Why real-time data is becoming essential for modern brewery management

Utilizing real-time data in your brewery can directly impact sales and produce actionable cost-saving strategies. Brewers can learn how to use innovative data solutions for optimizing overall ingredient inventory and avoiding production bottlenecks in the supply chain. Additionally, you can tap into customer behavior for real profit.

The Brewers Association reported that small independent brewers' share of the American beer market increased by volume to 13%, with overall craft beer sales declining by 4%. By using modern brewing technology, beer professionals can understand where quality control is lacking and address inefficient processes to make better decisions that boost profits. It's easier to study the overall market they're operating in to see how customer preferences may change.

What Goes Into Brewery Management?

Operating a brewery isn't just about pouring beer and serving it. From purchase order to finished keg, serious brewers must track raw ingredients, which include:

• Yeast
• Water
• Malt 
• Hops 

Quality assurence during production is vital, as beer involves standardizing recipes and seeing where your brews can get creative. Expect to test sensory profiles and monitor sanitation processes. 

Once a batch is brewed, it's time for sales and distribution. This involves managing a brewery POS system and wholesale distribution logs.

Real-time analytics in brewing makes these various phases more manageable. The Internet of Things (IoT0 sensors can stream live data to centralized dashboards.

How Does Real-time Data Affect the Beer Business?

Real-time data monitoring has its hand in just about every aspect of the brewery business. Beer professionals can use these tools to manage ingredients in the supply chain, sanitation processes, and prevent financial loss through product waste.

Metrics and Ingredients

Brewery data insights alert owners to critical metrics during the fermentation process. It's vital to have consistent quality batches, so technology measures:

• pH balance
• Dissolved oxygen
• Temperature
• Gravity
• Pressure

Financial Consolidation

The financial impact is seen at the production level, as monitored fermentation variables can reduce the likelihood of having an off-batch they can't use, thus helping overhead. Brewers can minimize tank turnaround times to increase overall production without investing in buying additional tanks. 

These tools can also allow them to track exact depletion rates at the warehouses, which can prevent stockouts or overproduction. They can also sync up with real-time retail demand.

Sanitation

Advanced data management also makes cleaning easier. A cleaning in place (CIP) tracking system monitors flow rate and chemical concentration for optimized cleaning and waste reduction. 

As it can verify and record the automatic cleaning process that includes a log of who,when, and how each piece of equipment was cleaned, there's no need for manual disassembly. Batches maintain consistent hygiene while reducing contamination risks, making it easier to remain in compliance with sanitation regulations.

What Are Some Data Platform Solutions?

Brewery management platforms that provide real-time data include:

• Beer30
• Breww
• Ollie
• Ekos
• OrchestratedBEER
• Fabrico
• SafetyCulture

Where Does Marketing Come In?

Real-time data management can keep taproom and wholesale teams connected to quick customer feedback. After all, customer feedback is the basis of market research, which they can get immediately instead of having to do testing panels. 

Data tracks exactly what sells the most, at what times, and to whom. As a result, brewers can analyze this data to see what is in high demand and where the trends are growing.

They can see whether they need to stock up more on lagers or ciders and which ones to remove from production. Owners analyze depletion rates across all retail channels and identify emerging flavor profiles  they can test and experiment with as needed. 

Thanks to customer relationship management (CRM) tools, sales teams can continuously target specific demographics and optimize beer distribution routes.

Other useful information includes packaging preferences. They can see whether it's best to use cans,bottles, or kegs for retail and restaurants. That way, operations can match these preferences to real-world customer behavior.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the 3 30 300 Rule for Beer?

This rule manages beer storage and aging. It's a guideline used by breweries to explain how heat speeds up beer degradation and loses the same amount of freshness at different time and temperature combinations. 

For example, beer may be kept up to three days at 90 degrees Fahrenheit, 30 days at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, or 300 days at 38 degrees Fahrenheit. It shows that beer can age rapidly, and a single weekend in a hot location can severely damage the flavor profile compared to a month in a pantry. 

However, you can keep that same beer for almost a year in a refrigerator at 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's why, for maximum freshness, it's best to keep your beer cold. Otherwise, keeping it in warm temperatures increases oxidation rates, which creates a stale flavor that's not enjoyable at all.

Who Drank 106 Beers in One Night?

Late wrestling icon André the Giant reportedly consumed 106 beers in one night. The famous incident supposedly took place at a hotel bar in Charlotte, North Carolina, during the mid-1970s. 

He did the amazing drinking feat over the course of 5 to 6 hours. Weighing in at 500 pounds and standing 7 feet 4" may have made it easier for the striking professional wrestler to down so much alcohol and process it. 

Apparently, his manager Frank Val and Ric Flair, another wrestling legend, witnessed the occasion, but did not drink as many beers as Andre did. However, his manager did drink 56 beers of his own.

Tap Into Data to Enhance Your Brewery Business

Brewers are using real-time data across several aspects of their business to ensure they can deliver a tasty and  viable product from start to finish. This data starts from tracking ingredients during the supply chain and how those ingredients balance out during the brewing process. 

Real-time data enables compliance for fast sanitation and tracking the efficient use of tank usage. Once the beers are away from producers and in the hands of retailers, tracking continues as they can monitor customer behavior to see which flavor profiles and packaging options are selling the most.

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