My favorite part of any brewery tour is seeing the lab. It’s not that I’m a science nerd or even particularly conversant in what goes on in these scientific sanctuaries. A lab is a sign that a brewery takes quality serious enough to invest resources in pursuit of it.
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With everything breweries have to contend with to survive let alone thrive in the competitive marketplace, many brewers view a lab as an expensive and complicated luxury. In reality, breweries of all sizes need to focus on quality, consistency, and stability and that requires funding a lab in some form.
ProBrewer contributor Andy Crouch recently spoke with Neva Parker, Director of Operations at White Labs, about the lab basics every brewery needs and how to make a long-term plan to maintain quality as the brewery grows.
Getting Started
“My background is in the laboratory, so when I started, I was a lab technician,” Parker recalls. “So I did a lot of work with lab QC programs and all the things related to brewery testing laboratories.”
With her experience, Parker recommends that breweries of all sizes consider having a lab.
“I really think a brewery of any size is going to benefit from some sort of lab or QC program,” Parker says. “That being said, often times the larger the brewery you are, the more resources you might have to build a bigger or more comprehensive program. But there are definitely ways that small breweries can get started. And a lot of that is with very minimal equipment and minimal staffing.”
“The most important reasons to have a brewery lab are just really consistency of the product,” she says. The ability to understand the state of your beer before it is released to the public is a key reason. “It really helps a brewer to understand their process and it’s just that final quality check before it goes out to a consumer.”
Parker recommends that brewers do their homework before investing in their labs. She suggests brewers review websites, including White Labs, which offer information and advice in setting up labs, especially if you’re not sure where to start.
“Because there are so many options out there, there are a few basic things that can be the first step for anyone that’s looking into it,” she says. “I would recommend your very basic QC, testing of product, getting a little bit of selective media, maybe a microscope. Those are some of the best places to start and get your feet wet in terms of what’s manageable within the brewery.”
Focus On Your Yeast
“I think the number one thing is looking at your yeast, and this is where a microscope really comes in handy,” Parker suggests. “Microscopes are fairly inexpensive and you can look at cell count viability. Maybe that’s not like QC testing, but that is part of the whole process of quality checks. You can make sure that the yeast is viable, especially if you’re repitching or reusing the yeast. Then you have some way to gauge the quality of the yeast before you use it on your next batch.”
Parker also recommends investing in selective media, like HLP developed by Siebel Institute. “That’s a selective media that tests for lactobacillus and pediococcus,” she says. “That’s actually a really easy one because you don’t need an autoclave and there’s not a whole bunch of equipment required for running a test like that. That gives you some sort of contaminant detection that can be used on both your yeast and beer samples.”
Staffing The Lab
“There are a lot of people now with science backgrounds that are really trying to get into the brewing industry,” Parker says. But she recommends that breweries start with interns or even do some initial work on their own if the budget doesn’t provide for additional staffing. “I think there are places that you can start with someone that doesn’t necessarily have a degree in the sciences or anything like that,” she offers. “I think interns are always good to look at getting things set up, getting the equipment commissioned, and so that you can get something set.”
As a brewery’s lab needs grow, Parker then recommends looking into part or full time scientific assistance.
“It’s definitely helpful, especially as you start expanding that brewery program, to have someone with a more scientific background, because there is going to be a little bit of interpretation of results,” she says. But until that point, lesser credentialed individuals can do basic cell counting and look at breeding parameters and monitoring permutation. “If you don’t have the budget for a dedicated staff member, a microscope and cell counting are probably some of the easiest things you can do, just with some training and without a four year degree.”
Final Thoughts
“I think these days a lot of brewers have a good understanding of what needs to be done, but I think it can be overwhelming because there’s so many different options,” Parker says. “Outline what your goals are. If you were to implement a lab and a QC program, what would that look like? Ask what you want to get out of it. And then just start building the pieces around that. Start with something that is manageable. And that’s where I think the planning is super critical. You’ll need to really think about what you can do now and start with that. But also look at how you can scale that up. As you get more progressive with the QC, I’ve seen a lot of groups who will buy equipment, because they’ve been told that they needed it, and then they don’t end up using it. So I think that’s one thing that you have to be really careful of, don’t just do it because someone else is doing it. Make sure that whatever you do, that you’ll be able to sustain it. That’s the hardest part.”