through traditional and digital media. While the latter may require some investment, it’ll likely translate to some more foot traffic.
You’ve gotten more traffic through the door – that’s great! Now it’s time to get those customers to spend more. If customers are only buying one brew then dipping out, it’s likely time to get creative and come up with ways to increase their purchase.
This likely means creating sales promotions that help encourage more spending every visit, such as 2-for-1 specials or happy hour time frames. While these might feel like losing out on money due to some discount factors, the revenue comes out higher at times due to the increased volume of sales. Can you say “cha-ching?!”
Now it’s time to get your staff on board! Make sure staff are familiar with the product and know how to sell them.
It’s one thing for your staff to like your beer and be able to tell their friends about it. But when they are put in a situation where they’ll need to explain the beer to someone, how do they do?
Keep your staff well-trained by developing some simple-to-remember spiels as well as best practices. Often, taproom patrons enjoy the sense of community that comes out of a local taproom. Make sure your staff exemplifies this by trying to connect with customers in a genuine way. Think “friends” instead of “customers.”
This can lead you to learn more about what customers are enjoying about your beer as well as what can be improved with each batch. This direct feedback system is priceless for breweries looking to ace their beer!
You’ll want to consider expanding your product selection instead of just offering beer. Who doesn’t love a snack with their brew? This doesn’t mean having a fully operationalized kitchen at all times. Instead, think about offering food options that can complement what your customers are already having.
This goes hand-in-hand with your efforts in getting customers to spend more per visit by giving them the option not just to drink but to eat as well.
Entertainment is a strong factor in why any patron chooses to drink where they do. Giving your taproom customers something to do or watch while they enjoy your beer can make them feel more comfortable. This could lead to more spending and more positive word-of-mouth to friends and family.
Explore attaching TV screens to play the latest game live or host special one-off nights. Trivia night at the brewery? We’re game!
So they came, they saw, they did it all… Now it’s time to get them back in the door! This means making sure your after-sales marketing is working well in providing previous patrons incentives for coming back.
These incentives can include new product variants, new promotions or simple reminders to people to come back. Utilize free online newsletters, a social media presence, as well as an active phone line to continue connecting with the customers you have and want to grow.
A taproom is a great way to get your product directly to the consumer in a way that maintains branding and allows you to connect with each customer. However, you’ll need a brewery software like Beer30 that helps you manage your sales and inventory.
Book a Beer30 demo today to learn how our software can help you!
