Quality control is fundamental to the process of repeatedly brewing good beer. Of course, labs, quality control equipment and extra staff are never cheap, but there are alternatives for economy-focused QC operations (and who isn’t tightening budgets these days?). In 2007, yeast and fermentation experts at White Labs launched Big QC Day in 2007 as a low-cost option to help breweries understand the quality of their beer. Brewers basically send White Labs samples, and White Labs sends them back an email analysis of their beer brands. The company offers this service every quarter.
This cool, affordable kit also lets participants compare samples to others. According to the White Labs website: “In 2019, we learned that the craft brewing industry has an average ABV of 6.29%, IBU of 34, and diacetyl of 43.49 ppb. In addition, we found that of the 730 samples we tested, 39.76% were using STA+ strains.”
Here’s what the kit analysis includes:
- Diacetyl
- IBUs
- Alcohol content
- Calories
- Color (SRM)
- Attenuation — real and apparent
- Microbiological contaminants
- Gluten testing (add-on option)
- Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus PCR analysis (add-on option); Please note: STA1+ strains will be detected via PCR
The cost is right over here.
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