Richard Preiss and Nate Ferguson from Escarpment Laboratories were part of a panel at the 2016 Canadian Brewing Awards & Conference that dealt with the lab needs of breweries of various sizes.

1. Session # 5 – Do you
really need a lab?
RICHARD PREISS – MICROBIOLOGIST

2. Who are we?
• Yeast lab in Guelph, ON
• Production of liquid yeast, blends,
bacteria
• Microbial quality control (QC) services
• Internal and external!

3. Do you really need a lab?
• YES!
• Well, it depends…
• Certain activities increase the need for
microbiological quality control:
• Multiple yeast strains in house
• Exporting
• Province/nationwide distribution
• Packaging unfiltered beer
?

4. Basic equipment/tests
• Sensory analysis
• Most common form of brewery QA/QC
• Your nose, tongue and eyes are the
QA/QC front line!
• Built-in tools – very low cost
• Limitations – human error

5. Basic equipment/tests
• Simple lab equipment can save a lot of
money and improve product quality &
consistency
• eg. Microscope & Haemocytometer (cell
counting chamber)
• <$1000 investment
• Ensures accurate + consistent pitching
• Identify contaminants early on

6. Basic equipment/tests
• eg. Agar plating
• Minimal investment
• Bacterial and yeast QC
• Identify contamination before it
becomes a problem

7. “we don’t have the resources”
• Counterpoint: Burdock Brewery
• ~1300hL yearly output
• Small but efficient lab space
• Full range of simple QC tests:
• Forced ferment, cell viability/counting,
plating
• Only 3 full time production staff!

8. Take home message
• Regardless of size, you should be investing in quality.
• A key to the continued growth and sustainability of
the craft beer industry is improving the quality and
consistency of our products.
• We can begin to do this by implementing basic lab
tests in breweries of all sizes.