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With this blog we’re going to look into the importance of cleanliness in a brewery – after all, whilst we aim to brew the bestest and freshest possible beer, we also need to ensure that it is safe to drink and upto standard. We’ll also briefly look into the importance of having our very own lab, taken care of by our brewer Roel.
Cleanliness is everything
A brewery is always built for purpose, ideally ensuring that it is as easy as possible to keep the brewhouse clean. If you’ve ever walked into a brewery, you will more than likely have been welcomed by a wall of stainless steel and seen endless pipes snaking around. What you may have not noticed is that all these pipes and vessels will have mainly smooth edges, in order to prevent any risk of residue building up in the corners. Even our wet floor has been designed so that it slopes downwards towards our drains and therefore doesn’t allow the formation of puddles which could harbour some nasty microbes. The brewing team also spends a huge amount of their time cleaning, for instance, to set up the canning or bottling line in preparation for packaging, this requires at least an hour of cleaning and preparation before filling commences, and then at least another hour after packaging is done. Whilst brewing, whilst our brewing is a step by step process, this allows the brewer on duty to clean the vessels that have been used at same time. In particular, every Friday, before the vrimibo begins, we have a real deep clean. The team even has a special Spotify playlist to accompany this important Friday ritual!
The Lab
When we opened our brewery back in September 2016, though it wasn’t mandatory we nevertheless set up our very own lab. Roel oversaw this and has been in charge of it ever since – no one else sets foot in the lab! Roel ensures that every single one of our beers is checked for any potential infection – after all, it is much better that we pick up a problem at source rather than when the beer is out and in the hands of our consumers – like that saying goes “prevention is better than cure”! Interestingly, only a few bacteria are able to survive in beer – and luckily these are non-pathogenic (pathogens can cause some nasty diseases!). Nevertheless the wrong kind of bacteria can still have a detrimental impact on your beer, altering its flavours and aromas and ultimately spoiling it. We therefore check every beer that we brew, in particular during fermentation as well as after dry hopping. Furthermore, whether it’s packaged into cans, bottles or kegs, these will also be checked by Roel. By monitoring our beer, this also allows us to quickly find the source and scale of any potential infections. Hopefully by reading this blog you’ll have been reassured by the measures that we take in ensuring that we offer you the best quality beer! If this has made you thirsty, then make sure to check out our beers on our webshop!