Cheers to breweries in planning! As we know, there’s a LOT that goes into the beginning stages of a business. Breweries are no exception. From planning to taxes to inventory to perfecting each brew, there’s plenty of day-to-day processes that can get a bit overwhelming. With so many moving parts, brewery software like Beer30 can make the difference between an efficient, well-organized brewery and one that struggles to stay afloat. In this article, we’ll explore how management software designed for breweries can benefit those in the planning stages, helping streamline operations from the start.
That’s right! Before you’ve even opened the doors our craft beer software can help you. Keep reading to learn how.
The planning stage of any business is crucial. It takes a lot of planning to build a successful brewery brand that stands out amongst competitors. And of course, there’s a lot of those! But we know you’re more than ready to tackle this competitive market head one and come out successfully! By utilizing brewery software like Beer30 from the beginning, you can gain a competitive edge.
Here are some benefits of using a brewery management software in the planning stages of business:
Brewery management software helps you manage inventory from the first purchase order. Then, everything is in one place and easy to find. We’re here to work smarter, not harder – right? The benefit: this allows you to start your books clean from the start. In addition, having an effective inventory management software in the planning stage is great for cash flow management. More money, more problems? We disagree.
Brewery software allows you to manage your inventory seamlessly from the moment you make your first purchase order. This centralizes everything in one place, helping you stay organized and on top of your stock.
Using a brewery management software in the planning stages of your brewery can also help create a more streamlined reporting process. Beer30's brewery software manages your sales orders and inventory transfers to your tasting rooms which makes tax reporting, financial reporting, production reporting, etc easier.
Wouldn’t it be a dream if you could effectively track your brewery’s data like daily fermentation readings? With Beer30's brewery software, you can! Our goal is to help your team understand fermentation time, yeast harvesting and other processes in the cellar. You can also catalogue your recipes. This includes things like: exact quantities of raw materials, temperature, process times, etc. which help you tweak your brew over time.
Our brewery management software also allows you to centralize your data which helps the entire team remain on the same page. Having centralized data helps reduce data errors that can arise from manual duplication of data. By incorporating a brewery management software in the planning stages, you are building a brewery that operates efficiently with little to no errors. This can be the competitive edge your brewery needs to dominate the industry.
Beer30's management software gives you a high-level snapshot of all your brewery’s operations, including production, sales, inventory, and cash flow. This holistic view allows brewery owners and staff to stay informed about what needs attention and what is running smoothly. From grain to glass, brewery software like Beer30 helps you maintain visibility over every aspect of your business.
Brewery management software will also streamline internal and external communication. So, not only will your team remain informed, but so will customers and vendors. This allows customer, vendor, and team management to run smoothly.
Whether it’s financial, demand or sales and distribution forecasting, Beer30 brewery software helps with all your forecasting needs. It gives you an overview of every aspect of your operational process.
Beer30 software tracks data from grain to glass. Our ultimate goal is to help breweries focus on their quality, while also saving time and increasing profits. Basically, we want to help you become as successful as possible by helping mainstream your processes.
Starting with the right tools is essential for any business, and this holds true for breweries. Beer30’s brewery software offers features specifically designed to help new breweries streamline operations, save time, and boost profits. Here’s why breweries in planning should consider software like Beer30:
By using Beer30 from the planning stage, breweries can track data from the very beginning, allowing for better organization and operational efficiency. You’ll be able to monitor every part of your brewing process, from the raw ingredients used to the final product. This helps ensure quality and consistency as you scale your business.
Breweries in planning can start with a one-month trial of Beer30, allowing you to get familiar with the system before opening your doors. This gives you time to optimize your processes and ensure that your team is fully trained and ready to hit the ground running when the business officially launches.
Using management software like Beer30 from the beginning offers a competitive advantage. Many breweries that operate without a system in place struggle with organization, inventory, and data management. Brewery software helps you build an efficient, error-free operation from day one, giving you an edge in a crowded market.
With our brewery management software, breweries in planning can pay for one month and get familiar with the system before the doors open. So it’s safe to say that you are hitting the ground running with our software from the get go!
Learn how Beer30 can help breweries in planning from the start by scheduling a demo today!
No matter how big or small your brewery is, you need business management software to run smoothly. Beer30 brewery management software for brewpubs and taproom breweries is a customizable application tailored to your needs.
Leveraging the right brewery software is essential to streamlining operations, saving time, and increasing profitability. Beer30 brewery inventory software offers a customizable solution that caters specifically to the needs of brewpubs and taproom breweries.
As the owner or manager of a brewpub, you undoubtedly juggle many tasks throughout the day. Unfortunately, making beer and stocking everything leaves little time for talking to your customers and understanding their needs.
A brewery management software like Beer30 allows you to keep track of all aspects of your business and manage and report on them in real-time. Beer30 gives you an informed decision to power through real numbers to help increase efficiency and reduce waste. Its real-time notifications feature will be of great use to you.
With the global market, a growing variety of brews, and changing consumer tastes, brewing is more competitive than ever. Brewery software for brewpubs helps breweries save time tracking costs, conversions, brewhouse efficiency, and all other critical numbers critical to success.
When it comes to managing a taproom brewery, time is your most valuable commodity. A busy brewpub needs staff members to wait tables, check kegs, and not spend hours on paperwork. Beer30’s easy-to-use software streamlines each step of the brewing process so you can focus on what’s more important: running your business.
The lack of a growth plan is one of the small businesses’ most significant challenges. The result is that owners and employees lack the necessary knowledge about running a successful organization.
Any independent brewery needs to put processes in place for growth. Beer30 software can help speed up the preparation, process, and analysis of your most essential tasks at whatever stage your brewery is.
Beer30's inventory software can help you plan production schedules, reach sales targets, and grow your business faster and better. Therefore, it is crucial to invest in industrial-grade software early to handle the rapid pace of change and achieve long-term success.
Beer30 brewery software allows the brewhouse to communicate with the brewery’s administrative office. To keep your customers happy, you need to communicate directly with your brewer and follow a production plan.
Brewery owners can easily schedule recipes and assign beers and batches to specific tanks. Furthermore, they can create production schedules that are visible to every employee in the brewery.
Owners can also set priorities for each batch so that no time is wasted on low-priority batches if a distributor or customer demands a keg of a certain beer in a hurry.
Take advantage of the scheduling and task features.
Beer30’s brewery inventory software provides powerful reporting features that offer insights into your brewery’s sales performance, inventory levels, and marketing efforts. With dynamic reporting, you can quickly see which products are moving fast, which items need reordering, and how much revenue your taproom is generating.
Moreover, market research is an essential tool at the start of your brewery to gain exposure in the industry and capture your market. However, this information might not be readily available. The ability to gather all the necessary data about your customers and suppliers will give you an edge over your competitors.
In addition, the automation of paper order tickets and the use of bulk pricing allows supply management to save time and money significantly. With digital supplier mapping, you can track what you order and reorder your most profitable items, knowing exactly when to restock.
With Beer30’s ordering and supply management software, placing orders has never been more intuitive or efficient. Manage your supplies, accounting, and vendors from one place. Easily access previous orders and make changes as necessary. You can use this software to manage your supply chain, vendors, pricing controls, and your accounts payable.
Sales and distribution features, as well as packaging supplies, are available. You can also explore more options.
Lastly, with Beer30's brewery software, you can stay focused on what you love and let the software take care of the hard stuff. Create new recipes, set a price for your beer, and find ways to distribute it so it can be sold in your taproom, at home, or wherever you like. Let your team embrace smarter, not hard work.
Beer30 offers an affordable way to handle these and many other brewery-specific tasks, so you can concentrate on what’s important, making great beer. In addition, you will save both time and money, so you can focus on running your brewery.
Brewpubs and taproom breweries face increasing competition, making it essential to have the right tools in place to succeed. Beer30 brewery inventory software helps brewpubs manage everything from inventory control to production scheduling, saving time and improving overall efficiency.
With the ability to scale as your business grows, Beer30 ensures that your brewery can meet the demands of an expanding customer base while maintaining the quality of your beer. Whether you're just starting or looking to optimize your current processes, Beer30 is the software solution that can help you grow your brewery effectively.
You can learn more about how Beer30 software can help your brewpub by visiting our software page or by scheduling your demo today!
The industry most affected by the can supply chain shortage, however, is craft beer. Breweries small and large are finding it near impossible to keep up with the demand for cans that have become a favorite since the pandemic started. Now, the main supplier of cans in the US has delivered another blow to these already delicate businesses.
Ball supplies the majority of canned beverages to merchants in the US, and that includes craft beer. On November 1, 2021, the supply giant announced: effective January 1, 2022, the minimum order for printed cans of beer would be increased from one to five truckloads per SKU. Obviously this is devastating to small brewery owners that have no way to keep up with that level of inventory.
On top of this, Ball added that they would no longer warehouse inventory for customers. Which has left breweries across the country scrambling to figure out what their next move will be. Though this decision has been postponed until March, breweries are still wondering how they’re going to keep up.
Below are a few suggestions on how brewery owners can handle this new rule, and hopefully keep their businesses alive amid the supply chain shortage:
As supplies dwindle with the aluminum shortage not showing any signs of improving in the near future, some breweries have made it work by changing their can sizes. This is a good temporary option for a lot of breweries. Especially when there’s only certain sizes available and you’ve got beer that needs to go somewhere before it stales.
This move could mean the difference between wasting tanks upon tanks of beer and getting it into the hands of customers. However, it might mean retrofitting your crowler to adapt to the change. It could even be a temporary fix if the new size doesn’t end up working out, as long as cans are being filled for the time being.
In addition, some breweries have started buying blank cans (or brights) and creating their own labels. While this means spending money on labels or sleeves, it also means your beer gets canned. This is a great option to consider since printed aluminum is in greater demand than blank cans.
This is an opportunity to make cans more unique. You could change branding artwork and offer special prices as the new design is unveiled. This could help cans leave the shelves even faster! Keep in mind that plastic sleeves and vinyl labels aren’t recyclable which contributes to waste. However, it’s possible to avoid this by including printed recycling instructions on the packaging.
Mobile canners are another option. However, they will likely be more costly than the traditional suppliers that brewers regularly use. These companies will print and fill cans for breweries all over the country. This means that breweries get their beer into cans instead of watching it stale in the tanks. The reason for the mobile canners’ uptick in costs is to cover their shipping prices. They have to ship and import aluminum internationally due to the shortage in the US.
Breweries will also have to take care of commissioning their own artwork for these labels. This will add to cost. However, it could pay for itself in the branding sense. Unique labels that are eye-catching and fun spark interest and ultimately lead to sales. And who doesn’t want more of those?
The decision made by Ball to increase the minimum can order from one to five truckloads has been postponed until March. This is largely due to the public opposition they received when delivering the news. If brewery owners, staff, suppliers, customers and anyone else involved in the supply chain shortage get involved in this matter, it could make a difference in changing the decision.
As they say, “the squeaky wheel gets the oil.” Now is the time to make opinions mean something. The very livelihood of breweries — small and large — is on the line thanks to this new rule. So, it’s definitely worth speaking up about. Having customers sign petitions, as well as writing letters to local politicians and even Ball itself can bring extra attention to the matter. Ultimately, this could lead to a change in heart.
There is also the possibility of acquiring additional cold storage to accommodate the new ordering rules. Assuming they go into effect, brewery owners might want to start looking into this as soon as possible.
This might not work for smaller breweries out there. But larger operations might find that the rent on additional cold storage is covered by the sales that come from having more canned beer available on demand. Facilities within a short distance will cost less to transport cans from. But even if the costs are higher, the cans will at least be moving in the right direction.
While the supply shortage and Ball’s new rules are understandably frustrating for breweries everywhere, there are ways to keep up through the supply shortage. Hopefully, the tips in this post will help those who deliver smiles through their craft beer to keep their doors open and continue selling their product — even during this challenging time.
Thankfully, this time will end eventually, and with it the supply shortages will also disappear. If breweries can somehow keep their heads above water for the time being, in the (hopefully) near future they can look back on this time and be proud of their companies for making it through.
If you’ve been searching for a software that helps you keep track of inventory, Beer30 all-in-one data management software may be just what you need. From inventory management to accounting and beyond, our software helps brewers focus on quality and efficiency. Learn more today!
Chances are you’ve heard about the tax relief increase for brewers in Australia.
The recent increase in tax relief for Australian brewers brings exciting opportunities for the craft beer industry. This change benefits small brewers by providing essential financial support, allowing them to grow and compete in a saturated market. Brewery software plays a crucial role in helping breweries manage the complexities of tax relief and operations efficiently.
While the new tax policy doesn't directly lower beer prices, it creates more options for beer lovers by fostering the growth of small breweries.
In late 2021, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced a significant update to Australia’s alcohol excise regulations. Although underpublicized, these changes offer considerable benefits to small brewers. The excise rebate for brewers has increased from $60,000 to $100,000, with the rebate percentage rising from 60% to 100%.
For small brewers, this means excises have been significantly reduced, allowing them to sell up to 100 kegs of 5% ABV beer per week and receive a $350,000 PA credit from the Australian Tax Office (ATO). Leveraging brewery management software ensures that breweries can track their financials accurately and optimize their tax savings.
This tax relief increase was part of a larger effort by both boutique distilleries and major spirits producers to address high excise rates. Small brewers have been disproportionately affected by Australia's third-highest beer excise tax rate globally, which taxes higher-alcohol beers more heavily.
With the tax burden lifted, breweries can now reinvest in production and growth. Brewery software can help breweries manage their increased production and sales, allowing them to maximize these tax benefits.
The new regulations can be found on the Federal Register of Legislation website, and further information on the measure can be found at the Australian Taxation Office website.
Australia’s craft beer sector, which is taxed at a rate of 42 cents per dollar, stands to benefit significantly from the tax relief increase. The Morrison Government’s changes, effective from July 2021, include a $350,000 cap on excise refunds and other tax relief measures designed to support small breweries.
This reduction in excise helps the craft brewing sector create more jobs and attract investment. Brewery management software, such as Beer30, helps breweries streamline their operations, manage finances, and keep up with growing demand as the industry expands.
With the updated tax regulations, brewers can now focus on scaling their production. By using brewery software, breweries can efficiently track inventory, monitor brewing data, and manage their finances, ensuring they fully benefit from the tax relief. Automated tools like Beer30 can handle tasks such as:
Despite the increased tax relief, consumers shouldn't expect a price drop in craft beer. The goal of the tax reduction is not to lower prices or encourage higher consumption but to support the expansion of breweries and create jobs. Craft beer remains a premium product, and prices reflect the quality and labor-intensive production process.
However, the number of craft breweries is expected to grow, offering consumers more variety and choice. Brewery software can help breweries scale efficiently, allowing them to meet the increasing demand for craft beer.
For small brewers, avoiding excise taxes upfront improves cash flow and profitability. The tax break also helps level the playing field, reducing the dominance of the two largest market players. Combined with other support measures like asset write-offs and carry-over tax loss offsets, the excise relief package provides significant support for brewers.
Brewery software plays a crucial role in managing these financial changes, ensuring that breweries make the most of the tax relief and remain competitive in a fast-growing market. For consumers, this means more options and higher-quality products as the craft beer industry continues to flourish.
Curious how your brewery can stay on top of tax changes? Brewery software like Beer30 provides real-time data tracking from grain to glass. With a modular approach, team members can manage every aspect of production, from brew logs to sales and accounting, ensuring breweries remain compliant and efficient come tax season.
You will have a better understanding of your overall margins and can make better real-time decisions to help your brewery #BrewMoreBeer by analyzing the true cost per can, bottle or keg of beer.
To get started with a free demo, schedule your Beer30 demo.
Despite the lingering effects of the pandemic-induced shutdowns, craft beer industries have begun to return to normalcy in the last year. It was the first time that production declined by 9% in the modern craft era, caused by the pandemic. However, the industry still faces some challenges.
It is no longer the case that breweries and brands are introduced seemingly endlessly, as they have done for much of the past century. There are issues that the industry must deal with daily, such as: future shutdowns, supply chain problems and the sudden rise of the RTD category and beyond beer (think hard kombuchas, seltzers, ciders, pops and juices). Fortunately, modern brewery software like Beer30 can help overcome these hurdles.
Breweries that specialize in craft beer add variety to the beer market. As the industry grows, there will likely be several challenges and opportunities during 2022. Here are some challenges craft breweries may face in 2022.
The pandemic has impacted supply chains, introduced new competitors like ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, and raised concerns about future shutdowns. Although the outlook for craft breweries in 2022 is promising, there are still significant challenges. Below, we discuss the main obstacles and how the right brewery management software can assist in navigating them.
Water is a critical component for brewing craft beer. Most craft breweries rely on a clean and consistent local water supply, and the water used must meet specific mineral requirements. On average, it takes seven gallons of water to produce one gallon of beer, making water management crucial.
Environmental factors like droughts and heat waves also impact the availability of key ingredients such as hops and barley. These environmental challenges can be better managed with brewery software, which can track ingredient sourcing, manage water usage, and forecast supply needs based on environmental changes. Data-driven insights from the software help breweries adjust to these variables more efficiently.
The diversity of craft beer production schedules presents another challenge for small breweries. With over 6,000 craft breweries producing more than 20,000 beer brands in the U.S., maintaining a predictable production schedule can be difficult. Brewery software allows breweries to manage production schedules more effectively, enabling better inventory control and minimizing the risk of overproduction or stockouts.
Using software to automate production tasks and track key metrics helps brewers maintain consistency while scaling production. This optimization ensures that breweries meet market demand and maximize profitability.
In the craft beer market, consumers are not always loyal to specific brands. Craft breweries must continually innovate and introduce new flavors to stay relevant. Seasonal brews, collaborations, and limited-edition releases help breweries stand out in a crowded market. Brewery software plays a vital role in managing product development, tracking customer preferences, and monitoring sales data to identify emerging trends.
By leveraging software to track product performance and customer feedback, breweries can quickly pivot their offerings to meet changing consumer demands. This adaptability is key to maintaining a competitive edge.
A growing number of small brewers have been distributing to retail and restaurant outlets to compete within the $26 billion craft beer market in the United States. However, this trend has also created new challenges. Among them is a reduction in wholesale margins.
Further, brewers who market in a larger geographic area may need to invest in attractive packaging and displays for their products. These materials bring prospective customers into contact with the brand. Manufacturing these materials is, therefore, more costly.
Breweries need to communicate their value to loyal customers to make up for these increased costs. Perhaps your craft brewery creates the most incredible fan-favorite flavors that aren’t available anywhere else. Or maybe you donate a portion of the proceeds of each can to a local charity. Whatever your strategy, be sure to be creative and fully committed!
The explosion of craft breweries since the late 1980s has created a fiercely competitive environment. This saturation has made it increasingly difficult for breweries to stand out. Along with increased competition, there is a higher demand for skilled employees.
Brewery software can help smaller breweries differentiate themselves by improving operational efficiency, enhancing production quality, and enabling better decision-making. With access to real-time data, breweries can make smarter business decisions and remain competitive in a saturated market.
Today, craft breweries vary significantly in financial stability and business operations. In the coming year, companies that can address challenges will likely prosper. The current saturated market may pose challenges for other, less-equipped breweries in 2022.
Taproom and brewpub beer shifted out of the draft and into packaged beer last year. Thankfully, we’ve seen a remarkable rebound in craft beer sales this year, helping craft beer recover from the blow 2020 dealt. The industry is forecast to grow by at least 5% in 2022. Even if we don’t reach the levels we had before COVID, we will be close to doing so.
Fortunately, the number of brewery closures was lower than anticipated. It is inspiring to see craft breweries persevering. Their small size allows them to be agile and adaptable while quickly discovering new business opportunities. This is what makes them successful. Closings have slowed, and we are optimistic about the industry as a whole.
As always, our goal at The 5th Ingredient is to help brewers focus on the quality of their beer. With our Beer30 brewery software, breweries of all sizes can reap the benefits of real-time data at their fingertips and combat the above issues.
Beer30 is more than just brewery software—it’s an easy-to-use, brewer-focused solution designed to streamline your brewery’s operations and finances. Our goal is simple: help breweries save time, increase profits, and brew more efficiently. That’s why we’ve integrated Beer30 with two of the world’s leading brewery accounting software platforms—Xero and QuickBooks Online (QBO)—to make financial management seamless for breweries.
With Beer30, brewers can now sync their brewery data directly into Xero or QuickBooks Online. This integration covers both receiving items (such as purchase orders) and sales data (such as tax invoices). By syncing data in real time, you can ensure accurate financial statements, including your balance sheet, income statements, and bank reconciliations.
Imagine having all your inventory, sales, and distribution information automatically synced into your accounting software, saving you hours of manual work. Many breweries have already experienced the benefits of integrating Beer30 with their accounting systems—and now you can too!
One of the biggest benefits of brewery accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks Online is the ability to automate data entry. Beer30 tracks your brewery’s inventory and production data in real time, while Xero or QBO manages the financial side. By syncing both systems, you eliminate the need for double-entry accounting and save hours of manual data entry.
When you receive stock or record sales, Beer30 automatically sends these transactions to Xero or QuickBooks for payment and reconciliation. No more jumping between spreadsheets or systems!
All of these features save you valuable time.
If you’re able to give your bookkeeper or accountant access to your Xero/Quickbooks account, they can see all the data that syncs over from Beer30. This means everyone is always on the same page, saving time sending emails back and forth – and reducing error.
Beer30's brewery software updates Xero and Quickbooks Online in real time. This means you get instant visibility into all your stock movements – right down to the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet level.
It also means operations in your company are transparent. Anyone who has a login with appropriate permissions is able to access the information – and with Beer30’s unlimited user feature, this means you can grant access to whoever you need.
Plus, everything in Beer30 is entirely mobile, tablet, and laptop-friendly,
When visiting suppliers or customers, you can easily pull up Xero or Quickbooks Online to place an order or check whether they have an outstanding invoice or whether the account is within terms.
Syncing our brewery software and accounting software is an easy way to monitor and report financial data.
Our reporting functionality makes tax time simple. With all your data syncing between the systems, you won’t have to hunt through the filing cabinet or files on your computer for information on inventory or batches. You can use the reports in Xero or QBO to help consolidate the information necessary for your financial reports.
Beer30 brewery software can be added to your brewery within two 90-minute live training sessions. Customer testimonials here show how quickly other breweries have been able to get up and running with Beer30! With the accounting integration with QBO or Xero, you can achieve all these benefits for an additional small monthly modular cost—and no start-up fee.
Plus – being a Beer30 client means you have the added advantage of having a support team at your fingertips. Our team can provide the training and support you need to ensure everything is set up correctly.
Without going into all the technical details – you hit a button. And it happens.
That really just about sums it up.
From raw materials and packaging inventory to tax invoices, Beer30 handles it all. When goods are received, costs are automatically added to inventory, and when you brew or package, Beer30 calculates the full landed cost and applies it to the beer.
For sales, Beer30 syncs finished products, quantities, discounts, and additional goods to your accounting software, creating orders and tracking deliveries instantly. The best part? You control what data is synced and when.
While spreadsheets, paper logs, and whiteboards are adequate – and sometimes a comforting process – don’t you think it’s time to move your business to the next phase?
We think it’s time for a change, and now that Beer30's brewery software can be synced directly with your Xero/QBO accounting software, you will know the details of that change, down to the last penny.
Syncing your brewery's accounting software with Beer30 makes growing and scaling easier.
Having this data at your fingertips can make a big difference when it’s time to make important business decisions.
And that’s what we’re here for – to help you grow and succeed.
So please get in touch if you have any questions – or learn more about Beer30 if you’re interested in our system.
We would love to hear from you.
From tracking data, to analytical assessment, to performance indicators—let’s explore how brewery analytics can be used for your KPIs and success metrics.
Successful breweries must go beyond brewing great beer—they need to maximize efficiency and profitability. By adopting data-driven practices through brewery software, brewers can leverage the power of analytics to brew better beer, reduce costs, and improve operational performance.
But what does taking an analytical approach toward the brewing process mean? How does it make a difference in all brewery operations? Keep reading to learn more.
Many of us track data. But when asked why we do it we hear phrases like “we’re supposed to track data” or “that’s just the way we’ve done it”.
So before we jump into how you can use the data from brewery software for your brewery, let’s identify why we do it and why it’s important.
There are 3 steps to brewery analytics:
The tracked data points are the foundation for the next steps. Good data is crucial! Without it, the following steps are more difficult. Having poor data tracking practices that lead to bad data points will have negative consequences, such as false-positive inferences, and potential data that can falsely seem unrelated.
Raw data is essential, but visualizing it through charts and graphs allows brewers to quickly understand trends and identify areas of improvement. Brewery software helps transform your data into visual representations that are easy to interpret. Whether it’s temperature control, pH levels, or batch timelines, brewery analytics software creates dashboards that display your data, making it easier to track trends and make informed decisions. This step, known as descriptive analysis, helps brewers see past performance and plan future production accordingly.
This is taking patterns and other meaningful information gathered from data analysis and making inferences to predict future events. It becomes critical to understand how your next beers will turn out simply based on past data.
In the world of brewery software and analytics, the more tracked data that is available, coupled with proper organization, provides deeper insights into various aspects of the brewing process and its results.
Using Beer30 at Pals Brewing (North Platte, Nebraska) to replace paper logs in the brewhouse.
Tracked data is continuously used to improve recipes and efficiency in a brewery by using new technologies of grain-to-glass data management. Let’s compare this to the current “paper-to-digital-spreadsheet” approach.
Paper logs and spreadsheets have been used with varying degrees of success for years! However, to make the data work for brewery analytics, hours of manual data review and analysis would be required each day. The more robust the calculation, the more time it will require.
If you rely on paper logs or spreadsheets to track and record your data, then you know how time-consuming this can be. Not to mention, there is an all-too-real potential for human error during the recording process.
Don’t you think you could put your time to better use? It's time to utilize brewery software like Beer30.
Over the last few years, new advancements in brewery technology have emerged to help breweries improve their data analysis. Beer30 software is a grain-to-glass data management software. It is designed to help breweries brew more and brew better. A brewery software like Beer30 can use technology and proprietary algorithms to save the hours spent each and every day on calculating:
A good data management system also creates transparency within the process. This will help identify why that last batch of beer was one of the best the brewery has produced. In addition, it will list what steps can be taken to replicate the results. Decisions can be made to improve a beer that are based on empirical evidence, rather than anecdotes and assumptions.
Mike Foran, Market Garden Brewery cofounder and COO, says of Beer30: “The process insights have empowered our entire team to be plugged in to real time data and make efficiency driven decisions to grow our business and profitability.”
Evolution of Technology: Using Beer30 at Protector Brewery (San Diego, California).
Manually entering measurements remains the practical method for most breweries, particularly for measurements following human action. But we are seeing a rise in automation of repetitive status-based measurements (i.e., temperature of beer in the fermentation tank).
Either method is acceptable across the majority of cases—the important part is getting the data into the platform for real-time analysis.
Now that we understand more about the importance of data, what’s next? How do we use this information to make better decisions for the brewery?
We have developed the 4Ps for Successful Data Management for all the data that is being tracked and analyzed. Our team shares these with our clients to help them save time and become more efficient.
For starters, proactive validation of your data means that instead of spending time reviewing the data after a process is completed, the data is validated in real-time as it is entered.
A magical thing happens when proactive validation is implemented successfully. Issues are recognized sooner, meaning the problem is smaller, the response time is shorter, and the solution is executed more quickly.
In many cases, issues in the brew process compound over time. They grow larger and more difficult to recover from the longer they exist. By shortening the response time we approach smaller issues and increase our probability of correcting the issue.
Another benefit of proactive validation is catching bad data from being recorded. Entering a value with a few extra 0’s could be recognized and easily corrected before it finds a home in your dataset.
An example of proactive validation in brewery analytics is setting target tolerances for critical brew specs. Setting traffic light styling of green, yellow and red can alert users to values that fall outside of the acceptable range for the brand. Beer30 can tell the brewer if a threshold is or is not being hit real-time while brewing. This results in adjustments to the recipe to ensure targets and yields will be hit.
P1 – Proactive Validation: Set Target Tolerances for each critical brewing spec.
Predicting how key parameters will line up for different batch numbers for the same beer is key to profitability. The analysis aspect is to look at these parameters with visualization tools and make meaningful insights to stay consistent.
For example, a customer noticed their flagship brand had slight inconsistencies and flavor variations between batches. So, they started graphing fermentation metrics of each recent batch. They discovered that even though their gravities were tight and consistent, their pH had a pretty far spread.
The solution for these wide variations was to calibrate pH meters daily. In addition, they also adjusted adjunct additions during brewing if specs were not lining up during the brew day.
P2A – Predictive Analysis: Tight gravity control contributes to consistent ABV and flavors.
P2B – Predictive Analysis: Off-target pH impacts consistency between batches, and wide-ranging data can be displayed by graphing.
Stated simply, process improvement is increasing brewery efficiency. Increasing brewery efficiency means less wasted product, more revenue, and more profit per unit. By breaking down the brewing process from grain to glass, every step can be analyzed individually to identify where your brewery can improve and then track those improvements over time.
Profitability is the ultimate driver of a successful business. Therefore, measuring process improvement requires an understanding of the cost for each batch. These costs commonly tie in with raw materials such as grains, hops and adjuncts. But they can also include additions like yeast and package supplies.
More advanced algorithms could include additional components like fixed costs or tank utilization costs. As you start looking at transfers, filters, and merges, the true dollar value per barrel of beer becomes apparent.
Using averages for process improvements is a common pitfall. Instead, brewers should use actual lot numbers and true landed costs to understand how to improve the cost per beer. In the example below, we are tracking actual raw material costs to determine the cost to brew this Indian Brown Sugar Ale is $102.66/BBL. With this information, a successful brewery can ensure that they’re maintaining appropriate costs across batches. They can also compare against other brands, price new products appropriately and track margins as input prices vary over time.
P3 – Process Improvement: Use batch cost as an efficiency metric to understand how much it cost to brew per BBL or HL.
Performance indicators are key data points for benchmarking your brewery against itself over time and industry standards as a whole. Collecting, aggregating and analyzing these data points allows you to ensure your employees are meeting their production goals on a weekly basis, and are consistently following best practices.
Below are 18 key metrics for brewery analytics that we have shared with our customers—spanning brew, ferment, yeast, quality, packaging, scheduling, inventory, and sales.
The data being recorded should be entered into a software system to streamline the tracking of these areas and help you understand how to improve your team’s efficiency and success. From there, the data entered can then be aggregated for weekly metrics and scorecards. If you start deviating from the baselines, you can identify potential causes and create a game plan to correct the issue.
P4 – Performance Indicators: Set up weekly meetings to assess key performance indicators for your brewery.
Now that you’re armed with a greater understanding of analytics, we hope you implement the proper tools at your brewery.
Instead of making decisions based on anecdotal evidence, a data-driven approach at a brewery will result in a systematic analysis. This allows for concrete conclusions on areas that need improvement at your brewery. The best route for data management comes down to the 4Ps:
These operational cornerstones were the catalyst for the founding of The 5th Ingredient. With years of experience in the industry, we recognized the brewing process needed a more dynamic solution. It was time to ditch the traditional paper logs and spreadsheets. From there, Beer30 brewery software was born. Our product roadmap has been forged through collaboration with our customers since the beginning.
We are in a constant state of growth and improvement! Our team will always provide the brewery analytics tools that matter most for our customers’ success.
Reach out today for a demo on how Beer30 can help you brew better beer by using brewery analytics.
Do you have more questions regarding brewery analytics? Schedule your FREE Beer30 demo today to learn how we can help you save time, increase profits and brew more beer.
Managing raw material inventory, particularly yeast, is crucial for any brewery aiming to improve efficiency and profitability. Beer30 by The 5th Ingredient is the perfect brewery inventory software, offering robust solutions for tracking and managing yeast—the most variable and essential ingredient in beer production. Additionally, Beer30 features unique yeast genealogy software that helps brewers visualize and manage yeast strains across batches and beers.
While most brewers focus on tracking hops and malt in their inventory, yeast requires more attention due to its variable nature. Yeast isn’t just another ingredient—it’s a living organism that directly impacts the quality and flavor of your beer. With Beer30, you can track every aspect of yeast management, from inventory to performance, making it a critical tool for improving your brewery’s operations.
Tracking the cost of goods like hops, malt, and adjuncts is relatively simple: you buy, use, and deplete. However, yeast adds complexity because it can be reused across multiple batches. How do you accurately calculate the cost of yeast when it continues to impact multiple brews?
With Beer30’s brewery management software, you have the flexibility to:
This customizable approach ensures that your accounting and inventory tracking is as accurate as possible, giving you control over your yeast cost strategy.
The Beer30 Yeast Dashboard shows the details of all yeast inventory that you have available to pitch, harvest and propagate.
Yeast labs use innovative technologies which make their strains stronger and more reliable. However, it still requires more oversight than other ingredients in beer. Yeast can surprise you more than any other ingredient in the brewing process. Sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse!
Beer30 provides a dedicated Yeast Dashboard where brewers can see all available yeast inventory for pitching, harvesting, and propagating. This advanced brewery inventory software ensures that yeast is monitored meticulously, helping to mitigate its unpredictability. Key yeast management features include:
Brewers and staff will be able to add in custom fields and metrics like cell counts, generations, viability as it is brought in or harvested from a tank.
Beer30’s yeast genealogy software takes yeast tracking to the next level by generating genealogy charts for every yeast lot. These charts provide a visual representation of yeast usage across batches, making it easier to follow the lineage of each strain and its impact on different beers. Brewers can use these yeast genealogy trees to:
This yeast genealogy software allows brewers to understand yeast's performance over time, making it easier to improve processes and predict outcomes in future brews.
Custom fields provide a detailed record of yeast’s lifecycle, making it easier to manage propagation and ensure optimal performance across batches. In worst-case scenarios, such as a yeast recall from your supplier, Beer30 makes it simple to backtrack and identify every impacted batch, minimizing potential loss.
Yeast is unlike any other primary beer ingredient because each pitch equates to a new chapter in an often long story in its history. A history that covers multiple beer styles and many months bringing each beer to life.
Beer30 takes this complex story and turns it into a powerful tool for managing yeast. Our software uses genealogy charts to build visual representations as it is automatically tracked through every batch of beer it touches. The entire history of your yeast inventory is searchable and filterable to make the tool even more powerful.
Use Beer30 to generate yeast genealogy trees that are filterable and searchable by brand, batch, dates and yeast strain.
The branches of these trees include the triumphant chapters in your yeast’s story. For example, you can log stalled fermentations that required an additional pitch or any number of anomalies that may occur.
The Beer30 genealogy trees show you how each parent and child node are interconnected for true traceability.
Not all of the yeast a brewer uses comes from a company like White Labs, Lallemand or Wyeast. One brewery will provide it to another. Our software notes the source of intra-brewery pitches and track its performance at your brewery.
We also understand that many brewers like to mix and match different strains in beers! Brewers can do yeast substitutions and add in different variations from different brinks or pitches while knocking out a beer. This also shows up in the genealogy trees!
In Beer30, you can do yeast substitutions dynamically in either Brew or Ferment mode.
Yeast plays arguably the most important role in the production of beer or, more importantly, quality beer. Therefore, it must be regarded and monitored in a significant way. But all too often it isn’t. Its dynamic nature leads brewers and data-management software developers to throw up their hands instead of attempting to track it. This creates a major blind spot that hurts a brewery’s operation.
At Beer30, we understand the challenges of tracking yeast costs and performance. In order to help you save time, increase profits and brew more beer, our team developed the best brewery management software devoted to fermented beverages to help brewers overcome these monotonous challenges.
Beer30 is designed to streamline brewery operations by providing a comprehensive solution for tracking yeast inventory, performance, and history. The yeast genealogy software is a powerful tool for understanding the lifecycle of your yeast, while the brewery inventory software ensures that your entire brewing process—from raw material intake to finished product—is tracked with precision.
Beer30 supports multiple approaches to yeast cost-tracking, ensuring flexibility based on the size and needs of your brewery. Whether you’re tracking simple brewhouse inventory or managing complex yeast strains, Beer30 gives you the tools you need to improve quality, lower costs, and enhance overall efficiency.
Do you want to know more about how we can help you track and manage yeast inventory and utilization at your brewery? We’d love to discuss it with you. Schedule a FREE demo today!
Brandon Hernández is a contributing writer for The 5th Ingredient who provides freelance marketing services to companies in the beer industry. You can reach Brandon via email.
In a major advancement for brewery management, Precision Fermentation® has partnered with The 5th Ingredient® to integrate the groundbreaking BrewMonitor® system with Beer30™ brewery software. This revolutionary combination allows brewers to view real-time fermentation data directly within their Beer30 dashboard, streamlining the brewing process and enhancing decision-making with automated, real-time performance readings from fermentation tanks.
Here at Precision Fermentation, our mission is to help brewers make great product, operational, and business decisions, while also helping them to save time and cost. BrewMonitor is the world’s first comprehensive, real-time fermentation monitoring solution. It works with your existing tanks and gives you 24-7-365 remote access to your tank’s activity via seven measurements:
By automating fermentation tank monitoring, brewers not only save time but gain a wealth of data to drive decision-making. BrewMonitor’s cloud-based platform eliminates the need for manual sampling, offering greater process insights with minimal effort.
The integration of BrewMonitor with Beer30 is a game-changer. While BrewMonitor offers advanced fermentation monitoring, Beer30™ brewery software provides end-to-end data management for brewery operations. The result is a "single source of truth" for brewing data, allowing brewers to analyze both their actions and outcomes with unparalleled accuracy. With this integration, brewers can access:
This synergy between fermentation data and operational data enables brewers to pinpoint the precise factors contributing to a batch’s success or shortcomings, streamlining quality control and production efficiency.
As Jared Resnick, CEO of Precision Fermentation, put it, “We are thrilled to be part of another first in our industry. Accessing real-time data from the BrewMonitor Sensor Hub® from Beer30’s brewery software suite allows brewers to track, from a single dashboard, all operational actions and ingredients that produce each batch, side-by-side with precise outcomes of these factors as data is streamed directly from inside the fermentation tank. Beer30 excels in management of all elements that go into each batch, including precise ingredient information, tank management, CIP tracking and so much more. Adding live, high-resolution fermentation data not only greatly reduces the overhead and inconsistency of manual sampling, but it also finally puts in the hands of brewery staff the ability to correlate detailed results from all brewery processes at a single glance and with high accuracy. This integration offers a leap forward in quality assurance that can have a major impact on any brewery’s bottom line.”
Pulkit K. Agrawal, founder and CEO of The 5th Ingredient, added, “With this new integration, we continue to pioneer and evolve a new wave of brewery data management software. We are committed to helping breweries #BrewBetterBeer and helping brewers take a more confident, proactive approach to their processes, rather than a reactive one. From a quality perspective, the first 3-4 days of fermentation are crucial, and with BrewMonitor fermentation data sent directly to Beer30, breweries have even more flexibility to make better data-driven decisions powered by smart sensor technology. Beer30’s data visualization tools allow brewery software users to graph all data, identify trends and anomalies, and compare a beer brand across multiple batches. By combining BrewMonitor’s real-time data with Beer30’s robust Batch History functionality, breweries can take their grain-to-glass analysis to the next level. Whenever two of the top innovators in an industry come together, the industry wins as a whole.”
Precision Fermentation offers a money-back guarantee* to make it as easy as possible for breweries to get started and see the tremendous benefits of comprehensive, automated fermentation tank monitoring. Visit precisionfermentation.com to request a demo, or contact us at info@precisionfermentation.com / 919-717-3983.
With the powerful combination of BrewMonitor and Beer30™ brewery software, brewers can now make faster, more informed decisions based on real-time data. This integration is revolutionizing brewery management by offering a comprehensive view of the brewing process, from fermentation metrics to batch history, all in one place. Get started today and take your brewery's efficiency and quality to the next level.
