Looking ahead, if you plan on going big, consider gear that’s expandable or modular, so you don’t have to start from scratch when you want to upscale. And don’t forget to jam with other homebrewers or join a homebrew club. Sharing experiences and getting recommendations on gear can save you from a few sour notes. Lastly, keep an eye on the legal landscape, ensuring your setup dances to the tune of local laws and regulations. Happy brewing!” Karl Steinmeyer from The Homebrew Academy How can one ensure the safe and optimal dispensing and refrigeration of homebrewed beer, and what are the best practices to maintain the beer’s integrity during these stages? “Consistent temperature levels during fermentation, conditioning, and while tapped for dispense are critical to maintaining freshness, flavor, and carbonation level. Do everything you can to avoid temperature fluctuations. Draft line and faucet cleanliness are the likeliest things to negatively impact beer quality post-packaging. Ensure you flush and clean your lines every 2 weeks. Soak, scrub, and sanitize your faucets at least this often,
ideally once per week. Oxidation is the next most likely thing to impact quality. This will happen naturally the longer the keg sits but can also be a result of improper packaging/handling. Once your beer is carbonated to spec, do not open the lid of the keg (assuming the use of corny-style kegs) if it can be avoided. Purge oxygen from the keg when carbonating by pulling the relief valve open for 2-4 seconds while the keg is attached to CO2, allow gas to flow in, and repeat that process a few times. It’s important to follow proper packaging processes when putting beer into kegs, with the goal being to eliminate oxygen in the keg at all stages. I would suggest looking to the Brewers Association or other industry resources for more detail on all topics above.” Kyle Chittim from Perlick Corporation How do safety measures, particularly in handling ingredients and equipment, impact the taste and character of homebrewed beer, and what strategies can I adopt to ensure a safe yet flavorful brew? “When we are talking about safety with regards to ingredients and equipment, our primary areas of focus are going to be cleanliness, quality of said ingredients, and proper handling of equipment. Whether you are brewing on a production scale or at home, you’re utilizing some form of detergent to clean your equipment of any debris and bacteria and then a sanitizer to ensure that foreign microbes aren’t going to take residence while the equipment awaits green beer. Anytime you are working with chemicals, it’s important to be aware of the proper concentration you should be using to a.) ensure the chemical is going to be able to fully perform its purpose and b.) avoid a potentially dangerous situation of an over-concentrated chemical leaving problematic residues. As for ingredients, obviously, we want to ensure our malt, or any ingredient for that matter, is free from any pests, mold, or anything of that nature. Many compounds that result from the presence of these things can end up downstream in the finished beer and be potentially harmful but definitely adverse to producing a quality- tasting beer. In brewing, we often work with pressure; whether that be a low-pressure system or a high one, it’s an area where we need to exhibit caution and be aware. With homebrewing specifically, this is going to apply if you
SPOTLIGHT MAGAZINE ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 24 ISSUE 3 105
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator