The Beer Chronicles

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The Beer Chronicles

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Posts Tagged microbrewery in india New or used equipments best approach when purchasing microbrewery equipments
leave a comment In India, the concept of microbrewery is in its early stages. That is why there are not much used equipments available at present. So, whenever we talk about used equipments we look at the equipment which are originally designed for other industries. It could be dairies, soft drink plants, etc., where only some of the processing equipments can be used. The other option is to import the used equipment from markets like China or East Europe. Now lets have a look at the new equipments. There are few provider/suppliers are available in India or you can look at some other countries also for suppliers. Before we invite the proposal from suppliers, we should be very clear and specific about our requirements with detailed specifications. The more we nail down the details, the less is the margin of error and fewer changes during the course of construction which will result in less extra charges.
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Following are the set of points which should be considered while planning for microbrewery equipments:

How many different Beers do you plan on brewing How many brews would you be comfortable brewing per week (One brew generally takes upto 8 hours) What will be the yearly capacity of microbrewery It could be 200 Litres to 1000 Litres Beer per day. Space required for brewing equipments. What would be the outer finish of equipments Stainless steel (It would be the cheapest and easiest to maintain), Copper expensive and hardest to maintain, but best looking) or Stainless steel with copper bands. Where and how to consider integrating some used equipment.

Costing equipments and its installation. Packaging Bottles/cans and their sizes.
Please feel free to write me if you require any other information related to microbrewery equipments.
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Setting up a microbrewery Step-3 Feasibility study

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After doing conceptual examination and market intelligence for setting up a microbrewery, now is the time to do feasibility study. The main goal of feasibility study is to assess the economic viability of any startup project. The feasibility study needs to answer the question: Does the idea make economic sense? The study should provide a thorough analysis of the business opportunity, including a look at all the possible roadblocks that may stand in the way of a successful microbrewery set up. The outcome of the feasibility study will indicate whether or not to proceed with the proposed microbrewery project. If yes, then we can proceed to develop a business plan.(Which will be discussed in next post). Following are some points which should be addressed in course of doing the feasibility study:

Defining company, resources, skill, level of expertise, deficiencies, challenges Pros and cons of selected marketing strategy

Reasons of selected technology and equipments Potential of targeted market and production capacity, location (Where will the facility be located relative to the potential customers), logistics Initial or preliminary design Site plan, building layout, different processes to be followed, Capital cost estimate Construction/equipment set up cost estimate Operating cost estimate (This includes the daily costs involved in running the business, such as wages, rent, utilities, and interest payments on outstanding debt etc.) Financials analysis, profit & loss, balance sheets, alternative/variable cost analysis Based on the estimated revenues and costs, what is ROI (return on investment), tax considerations. Who are Qualified suppliers There are many manufacturers, suppliers (raw material like barley, hops, yeast etc. and equipments), even consultants. We need to ensure to get a quality product, whether equipment or service.
In essence the feasibility study should answer all the questions related to market, technical and organizational requirement and also about financial review. I hope this information will be useful to analyse the various factors, which are important and vital, while doing the feasibility study to setting up a microbrewery. Stay tuned to get a complete analysis on further steps/functions involved in setting up a microbrewery. Share your views/feedback/questions.
The Beer Chronicles

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Beer Types A comprehensive flow chart

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In my previous posts I have posted types of Beer. I found the following info on the net and found it worth sharing.
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Microbreweries in India
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A microbrewery is a brewery (Beer producing unit) which produces a limited amount of beer. The capacity of microbrewery in Beer production is ranges from 100 Litres per day to 5000 Litres per day. Microbrewery usually focus on brewing quality beers for local, statewide, or region wide distribution. Since microbreweries produce Beer in small batches so they are able to provide a diverse selection of Beer flavors and varieties. The concept of microbrewery first became popular in America, around 30 years ago. However now days microbrewery is becoming fast popular in India as well. There are many microbrewery units coming up India in the cities Like Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai etc. Microbreweries which are installed in pubs,restaurants, hotels, clubs, malls etc. are generally referred as Brewpubs. Based on the volume and variety of Beer produced microbrewery can also be reffered as contract brewery, regional brewery, craft brewery etc. There are lot of factors due to which restaurateurs, food enthusiasts and investors are looking at setting up Microbreweries in India. Some of them are mentioned below:

Young consumers prefer fresh and customized Beer over bottled Beer, largely because of exposure to global trends Unpasteurized nature of Beer Beer consumption market is growing rapidly (More than 300% in North India) Cost of production is less than buying commercial Beers Low taxing condition and licencing fee levied by state excise government (though some investors debate that the taxes are pretty high, compared to the global market) Its easy to set your own microbrewery, specially with specialized consultants available with the requisite knowledge
Whats your view on the above? I often go there with my friends for some fresh and chilled beer at this wonderful brewery next door. In my next post I shall discuss as what all it require to set up a microbrewery. So stay tuned with a glass of Beer!!
Beer Making Process

leave a comment Brewing in the brewery by a brewer makes the beer . However this is not as simple as it is written. The execution is highly precise and in fact sophisticated. It requires a series of steps, to make a good brew. It has to go through the phases of Malting, Milling, Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, Fermenting, Conditioning, Filtering, and Packaging. I have briefly mentioned about each of the steps, followed by a brewing flowchart: 1. Malting: Here the conversion from carbohydrates to dextrin and maltose takes place. The grain used as the raw material is usually barley. Barley as a cereal can be preserved for a long time after harvesting and it is the malted barley that gives Beer its characteristic color and taste. 2. Milling: The malt is then mixed with water to complete the conversion of starches in the grain to sugar. After that the grain is milled to create the proper consistency to the malt. 3. Mashing: This process converts the starches released during the malting stage, into sugars that can be fermented.
4. Lautering: The liquid containing the sugar extracted during mashing is now separated from the grains. It is then generally termed as wort. 5. Boiling and Hopping: Boiling the wort, ensures its sterility, and thus prevents a lot of infections. Hops are added during this stage of boiling.As I mentioned in my earlier post, hops are used to add flavor and aroma to balance the sweetness of the malt. 6. Fermenting: The yeast is now added and the Beer is fermented. The yeast breaks down the sugars extracted from the malt to form alcohol and CO2. 7. Conditioning: Fermented Beer contains suspended particles, lacks sufficient carbonation, lacks taste and aroma, and less stable. Conditioning reduces the levels of these undesirable compounds to produce a more finished product.
8. Filtering: Filtration helps to remove excess of the yeast and any solids, like hops or grain particles, remaining in the Beer. Filtering is the process which produces the clear, bright and stable Beer. 9. Packaging: Packaging is putting the beer into the bottles, cans or some other high volume vessels. One of the most important things in packaging is to exclude oxygen away from the Beer. These are the basic steps and the style of brewing may vary little. These can be customized to improve the taste of your beer. I will follow up this post with the type of machinery, equipments, weather conditions, for the Beer making process. All about beer
How to set up a microbrewery step 1 Conceptual examination

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In my last post I discussed and drafted nine key functions that we must address when we are setting up a microbrewery. Since the steps involved are many, this would become a very lengthy post. So I have broken down the content in small posts. In case you want any detailed information, you can always write to us. As all good project start, the first step is to do an conceptual examination. Here we generally answer the questions which starts from how, why, where, etc. Answering these questions, gives you clarity and a sense of purpose to the entire thing. Some of the factors (along with some pointers) that you should have answers to, are mentioned below:

Why do you want to start a microbrewery? A microbrewery or a brewpub Apart from size, the main difference is that a brewpub is an installation that brews its own Beer for the consumption at its premises like club, pub,
hotel etc. While a microbrewery is a small independent brewing operation that sells to local market, club, pub with or without their own brand name.
Will it be a partnership or own venture? Who are your potential partners, their strengths/weakness in your business What will be the size, capacity of microbrewery? 1000L or more per batch of brewing Where will the micobrewery located? Land cost, aquisition etc. What are the kinds of Beer that will be produced What flavours Where will you source the raw materials Agencies, Distributors, locally/ internationally What kind of documentation will be required? Licensing, paperwork etc. How will the packaging, brand naming etc.work? Branding agencies, How will the logistics (distributions) work? Through agents or wil you bee selling to a larger brewery. Where will the financing come from? Though this is complete step in our process which only can be analysed once the market is defined, type of Beer to be produced, raw material, equipments have been selected and their cost. However a rough estimate about costs and form where the money is coming from, should be known to go ahead for the project. Malt extract or whole grain Based on your objective, target audience, you can take your decision. What are your manpower requirements? Brewmasters, Accountant, Engineer, Logistics, Admin etc. Where to find expert advice? Hire a consultant, contact to some existing microbrewery owners.
In my next post I shall discuss about the Market examination/Intelligence required before setting up a microbrewery. All about beer
The Lager Yeast

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About 600 years ago, the German lager was born, but it is a mystery how the yeast (responsible for making lager) which originated in Agentina, traveled to Europe. Lager was invented around the same time, when Columbus set sail, could it be him? Since the 1980s, geneticists have known that the lager is made of of S.pastorianus which in turn was a hybrid of two yeast species S. cerevisiae (used in making ales, wines and bread) and another unidentified organism. For many decades, this unidentified organism had baffled scientists. Now in the last five years a scientific team has discoered, identified and named the organism Saccharomysces eubayanus. The yeast is said to be 99.5% identical to the non-ale portion of the lager genome. This orange colored yeast was found in galls on southern beech trees in Patagonia, Argentina. The galls are used to make a fermenented beverage by the natives. The scientists believe that the organism found its way to Europe and hybridized with the domestic yeast used to brew ale, creating an organism that can ferment at the lower temperatures used to make lager. All about beer
How Big Should A Brewery Be?

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Continuing on my previous post about competion analysis and knowing what kind of beer (Lager, Ale and/or own beer) will be served, it becomes important to answer how big should the brewery be? While setting up a microbrewery one should always allow room for future expansion. We know that the single most expensive part in the functioning of a brewpub will be the equipment itself and it will not be possible to keep changing the equiment frequently. Most brewpubs brew in seven or ten barrel batches, depending on the location, the size of the premises and what they are serving. Most brewpub start-up systems go with a seven barrel system. This will suffice for medium sized, retail only brewpubs. If it is an ambitious project, then one must consider upwards of ten barrel systems. Also while designing a brewpub, one must remember that the brewery system will occupy approx 1000 square feet (for a seven barrel brewery) plus another 1000-1500 square feet for operations. A larger brewery system will take up more space. However much that we desire, it will be impossible to brew round-the-clock. As an entrepreneur one must keep in mind that there would be at least 15 days total production time for ales and about 21 days for normal lagers. Add to this the number of different types of beers you wish to sell, you can then decide the volume you need to brew each week. Initially I would suggest few brews per week and gradually increasing it. This way you will have an idea about the possible demand, capacity to brew and can then work out the brewlength depending upon the hours you wish. Ideally two to three brews per week is very much doable, keeping in mind that one would require time at the start & end of the week for activities like warm up, cleaning, maintainence and some time for the inevitable breakdowns. If you are doing less than two brews/week then you are surely oversized and if you are doing more than three brews/week then you are undersized, keeping in mind the expansion. A good consultant should help you estimate the annual production, identify and install the right brewery equipment for your brewpub. All about beer
What Beer Are You Serving?

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The other day I was with a gentleman, who is in the process of setting up a microbrewery/ brewpub. While a lot of detailing was in place about the location, feel of the interiors, licencing, identifying prospect places to buy their equipment from, it seemed few measures had been taken to identify the brews that would eventually be served at the brewpub. The kind of resources that we have today, makes it possible to have 16 billion different brews. I was reading that there are about 150 varieties of malt extracts, 15 specialty grains, 25 hops, and 32 yeast varieties which are available to the brewer today. Given this fact, it is important to consider what brew is being served to the customer. A good way to launch a brewpub is to get the brewing licence for a good international brand and introduce the flavours to the local market, or brew your own. While a good consultant should help you achieve the former, a good brewmaster would be able to deliver a good brew based on resources available, taste and likeability factor by the customers. While personal choice is important when considering what to serve like a stout, a lager, an ale or even flavored beer like strawberry, cranberry and so on, one must also think on the following while answering what to brew? Competition: You may be the first to open a brewpub in a city, or setting up in a place, where a brewpub already exists. So what would differentiate you? It will be wise to peep into the neighborhood taverns, pubs, restrobars, brewpubs and profile the place vis-a-vis menu, seating, entertainment options, theme etc. Doing this successfully will give you a heads-up in doing your own brewpub and also understanding what kind of brew your customers would like and what kind of food can be paired along with it. Clientele: Once you have got a hang of what your competition offers or doesnot offer, profiling customers is the next thing to realise your brew potential. Are you targetting the absolute beer enthusiasts, the young college going crowd, working professionals, creative people or a mix of all. Once you have identified the kind of clientle which will be walking into your brewpub it would be easier for you to identify the right brew to be served. You can perhaps engage your
prospect clientele with a survey about their liking or if there is a possibility to do small tasting sessions with select group of people. This will give you deep insights about their preferences and willingness to experiment. I had done an earlier post on the types of Beer available. You may find it useful here. Having answered What Beer are you Serving? it will also lead you to asking, How big should your Brewery be? What is the capacity of equipments that one should order etc. Since it will be a bit of lengthy post, I will take it up next All about beer
Great British Beer Festival

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It was in 1975 when the first Beer Festival was held in London. 34 years on, this years GBBF (Great British Beer Festival) is bing held between Aug 02 and 06, at Earls court London. The festival is often dubbed as the biggest pub in the world with 450 beers participating from British breweries and som 200 beers participating from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Czech and even the USA 2010 saw approx 67000 visitors to the festival with approx 75 pints poured per minute, thats a whopping 200,000 pints sold. The festival is organised by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). While CAMRA promotes goodquality real ale and pubs and has systematically left out good hand crafted beers from the festival, there has been much debate about inclusion of craft beers. However this year will see the inclusion of craft beer at the venue.
This round goes to the beer lover. May the best Beer win All about beer
Who is Influencing your Beer?

leave a comment Are you looking for people who can give you advice on Beer. Look no further, Klout a social website has aggregated a lost of top 10 influencers on the topic of beer. These influencers are chosen by looking at the action theyre taking specifically on beer and related topics.
You can read more about the influencers here.
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Lambic beer beer or wine?

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Most people I know would trade the world for a glass of chilled, cold beer and have a huge smile on their face once they have it. They would smirk at people having the sophisticated glass of wine and likewise. But very few people know that a glass of beer can be as expensive and sophisticated as the delicate wine. There are fierce loyalists to this type of beer known as the Lambic beer. Lambics are living beers that contain living microbes and is brewed in the southwest region of Brussels, Belgium. Traditionally, wheat beer is made with 70% barley malt, 30% unmalted wheat and hops are added only as preservatives, not for the bitterness. Lambics is then fermented by exposing it to wild yeasts and bacteria that are native to the Senne valley, in Brussels. The fermented brew is stored in barrels, just like wine, for a period of 3-4 months (young) to about 3-6 years (mature). This unusual process gives the beer its distinctive dry, vinous, and cidery flavour with a slight aftertaste. The aged brew stored in cool, dark places or under mild refrigeration takes on a rich, fruity complexity and much like wine, are not exposed to excessive temperatures because the living microbes will otherwise die. This delicate craft of producing a Lambic, makes it the most sought after fine drink, just like wine. Lambic beer, is to be savored like wine and not gulped like beer often is The beer is often paired with a wide range of foods. A true Lambic beer goes well with light, white meat entrees like roasted rosemary lemon chicken and goes wonderfully well with desserts from chocolates, to cheesecakes.
The Timmermans Brewery has been around for more than 300 years brewing Lambic beer. History traces them to 1702 when they set up their brewery in Itterbeek. It was then known as Brasserie de la Taupe. Today they produce a fine variety of Lambic beer namel y: Tradition Gueuze Lambic, Tradition Faro Lambic, Tradition Lambicus, Framboise Lambic, Kriek Lambic, Peche Lambic, Strawberry Lambic. The types of Lambic/ Derived beer and the foods that they are usually paired with are: Gueuze: A good gueuze can be kept for about 10-20 years, and is made by refermenting (for a year) a mixture of bottled young (1 year old) and old (2/3 year old) lambics. Gueuze is usually paired with spiced desserts. Faro: A light, sweet beer made by adding water/lighter beer to lambics along with herbs and brown sugar. It tastes divine when had with a dark Belgian chocolate or a chocolate truffle. Kriek: Usually cherries are steeped in the beers, thereby producing a stark, penetrating dryness in the beer, accentuated by bitter, earthy and mineral flavors. Cheesecakes go well along with Kriek. Fruit: Lambics with addition of raspberries, strawberries, peaches, black currant and grapes. This has to be paired with fruit complimentary foods to feel the real richness of the flavor.
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Beer, India and the India Pale Beer

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With the rule of the British, came the beer. Before long, India had its first brewery in Shimla. This was around the late 1820s when Edward Dyer set up Dyer Beweries. It was in 1840s that Lion Beer, the first brand that was sold in the market and has since become famous as Asias then first, and now oldest beer. Also because of the British Empire, other countries like New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka started producing the beer. Over the years Dyer Breweries changed hands, and was renamed as Mohan Meakin Limited. Before setting up of the Dyer Breweries, The East India Company was importing a
lot of October beer, brewed by George Hodgson (Bow Brewery). The journey to India by ship, would usually take couple of months and it seems this style of beer stayed fresh (not flat) after the months of journey to India. Hodgson is often mentioned as the inventor of the India Pale beer. The Lion Beer was originally an India Pale Ale (IPA) and only in the 1960s did it become a lager. The IPA version of Lion Beer became such a hit with the Britishers in India that they would exclaim As good as back home. The name pale ale came from brews made from pale malt. Its roots have been traced since the 17th century Britain. This type of beer was lightly hopped and because there was less smoking/roasting of barley, the brew was paler in colour. The other styles of the IPA are:
American-Style Black Ale: This type of beer retains the aroma of a typical IPA style beer, but because of use of roasted malts, the appearance is dark/black. Belgian-Style IPA: Belgian brewers added thei own twist to the IPA by fermenting the IPA with a Belgian yeast strain and follow it with adding Belgian candi sugar. Double India Pale Ale: This type has a very high amount of malts, hops and usually the alcohol content is also above 7%. All about beer
Beer taste in different glasses

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There was a time we had the German Beer Stein glasses to keep the flies of, or the glasses which had bells attached, to attract the barman for a refill. Over time, the need based humble beer mug transformed design oriented. This was done to keep in mind how the head is formed, when the beer is poured to enhance the flavor and aroma. A true beer drinker knows that a glass in which the beer is served is more than a glass that displays the brand name of his favorite drink/ establishment and so on. Much like wines and the need to have wines in a certain glass/ temperature etc., beer also follows suit. Over time, glassware has become very important as the beer itself. There are breweries in Europe, where each brand of beer will often have its own glass. The exhaustive range of beer glasses that are available today range from the mug, goblet, pilsner, flute, snifter pint and weizner. The appropriate glass enhances the texture, flavor and aroma of the beer, whether bottled, tap or home-brewed. The thumb rule to keep in mind while choosing the appropriate glass ware is:
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A wider brim glass is suitable for darker beer. This helps in releasing the aroma and flavor of the beer.
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A thin pilsner glass is ideal for the pasteurized beer which comes in bottles. The glass enhances the color and how the beer is poured.
I will follow up the list with the types of glassware available for beer.
The Beer Archaeologist

By analyzing ancient pottery, Patrick McGovern is resurrecting the libations that fueled civilization
By Abigail Tucker Photographs by Landon Nordeman Smithsonian magazine, July-August 2011,
Its just after dawn at the Dogfish Head brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where the ambition for the morning is to resurrect an Egyptian ale whose recipe dates back thousands of years. But will the zaatara potent Middle Eastern spice mixture redolent of oreganoclobber the soft, floral flavor of the chamomile? And what about the dried doum-palm fruit, which has been giving off a worrisome fungusy scent ever since it was dropped in a brandy snifter of hot water and sampled as a tea? I want Dr. Pat to try this, says Sam Calagione, Dogfish Heads founder, frowning into his glass. At last, Patrick McGovern, a 66-year-old archaeologist, wanders into the little pub, an oddity among the hip young brewers in their sweat shirts and flannel. Proper to the point of primness, the University of Pennsylvania adjunct professor sports a crisp polo shirt, pressed khakis and well-tended loafers; his wire spectacles peek out from a blizzard of white hair and beard. But Calagione, grinning broadly, greets the dignified visitor like a treasured drinking buddy. Which, in a sense, he is. The truest alcohol enthusiasts will try almost anything to conjure the libations of old. Theyll slaughter goats to fashion fresh wineskins, so the vintage takes on an authentically gamey taste. Theyll brew beer in dung-tempered pottery or boil it by dropping in hot rocks. The Anchor Steam Brewery, in San Francisco, once cribbed ingredients from a 4,000-year-old hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian beer goddess. Dr. Pat, as hes known at Dogfish Head, is the worlds foremost expert on ancient fermented beverages, and he cracks long-forgotten recipes with chemistry, scouring ancient kegs and bottles for residue samples to scrutinize in the lab. He has identified the worlds oldest known barley beer (from Irans Zagros Mountains, dating to 3400 B.C.), the oldest grape wine (also
from the Zagros, circa 5400 B.C.) and the earliest known booze of any kind, a Neolithic grog from Chinas Yellow River Valley brewed some 9,000 years ago. Widely published in academic journals and books, McGoverns research has shed light on agriculture, medicine and trade routes during the pre-biblical era. Butand heres where Calagiones grin comes inits also inspired a couple of Dogfish Heads offerings, including Midas Touch, a beer based on decrepit refreshments recovered from King Midas 700 B.C. tomb, which has received more medals than any other Dogfish creation. Its called experimental archaeology, McGovern explains. To devise this latest Egyptian drink, the archaeologist and the brewer toured acres of spice stalls at the Khan el-Khalili, Cairos oldest and largest market, handpicking ingredients amid the squawks of soon-to-be decapitated chickens and under the surveillance of cameras for Brew Masters, a Discovery Channel reality show about Calagiones business. The ancients were liable to spike their drinks with all sorts of unpredictable stuffolive oil, bog myrtle, cheese, meadowsweet, mugwort, carrot, not to mention hallucinogens like hemp and poppy. But Calagione and McGovern based their Egyptian selections on the archaeologists work with the tomb of the Pharaoh Scorpion I, where a curious combination of savory, thyme and coriander showed up in the residues of libations interred with the monarch in 3150 B.C. (They decided the zaatar spice medley, which frequently includes all those herbs, plus oregano and several others, was a current-day substitute.) Other guidelines came from the even more ancient Wadi Kubbaniya, an 18,000-year-old site in Upper Egypt where starch-dusted stones, probably used for grinding sorghum or bulrush, were found with the remains of doum-palm fruit and chamomile. Its difficult to confirm, but its very likely they were making beer there, McGovern says. The brewers also went so far as to harvest a local yeast, which might be descended from ancient varieties (many commercial beers are made with manufactured cultures). They left sugar-filled petri dishes out overnight at a remote Egyptian date farm, to capture wild airborne yeast cells, then mailed the samples to a Belgian lab, where the organisms were isolated and grown in large quantities. Back at Dogfish Head, the tea of ingredients now inexplicably smacks of pineapple. McGovern advises the brewers to use less zaatar; they comply. The spices are dumped into a stainless steel kettle to stew with barley sugars and hops. McGovern acknowledges that the heat source should technically be wood or dried dung, not gas, but he notes approvingly that the kettles base is insulated with bricks, a suitably ancient technique. As the beer boils during lunch break, McGovern sidles up to the brewerys well-appointed bar and pours a tall, frosty Midas Touch for himself, spurning the Cokes nursed by the other brewers. Hes fond of citing the role of beer in ancient workplaces. For the pyramids, each worker got a daily ration of four to five liters, he says loudly, perhaps for Calagiones benefit. It was a source of nutrition, refreshment and reward for all the hard work. It was beer for pay.
You would have had a rebellion on your hands if theyd run out. The pyramids might not have been built if there hadnt been enough beer. Soon the little brew room is filled with fragrant roiling steam, with hints of toast and molasses an aroma that can only be described as intoxicating. The wort, or unfermented beer, emerges a pretty palomino color; the brewers add flasks of the yellowish, murky-looking Egyptian yeast and fermentation begins. They plan on making just seven kegs of the experimental beverage, to be unveiled in New York City two weeks later. The brewers are concerned because the beer will need that much time to age and nobody will be able to taste it in advance. McGovern, though, is thinking on another time scale entirely. This probably hasnt been smelled for 18,000 years, he sighs, inhaling the delicious air. The shelves of McGoverns office in the University of Pennsylvania Museum are packed with sober-sounding volumesStructural Inorganic Chemistry, Cattle-Keepers of the Eastern Saharaalong with bits of bacchanalia. There are replicas of ancient bronze drinking vessels, stoppered flasks of Chinese rice wine and an old empty Midas Touch bottle with a bit of amber goo in the bottom that might intrigue archaeologists thousands of years hence. Theres also a wreath that his wife, Doris, a retired university administrator, wove from wild Pennsylvania grape vines and the corks of favorite bottles. But while McGovern will occasionally toast a promising excavation with a splash of white wine sipped from a lab beaker, the only suggestion of personal vice is a stack of chocolate Jell-O pudding cups. The scientific director of the universitys Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory for Cuisine, Fermented Beverages, and Health, McGovern had had an eventful fall. Along with touring Egypt with Calagione, he traveled to Austria for a conference on Iranian wine and also to France, where he attended a wine conference in Burgundy, toured a trio of Champagne houses, drank Chablis in Chablis and stopped by a critical excavation near the southern coast. Yet even strolling the halls with McGovern can be an education. Another professor stops him to discuss, at length, the folly of extracting woolly mammoth fats from permafrost. Then we run into Alexei Vranich, an expert on pre-Columbian Peru, who complains that the last time he drank chicha (a traditional Peruvian beer made with corn that has been chewed and spit out), the accompanying meal of roast guinea pigs was egregiously undercooked. You want guinea pigs crunchy, like bacon, Vranich says. He and McGovern talk chicha for a while. Thank you so much for your research, Vranich says as he departs. I keep telling people that beer is more important than armies when it comes to understanding people. We are making our way down to the human ecology lab, where McGoverns technicians are borrowing some equipment. McGovern has innumerable collaborators, partly because his work is so engaging, and partly because he is able to repay kindnesses with bottles of Midas Touch, whose Iron Age-era recipe of muscat grapes, saffron, barley and honey is said to be reminiscent of Sauternes, the glorious French dessert wine.
In the lab, a flask of coffee-colored liquid bubbles on a hot plate. It contains tiny fragments from an ancient Etruscan amphora found at the French dig McGovern had just visited. The ceramic powder, which had been painstakingly extracted from the amphoras base with a diamond drill, is boiling in a chloroform and methanol solvent meant to pull out ancient organic compounds that might have soaked into the pottery. McGovern is hoping to determine whether the amphora once contained wine, which would point to how the beverage arrived in France in the first placea rather ticklish topic. We think of France as sort of synonymous with wine, McGovern says. The French spent so much time developing all these different varietals, and those plants were taken all over the world and became the basis of the Australian industry, the Californian industry and so forth. France is a key to the whole worldwide culture of wine, but how did wine get to France? Thats the question. Francophiles might not like the answer. Today wine is so integral to French culture that French archaeologists include the cost of cases in their excavation budgets. McGovern, however, suspects that wine was being produced in Etruriapresent-day central Italywell before the first French vineyards were planted on the Mediterranean coast. Until Etruscan merchants began exporting wine to what is now France around 600 B.C., the Gauls were likely guzzling what their epicurean descendants would consider a barbaric blend of honey or wheat, filtered through reeds or mustaches. McGoverns Etruscan amphora was excavated from a house in Lattes, France, which was built around 525 B.C. and destroyed in 475 B.C. If the French were still drinking Etruscan vintages at that point, it would suggest they had not established their own wineries yet. The trick is proving that the amphora contained wine. McGovern cant simply look for the presence of alcohol, which survives barely a few months, let alone millennia, before evaporating or turning to vinegar. Instead, he pursues what are known as fingerprint compounds. For instance, traces of beeswax hydrocarbons indicate honeyed drinks; calcium oxalate, a bitter, whitish byproduct of brewed barley also known as beer stone, means barley beer. Tree resin is a strong but not surefire indicator of wine, because vintners of old often added resin as a preservative, lending the beverage a pleasing lemony flavor. (McGovern would like to test the Lattes samples for resin from a cypress-like tree; its presence would suggest the Etruscans were in contact with Phoenician colonies in Northern Africa, where that species grows.) The only foolproof way to identify ancient wine from this region is the presence of tartaric acid, a compound in grapes. Once the boiling brown pottery mixture cooks down to a powder, says Gretchen Hall, a researcher collaborating with McGovern, theyll run the sample through an infrared spectrometer. That will produce a distinctive visual pattern based on how its multiple chemical constituents absorb and reflect light. Theyll compare the results against the profile for tartaric acid. If theres a match or a near-match, they may do other preliminary checks, like the Feigl spot test, in which the sample is mixed with sulfuric acid and a phenol derivative: if the resulting
compound glows green under ultraviolet light, it most likely contains tartaric acid. So far, the French samples look promising. McGovern already sent some material to Armen Mirzoian, a scientist at the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, whose primary job is verifying the contents of alcoholic beveragesthat, say, the gold flakes in the Italian-made Goldschlager schnapps are really gold. (They are.) His Beltsville, Maryland, lab is crowded with oddities such as a confiscated bottle of a distilled South Asian rice drink full of preserved cobras and vodka packaged in a container that looks like a set of Russian nesting dolls. He treats McGoverns samples with reverence, handling the dusty box like a prized Bordeaux. Its almost eerie, he whispers, fingering the bagged sherds inside. Some of these are 5,000, 6,000 years old. Months later, McGovern e-mails me with good news: Mirzoian has detected tartaric acid in the Lattes samples from France, making it all but certain they contained imported Etruscan wine. Also, the projects archaeologists have unearthed a limestone treading vat from 400 B.C.what would seem to be the earliest French wine press, just about 100 years younger than the Etruscan amphora. Between the two sets of artifacts, McGovern hopes to pinpoint the advent of French wine. We still need to know more about the other additives, he says, but so far we have excellent evidence. McGoverns Irish ancestors opened the first bar in Mitchell, South Dakota, in the late 1800s. His Norwegian predecessors were teetotalers. McGovern credits his relationship with alcohol to this mixed lineagehis interest is avid, not obsessive. In his student days at Cornell University and elsewhere, when McGovern dabbled in everything from neurochemistry to ancient literature, he knew little about alcohol. It was the late 1960s and early 1970s; other mind-altering substances were in vogue; the California wine revolution had barely begun and Americans were still knocking back all manner of swill. One summer, during which McGovern was partly in grad school, he says with the vagueness frequently reserved for the 70s, he and Doris toured the Middle East and Europe, living on a few dollars a day. En route to Jerusalem, they found themselves wandering Germanys Mosel wine region, asking small-town mayors if local vintners needed seasonal pickers. One winemaker, whose arbors dotted the steep slate slopes above the Moselle River, took them on, letting them board in his house. The first night there, the man of the house kept returning from his cellar with bottle after bottle, McGovern recalls, but he wouldnt ever show us what year it was. Of course, we didnt know anything about vintage, because we had never really drunk that much wine, and we were from the United States. But he kept bringing up bottle after bottle without telling us, and by the end of the evening, when we were totally drunkthe worst Ive ever been, my head going around in circles, lying on the bed feeling like Im in a vortexI knew that 1969 was terrible, 67 was good, 59 was superb.
McGovern arose the next morning with a seething hangover and an enduring fascination with wine. Earning his PhD in Near Eastern archaeology and history from the University of Pennsylvania, he ended up directing a dig in Jordans Baqah Valley for more than 20 years, and became an expert on Bronze and Iron Age pendants and pottery. (He admits he was once guilty of scrubbing ancient vessels clean of all their gunk.) By the 1980s, he had developed an interest in the study of organic materialshis undergraduate degree was in chemistryincluding jars containing royal purple, a once-priceless ancient dye the Phoenicians extracted from sea snail glands. The tools of molecular archaeology were swiftly developing, and a smidgen of sample could yield surprising insights about foods, medicines and even perfumes. Perhaps ancient containers were less important than the residues inside them, McGovern and other scholars began to think. A chemical study in the late 1970s revealed that a 100 B.C. Roman ship wrecked at sea had likely carried wine, but that was about the extent of ancient beverage science until 1988, when a colleague of McGoverns whod been studying Irans Godin Tepe site showed him a narrownecked pottery jar from 3100 B.C. with red stains. She thought maybe they were a wine deposit, McGovern remembers. We were kind of skeptical about that. He was even more dubious that wed be able to pick up fingerprint compounds that were preserved enough from 5,000 years ago. But he figured they should try. He decided tartaric acid was the right marker to look for, and we started figuring out different tests we could do. Infrared spectrometry. Liquid chromatography. The Feigl spot test....They all showed us that tartaric acid was present, McGovern says. He published quietly, in an in-house volume, hardly suspecting that he had discovered a new angle on the ancient world. But the 1990 article came to the attention of Robert Mondavi, the California wine tycoon who had stirred some controversy by promoting wine as part of a healthy lifestyle, calling it the temperate, civilized, sacred, romantic mealtime beverage recommended in the Bible. With McGoverns help, Mondavi organized a lavishly catered academic conference the next year in Napa Valley. Historians, geneticists, linguists, oenologists, archaeologists and viticulture experts from several countries conferred over elaborate dinners, the conversations buoyed by copious drafts of wine. We were interested in winemaking from all different perspectives, McGovern says. We wanted to understand the whole processto figure out how they domesticated the grape, and where did that happen, how do you tend grapes and the horticulture that goes into it. A new discipline was born, which scholars jokingly refer to as drinkology, or dipsology, the study of thirst. Back at Penn, McGovern soon began rifling through the museums storage-room catacombs for promising bits of pottery. Forgotten kitchen jars from a Neolithic Iranian village called Hajji Firuz revealed strange yellow stains. McGovern subjected them to his tartaric acid tests; they were positive. Hed happened upon the worlds oldest-known grape wine. Many of McGoverns most startling finds stem from other archaeologists spadework; he brings a fresh perspective to forgotten digs, and his excavations are sometimes no more taxing than
walking up or down a flight of stairs in his own museum to retrieve a sherd or two. Residues extracted from the drinking set of King Midaswho ruled over Phrygia, an ancient district of Turkeyhad languished in storage for 40 years before McGovern found them and went to work. The artifacts contained more than four pounds of organic materials, a treasureto a biomolecular archaeologistfar more precious than the kings fabled gold. But hes also adamant about travel and has done research on every continent except Australia (though he has lately been intrigued by Aborigine concoctions) and Antarctica (where there are no sources of fermentable sugar, anyway). McGovern is intrigued by traditional African honey beverages in Ethiopia and Uganda, which might illuminate humanitys first efforts to imbibe, and Peruvian spirits brewed from such diverse sources as quinoa, peanuts and pepper-tree berries. He has downed drinks of all descriptions, including Chinese baijiu, a distilled alcohol that tastes like bananas (but contains no banana) and is approximately 120 proof, and the freshly masticated Peruvian chicha, which he is too polite to admit he despises. (Its better when they flavor it with wild strawberries, he says firmly.) Partaking is important, he says, because drinking in modern societies offers insight into dead ones. I dont know if fermented beverages explain everything, but they help explain a lot about how cultures have developed, he says. You could say that kind of single-mindedness can lead you to over-interpret, but it also helps you make sense of a universal phenomenon. McGovern, in fact, believes that booze helped make us human. Yes, plenty of other creatures get drunk. Bingeing on fermented fruits, inebriated elephants go on trampling sprees and wasted birds plummet from their perches. Unlike distillation, which human beings actually invented (in China, around the first century A.D., McGovern suspects), fermentation is a natural process that occurs serendipitously: yeast cells consume sugar and create alcohol. Ripe figs laced with yeast drop from trees and ferment; honey sitting in a tree hollow packs quite a punch if mixed with the right proportion of rainwater and yeast and allowed to stand. Almost certainly, humanitys first nip was a stumbled-upon, short-lived elixir of this sort, which McGovern likes to call a Stone Age Beaujolais nouveau. But at some point the hunter-gatherers learned to maintain the buzz, a major breakthrough. By the time we became distinctly human 100,000 years ago, we would have known where there were certain fruits we could collect to make fermented beverages, McGovern says. We would have been very deliberate about going at the right time of the year to collect grains, fruits and tubers and making them into beverages at the beginning of the human race. (Alas, archaeologists are unlikely to find evidence of these preliminary hooches, fermented from things such as figs or baobab fruit, because their creators, in Africa, would have stored them in dried gourds and other containers that did not stand the test of time.) With a supply of mind-blowing beverages on hand, human civilization was off and running. In what might be called the beer before bread hypothesis, the desire for drink may have prompted the domestication of key crops, which led to permanent human settlements. Scientists, for instance, have measured atomic variations within the skeletal remains of New World humans; the technique, known as isotope analysis, allows researchers to determine the diets of the long-
deceased. When early Americans first tamed maize around 6000 B.C., they were probably drinking the corn in the form of wine rather than eating it, analysis has shown. Maybe even more important than their impact on early agriculture and settlement patterns, though, is how prehistoric potions opened our minds to other possibilities and helped foster new symbolic ways of thinking that helped make humankind unique, McGovern says. Fermented beverages are at the center of religions all around the world. [Alcohol] makes us who we are in a lot of ways. He contends that the altered state of mind that comes with intoxication could have helped fuel cave drawings, shamanistic medicine, dance rituals and other advancements. When McGovern traveled to China and discovered the oldest known alcohola heady blend of wild grapes, hawthorn, rice and honey that is now the basis for Dogfish Heads Chateau Jiahu he was touched but not entirely surprised to learn of another first unearthed at Jiahu, an ancient Yellow River Valley settlement: delicate flutes, made from the bones of the red-crowned crane, that are the worlds earliest-known, still playable musical instruments. Alcohol may be at the heart of human life, but the bulk of McGoverns most significant samples come from tombs. Many bygone cultures seem to have viewed death as a last call of sorts, and mourners provisioned the dead with beverages and receptaclesagate drinking horns, straws of lapis lazuli and, in the case of a Celtic woman buried in Burgundy around the sixth century B.C., a 1,200-liter caldronso they could continue to drink their fill in eternity. King Scorpion Is tomb was flush with once-full wine jars. Later Egyptians simply diagramed beer recipes on the walls so the pharaohs servants in the afterlife could brew more (presumably freeing up existing beverages for the living). Some of the departed had festive plans for the afterlife. In 1957, when University of Pennsylvania archaeologists first tunneled into the nearly airtight tomb of King Midas, encased in an earthen mound near Ankara, Turkey, they discovered the body of a 60- to 65-year-old man fabulously arrayed on a bed of purple and blue cloth beside the largest cache of Iron Age drinking paraphernalia ever found:157 bronze buckets, vats and bowls. And as soon as the archaeologists let fresh air into the vault, the tapestries vivid colors began fading before their eyes. Archaeology is, at heart, a destructive science, McGovern recently told an audience at the Smithsonians National Museum of the American Indian: Every time you excavate, you destroy. That may be why he likes dreaming up new beers so much. Dogfish Heads Ta Henket (ancient Egyptian for bread beer) was unveiled last November in New York, in the midst of a glittering King Tut exhibit at Discovery Times Square. Euphoric (or maybe just tipsy) beer nerds and a few members of the press file into an auditorium adorned with faux obelisks and bistro tables, each with a bowl of nuts in the center. The words dog, fish and head in hieroglyphics are projected on the walls.
Onstage beside McGovern, Calagione, swigging an auburn-colored ale, tells the flushed crowd about how he and the archaeologist joined forces. In 2000, at a Penn Museum dinner hosted by a British beer and whiskey guidebook writer, Michael Jackson, McGovern announced his intention to recreate King Midas last libations from the excavated residue that had moldered in museum storage for 40 years. All interested brewers should meet in his lab at 9 the next morning, he said. Even after the nights revelry, several dozen showed up. Calagione wooed McGovern with a plum-laced medieval braggot (a type of malt and honey mead) that he had been toying with; McGovern, already a fan of the brewerys Shelter Pale Ale, soon paid a visit to the Delaware facility. When he first met Dr. Pat, Calagione tells the audience, the first thing I was struck by was, Oh my God, this guy looks nothing like a professor. The crowd roars with laughter. McGovern, buttoned into a cardigan sweater, is practically the hieroglyphic for professor. But he won over the brewer when, a few minutes into that first morning meeting, he filled his coffee mug with Chicory Stout. Hes one of us, Calagione says. Hes a beer guy. Ta Henket is their fifth collaborationalong with Midas Touch and Chateau Jiahu, theyve made Theobroma, based on an archaic Honduran chocolate drink, and chicha. (All are commercially available, though only five barrels of the chicha are made per year.) McGovern is paid for his consulting services. Now the inaugural pitchers of Ta Henket are being poured from kegs at the back of the room. Neither Calagione nor McGovern has yet tasted the stuff. It emerges peach-colored and opaque, the foam as thick as whipped cream. The brew, which will be available for sale this fall, later receives mixed reviews online. Think citrus, herbs, bubblegum, one reviewer writes. Rosemary? Honey? Sesame? I cant identify all the spices. Nose is old vegetables and yeast, says another. As soon as he has sampled a mouthful, McGovern seizes a pitcher and begins pouring pints for the audience, giving off a shy glow. He enjoys the showmanship. When Midas Touch debuted in 2000, he helped recreate the rulers funerary feast in a gallery of the Penn Museum. The main course was a traditional lentil and barbecued lamb stew, followed by fennel tarts in pomegranate jus. Midas eternal beverage of choice was served with dessert, in wine glasses that showed off its bewitching colora warm caramel with glimmers of gold. In his laboratory, McGovern keeps an envelope containing Neolithic grape seeds, which he wheedled out of a viticulture professor in Georgia (the country, not the state) years ago. The man had six desiccated pips in good condition, ideal for DNA analysis. I said, Maybe we could take some of those back and analyze them, McGovern recalls. He said, No, no, theyre too important. This would be for the cause of science, McGovern persisted.
The Georgian left the room for a moment to agonize, and returned to say that McGovern and science could have two of the ancient seeds. Parting with them, he said, was like parting with his soul. The scholars raised a glass of white Muscat Alexandrueli to mark the occasion. But McGovern has still not tested the seeds, because hes not yet confident in the available DNA extraction methods. He has just one chance at analysis, and then the 6,000-year-old samples will be reduced to dust. One day I ask McGovern what sort of libation hed like in his own tomb. Chateau Jiahu, he says, ever the Dogfish Head loyalist. But after a moment he changes his mind. The grapes he and his wife helped pick in the summer of 1971 turned out to yield perhaps the best Mosel Riesling of the last century. We had bottles of that wine that we let sit in the cellar for a while, and when we opened them up it was like some sort of ambrosia, he says. It was an elixir, something out of this world. If you were going to drink something for eternity you might drink that. In general, though, the couple enjoys whatever bottles they have on hand. These days McGovern barely bothers with his cellar: My wife says I tend to age things too long. Staff writer Abigail Tucker last wrote about Blackbeards treasure. Photographer Landon Nordeman is based in New York. Editor's note: An earlier version of this article mentioned an Egyptian ale recipe that dates back hundreds of centuries. The article now says the recipe dates back thousands of years. All about beer
List of equipments required during microbrewery set up

leave a comment In the last post we discussed about the various questions to be answered when it comes to equipment selection in microbrewery. We discussed whether we should use new or old equipment. If we are using new equipment what all things to consider before placing order for equipments. In this post we shall discuss about the various kind of equipement required in microbrewery. Here we will discuss the main equipment required for a 1000l/batch Microbrewery. This is not a complete list but it covers the major equipment requirement. I have categories the equipment based on their functioning. These caterogies are Mash System, Fermentation system, Cooling system, Filter system, Controlling system and Cleaning system. The equipments required under these categories are mentioned below: Mash System
Mash tank

Lauter tun Electric stream generator
Malt mill machine Wort pump Plat heat exchanger
Fermentation system

Fermentation tank Yeast adding equipment Cooling pump
Cooling system

Ice liquid tank Refrigeration machine
Filter system

Filter diamite tank Pump
Controlling system

Meter controlling board Regerator board PLC controll board
http://microbrewery.wordpress.com/ Cleaning system

Sterilize tank Alkali liquor tank Washing pump
Feel free to get in touch with me in case you require information related to equipment, costing or any other information about microbrewery set up.
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Keg and Cask Beer

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How does one distinguish between a Keg and a Cask beer? A true beer lover usually differentiates by the following 3 ways: Temperature: Cask beer is usually warmer than the temperature controlled cold Keg beer. However nowadays, many pubs keep the cask beer in chillers, which keeps the temperature low than the desired level. So often the temperature at which the beer is served is usually same. However a good pub serves the cask beer at the right temperature. Smell and taste: Cask beer has much more wholesomeness and fresher aroma to it than a bottled beer. Though the intensity of the aroma is less because a cask usually comes in touch with the air much before a bottled beer. But the flavour is awesome because of less carbonation. However with bottled beer, it is the burst of bubbles which takes precedence and doesnot allow to taste the beer first. Only once when the beer has settled down is when you can actually enjoy the taste of a bottled beer.
How it feels: Cask beer shouldnt be fizzy. If it is, it means that the Beer has been retreived too soon. A beer should have a natural feel to it doing what it should do that is makes you want to drink another sip All about beer
Setting up a microbrewery-Step-9-Operational management

leave a comment In general terms Operational Management is the business function that is
responsible for managing and coordinating the resources needed to produce a companys products and services. Simply put Operational Management transforms inputs to outputs. In our case inputs are resources such as raw material (barley, hops, yeast), microbrewery plan (equipments), human resource (brew master, plant operator etc.) and output would be delicious Beer. So, now let us look at some of the points which we need to consider in operational management of during microbrewery set up:

Manpower like operator, staff, brew master hiring and training Performance and acceptance testing Trial brew with very less volume Product testing, formulating Performance evaluation of the brew process and report Trouble shooting, correction, modification Monitoring the operation of plant, process and production Plant maintenance Inventory and production control

Operation accounting Final acceptance
So, we are through all the functions/steps required to start up a micrbrewery. I know there could be many more questions that will require answers when building a microbrewery. However I am hopeful that you will find the answers for most of the key questions. In case you do not find your answers here yet or you wish to discuss some part of the microbrewey set up/ promotions etc. then please feel free to contact us through the contact form on the right hand side of this page. Hope to hear from you soon!
Setting up a microbrewery-Step- 8 Inspection/Review

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Till now we have followed microbrewery set up function/steps systematically, each step with a specified deliverables. Now is the time for inspection/review our implementation part. Without a thorough testing/inspection effort, the project will undoubtedly fail overall and will impact the entire operational performance of the project. So the verification and validation are very important to ensure that we are moving in the right direction. I am sure there would be many things which will not fall as per the planning and need last minute attention. This can only be point out with a proper inspection/review of the progress. Since we have our check list ready from the previous steps, we just need to make sure that the implementation is as per expectation. Following points can be considered while performing the inspection/review:

To check if things are as per the project planning Equipments inspection To check their specifications, working and output. Mechanical acceptance tests To check each machinery at microbrewery should perform as they ought to be Checklist of all documentation, certifications, reports, approvals etc. are to be prepared Proper installation, operation, and maintenance of machinery Material examination Barley, hops, yeast etc Final inspection List down the deficiencies
A proper inspection will make sure smooth operation. So a good amount of time can be given to inspection part to make sure we have not left anything untested. In the next and final step I shall discuss about the operational management in detail.
Setting up a microbrewery-Step-7 Implementaion

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Only a good project planning can lead towards a right project implementation. All the planning should have completed before we move to implementation part because we can not start planning for implementation while we are actually implementing. We can use some project management technique to manage the project. We can use CPM/PERT (Critical path method / Performance evaluation review technique). It will help us organize our thoughts and work. It may help us in following ways:

Prediction of deliverables Planning resource requirements

Controlling resource allocation Internal program review External program review Performance evaluation Easy to use
Let us now look at the different points to be considered at the implementation stage of a microbrewery.

CPM/PERT network, detailed structure and schedules Freezing out progress monitoring procedures Freezing out reports in terms of types, frequency and scope. Order beforehand, major equipment and long delivery items Depending on location delivery may take 30 to 60 days. Complete and detailed Working drawings Infrastructure
Construction material drains architectural piping, electrical

Selecting best among the specifications and technical bid documents Review Vendors drawings, program details, projections and performance Giving contracts to contractors to take things forward Construction management systems and procedures Process for other pending licenses/ legal requirements Note down the feasible changes
Phew! Implementation is the most tough and interesting task. Here you can see your dream actually taking a shape! Share your views. All about beer
Setting up a microbrewery-Step-6 Project planning

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Okay, so as of now we are done with first five steps required to set up a microbrewery, they are Conceptual examination, Market intelligence, Feasibility study, Project justification and Financial analysis. Today we are going to discuss the next step which is project planning. Till now we have gathered and analysed lots of relevant info/knowledge. In this step we are going to convert that knowledge to concrete plans, objectives and deliverables. Project planning basically is a discipline to pin down as what all steps are required to complete a project within a certain timeframe, along with defined stages, and with designated resources. It can be divided into 4 simple steps as follows: Setting objectives measurable objectives in terms of timeframe. Identifying deliverables specify when and what task would be delivered. Planning the scheduling Effort required for different series of tasks along with the schedule. Making supporting plans who will do what work, communication channel, amount of risk involved in accomplishing the different tasks etc. Now let us look at some of the points we need to look at while doing a project planning for a microbrewery set up:

Master schedule with smaller tasks and respective goals Work break up who is doing what, how and with timeline Complete details of every step like detailed engineering, working drawings. Lists for different vendors/contractors/suppliers Procedural strategy

Procurement commercial terms and conditions, warranties Liability list ready during construction, operation, product Cost control estimates Cash flow forecasts, establish contingency plan Equipment decision new/old, who will supply Basic amenities like electricity, water, transportation/logistics
Tell me if I am missing any point in project planning. In next post will discuss about the implementation part. Share your views.
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Setting up a microbrewery step-4 Project justification/Business plan

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As of now we are done with initial 3 functions/steps required to set up a microbrewery. We are done with conceptual examination, market intelligence and feasibility study. At this point, we will know if it is worth proceeding. The assumptions in the Feasibility Study can be tested and formalized to enable final investment decision to be made. Based on the outcomes of feasibility study we create a business plan. The business plan builds on the information that was obtained through the feasibility study, but provides a more detailed and specific blueprint that map out the microbrewery strategy. A
business plan is similar to operating a company on paper. It sets out the goals of the microbrewery and how we intend to reach those goals. There are two basic purposes of a business plan: External purpose The business plan helps to obtain financing from potential investors/banks. A business plan generally an answer to the common question of the investors, Why should I invest in this business?. They analyze how well we have analyzed the business opportunity and planned accordingly. So the business plan becomes the primary fund raising tool also. That is why it should provide an honest and straightforward examination of the business opportunities. Internal purpose A business plan provides a blueprint for us to follow. It helps in listing down all the business activities which is useful to evaluate the all aspect of business. It also serves as parameter against which our performance can be measured as we go on gradually to setting up a successful microbrewery. The other areas which need to address in business plan are industry knowledge gathering, market intelligence, operation management, financial plan, risk analysis, review and right implementation. Some of the points we have discussed already and rest of them will be discussed in my coming posts. In my next post Ill discuss in detail about the financing part. Keep your views/questions coming along this journey of setting up a microbrewery!!
Setting up a microbrewery Step-3 Feasibility study

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After doing conceptual examination and market intelligence for setting up a microbrewery, now is the time to do feasibility study. The main goal of feasibility study is to assess the economic viability of any startup project. The feasibility study needs to answer the question: Does the idea make economic sense? The study should provide a thorough analysis of the business opportunity, including a look at all the
possible roadblocks that may stand in the way of a successful microbrewery set up. The outcome of the feasibility study will indicate whether or not to proceed with the proposed microbrewery project. If yes, then we can proceed to develop a business plan.(Which will be discussed in next post). Following are some points which should be addressed in course of doing the feasibility study:

Defining company, resources, skill, level of expertise, deficiencies, challenges Pros and cons of selected marketing strategy Reasons of selected technology and equipments Potential of targeted market and production capacity, location (Where will the facility be located relative to the potential customers), logistics Initial or preliminary design Site plan, building layout, different processes to be followed, Capital cost estimate Construction/equipment set up cost estimate Operating cost estimate (This includes the daily costs involved in running the business, such as wages, rent, utilities, and interest payments on outstanding debt etc.) Financials analysis, profit & loss, balance sheets, alternative/variable cost analysis Based on the estimated revenues and costs, what is ROI (return on investment), tax considerations. Who are Qualified suppliers There are many manufacturers, suppliers (raw material like barley, hops, yeast etc. and equipments), even consultants. We need to ensure to get a quality product, whether equipment or service.
In essence the feasibility study should answer all the questions related to market, technical and organizational requirement and also about financial review. I hope this information will be useful to analyse the various factors, which are important and vital, while doing the feasibility study to setting up a microbrewery. Stay tuned to get a complete analysis on further steps/functions involved in setting up a microbrewery. Share your views/feedback/questions.
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How to set up a microbrewery step 2 Market examination/Intelligence

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In my previous post I discussed about the various functions/steps to go through before setting up a microbrewery. I also discussed the first step, Conceptual examination in detail. In this post I shall discuss the importance of market examination and various questions need to be answered. Before starting any business we have to do an extensive market examination. Market intelligence can help to understand where opportunities lie for the business, how big a challenge they represent, and what we need to do to succeed. Some of the important factors which need to be considered while doing a market examination for your microbrewery, are mentioned below:

Target market and the market segmentation based on your initial objectives. What is the structure and size of your target market and their purchasing power. What all kinds of Beer are available and popular in your target market How significant is size of target market to size of your microbrewery project. What are the localization of demand for specialty Beers and the level of competition

What kind of Beer people prefer in your target area. Income groups and price range of your target market. What are the distributive trade practices, restrictions, preferences. Regulatory requirements, local approvals, product approvals etc. Estimates of sales revenue, costs of sales, distribution costs. Have I forgotten anything? Do write me a note
Some of the answers you may already have in your mind, and for some you would have to do your research. It would be good that you spend some time seeking these answers, because they will become the backbone to your operations. A good consultant/ market research firm can help you document these answers. In next post I shall discuss the third step/function which is feasibility study. All about beer
How to set up a microbrewery step 1 Conceptual examination

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In my last post I discussed and drafted nine key functions that we must address when we are setting up a microbrewery. Since the steps involved are many, this would become a very lengthy post. So I have broken down the content in small posts. In case you want any detailed information, you can always write to us. As all good project start, the first step is to do an conceptual examination. Here we generally answer the questions which starts from how, why, where, etc. Answering these questions, gives you clarity and a sense of purpose to the entire thing.
Some of the factors (along with some pointers) that you should have answers to, are mentioned below:

Why do you want to start a microbrewery? A microbrewery or a brewpub Apart from size, the main difference is that a brewpub is an installation that brews its own Beer for the consumption at its premises like club, pub, hotel etc. While a microbrewery is a small independent brewing operation that sells to local market, club, pub with or without their own brand name. Will it be a partnership or own venture? Who are your potential partners, their strengths/weakness in your business What will be the size, capacity of microbrewery? 1000L or more per batch of brewing Where will the micobrewery located? Land cost, aquisition etc. What are the kinds of Beer that will be produced What flavours Where will you source the raw materials Agencies, Distributors, locally/ internationally What kind of documentation will be required? Licensing, paperwork etc. How will the packaging, brand naming etc.work? Branding agencies, How will the logistics (distributions) work? Through agents or wil you bee selling to a larger brewery. Where will the financing come from? Though this is complete step in our process which only can be analysed once the market is defined, type of Beer to be produced, raw material, equipments have been selected and their cost. However a rough estimate about costs and form where the money is coming from, should be known to go ahead for the project. Malt extract or whole grain Based on your objective, target audience, you can take your decision. What are your manpower requirements? Brewmasters, Accountant, Engineer, Logistics, Admin etc. Where to find expert advice? Hire a consultant, contact to some existing microbrewery owners.
In my next post I shall discuss about the Market examination/Intelligence required before setting up a microbrewery. All about beer
How to set up a Microbrewery A complete approach to planning, building and running

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So you want to set up and operate a Microbrewery? Well this blog post is intented to provide a summary of all the steps to setting up a successful Microbrewery operation, from starting to serving. You must be having some unanswered questions on how to go about setting up a Microbrewery and brewing industry. I shall try to address all of them one by one. Its not too long when the first microbrewery was established in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. Since then people have responed/appreciated this idea of Microbrewery very well and in no time has become a great potential in an exciting new industry that has all kinds of possibilities for growth, profit, and fun. Setting up a Microbrewery from scratch is a capital project that can be broken down into nine basic functions. You can also call it a Microbrewery development life cycle. Each function is very critical and must be managed properly, from very first step of conceptualization to the end step serving. At every step/function there are whole lot of questions which you need to get answers for. You may already know the answers to some of the questions but others you will have to research/ask from experts as per your situation. Though I shall try to answer most of them here. I shall assist you in organising your already found answers and to identify some important questions which you might not have considered yet. Following is a list of nine major function/steps that you must systematically and professionally proceed to do. Sometimes the answers may be quick to find, or may involve a lot of time and money to ensure getting the best answers.
Well, in this post I am listing the nine functions/steps. In my next post I shall discuss them one by one. Microbrewery development life cycle/ 9 functions of a microbrewery set up project
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Conceptual examination Market examination/Intelligence Feasibility study Project justification Financial analysis Project planning Construction/implementation Inspection/Testing/Review Operational management
The idea behind adopting above mentioned systematic steps is to go about building a
microbrewery in a right way to minimize risk and maximize the chance of success. Keep looking this space to get most relevant/practical questions and answers for each function/step. All about beer
Types of wheat Beer

with 2 comments The most important difference between regular (barley) beer brewing and wheat beer brewing is the yeast. The unique aroma and flavor profile that represents wheat beer comes only partly from the use of wheat malt. In my last post I discussed about wheat Beer. Today I am doing to discuss about the different types of wheat Beer. Wheat Beer can be classified mainly in 3 following categories: A. German wheat Beer B. Belgian wheat Beer C. Other wheat Beer
A. German wheat Beer can be further divided into following 4 categories based on the proportion of wheat, hops and yeast used. 1. Weizen or Weissbier wheat Beer- Weizen (wheat), also called Weissbier (white beer), is the flavored wheat beer of southern Germany. This kind of wheat Beer is golden yellow in color and so much lighter than the typically dark German ales that it came to be called white beer. Weissbier contain around 5% of alcohol by volume, and lightly hopped. 2. Dunkelweizen wheat Beer- Dunkels (dark) Weissbier or Dunkelweizen is a dark version of weizen. Dunkleweizen is similar to regular weizen as to body, bitterness, and alcohol levels but is brewed with darker malts to produce a richer, maltier aroma and flavor. 3. Weizenbock wheat Beer Bock is a style of German lager that is traditionally malty, somewhat sweet, strongly alcoholic, with little or no hop flavor or aroma. Weizenbock combines the characteristics of the two styles. It is the heartiest of the wheat beers. It can be either dark or light in color, with alcohol vary from 7% to over 9% by volume. 4. Berliner Weisse wheat Beer Berliner Weisse is very light in body, pale in color. Contains alcohol as low as 3% by volume), with almost no hop bitterness. Like the Belgian lambic beer family, Berliner Weisse is a lactic beer. It is fermented with both yeast and lactic bacteria, resulting in a sharply sour Beer. It is something of an acquired taste, and challenging to microbreweres consistently because of the dual fermentation. B.Beligian wheat Beer- Belgium enjoys a huge reputation for its high-quality ales, but when it comes to wheat beers, theres really only one style which is Wit beer. 5. Wit wheat Beer Wit is a wonderful springtime beer. It is light and refreshing, with a bit of cloudiness to it. It is a slightly tart acidic and some light spiciness from coriander and curacao orange. The Beer is made using equal proportion of blend of pale malted barley and unmalted wheat. C. Other wheat Beer: 6. American wheat Beer Around 10 years ago when the brewpub and microbrewery craze took hold in the USA, many small breweries started making light wheat ales that were much different from European variety of wheat Beer. They used less wheat and they used standard beer (ale) yeasts. This light, drinkable beer also served as an ideal base for creating fruit flavored beers, and lots of craft breweries start making flavored wheat beers. 7. Flavoured wheat Beer - Experimenting in Beer making is not a new idea. Lot of people like the refreshing flavors of fruit and honey and light spices that different brewers use to attract new consumers to the Beer marketplace. These styles offer a lot of space for creativity and innovation, and this Beers often appeal to younger consumers.
I hope I have managed to give you a little bit of idea about what to expect when you are trying to figure out which wheat Beers to buy. Enjoy Beer! Share your views. All about beer
Why Microbrewery Beer?

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Like many others I always prefer to have fresh Beer from Brewpubs over the commercial Beer. A true Beer lover will tell you that some of the worlds best Beer comes from microbreweries. The reason being is the microbrewery have that inclination of liberty, innovation and experimentation with the flavor and taste, that is why microbrewing beer is not only my favourite but famous all around the world. Fresh Beer is what that appeals to customers along with the ambience, environment and food at restaurant/bar. That is why many microbreweries, specially Brewpubs are coming up in India. Being in the Beer industry I have travelled places and interacted with many Beer lovers. There are many reasons for which they prefer microbrewery Beer over commercial Beer. Some of them are mentioned below: 1. Taste - Unlike mass produced Beer, microbrewery Beer has extremely good and strong taste. They have the different tastes/flavours to choose from. Its kind of more customized and tasty Beer. 2. Freshness Beer is a perishable foodstuff. It deteriorates as a result of the action of bacteria, light, and air. Fresh, well-brewed beer that has not travelled at all will invariably taste better than an equivalent beer that left the brewery a few months ago.
3.Natural and health friendly ingredients Most mass produced ones have preservatives and sometimes as bad as glycerin. Since microbrewery produce limited amount of Beer only so they use right add up of ingredients with less use of preservatives and other artificial constituents. 4. Pricing Comparatively low pricing with highest quality. What else a Beer lover could ask for. 5. The process Commercial Beer is fully pasteurized and filtered before it is bottled. While the microbrewery Beer goes through no such process, and is served directly. That is why there is a strange and pleasant flavor remains in microbrewery Beer. Well, this is my thinking and preference of microbrew Beer. What do you think?
MAY 5, 2011, 9:48 AM
Beer Straight Off the Farm

By INDRANI SEN
Editors' Note Appended For the year before the brewer Mark VanGlad arrived at Friday's Union Square Greenmarket lugging cases of his new beer, he was a busy man. Last spring, Mr. VanGlad, 25, who owns Tundra Brewery, planted his own barley and hops, which he harvested in the fall. As the company's only deliveryman, Mr. VanGlad drove the barley from his family's farm in Stamford, N.Y., to Massachusetts to be malted. He developed the recipe for his maple-infused pale ale, and brewed it in a facility that he rigged up from old steel dairy tanks. And in Albany, Mr. VanGlad was the one who navigated the bureaucracy to get Tundra's microbrewery licenses. On Friday, as Tundra's promoter and sales clerk, Mr. VanGlad staffed the brewery's new stand at the Greenmarket and handed out samples of his pale ale to an eager crowd of beer quaffers. "I really feel like I accomplished something," Mr. VanGlad said. "Here I am, a year later, and I just sold 30 cases." Tundra is the first brewery to sell beer at the Greenmarkets, but Mr. VanGlad is a familiar face in Union Square. His father and uncle run Wood Homestead,
a 25-year-old maple syrup stand, and he has helped out at market since he was a small boy. In 2009, the state passed legislation that allows New York brewers who make fewer than 60,000 barrels a year to sell at farmers' markets, as well as at county and state fairs. Wineries were already allowed to sell at markets under the Farm Winery Act of 1976. "It seemed like I lucked out," Mr. VanGlad said. "I was in the right place at the right time." Mr. VanGlad flavors the pale ale with his family's syrup and has labeled it MaPale. After an informal sampling at his desk, Eric Asimov, the wine, beer and spirits critic for The New York Times, described Ma-Pale as "cloudy and amber, with a fresh, almost breadlike aroma, gentle carbonation and dry, savory, hoppy flavors." So far, Mr. VanGlad has made three 155-gallon batches, each of which produces 70 cases. Six-packs of the beer, which has an alcohol content of 4 to 5 percent, sell for $13, or two for $25, at Union Square Greenmarket on Fridays and at the Tucker Square Greenmarket on the Upper West Side on Saturdays. Mr. VanGlad's work dovetails with the Greenmarket's efforts to promote local grain production, said June Russell, the manager of farm inspections, strategic development and regulations. "We have been trying to engage beer makers in our grains work for the last couple of years," she said. The 2009 state law allowing brewers to sell at markets does not specify that the beer must be made from local barley and hops, but Greenmarket rules on beverages require that all the beer's ingredients be locally grown and that 60 percent must be grown by the seller. As far as she knows, Ms. Russell said, Mr. VanGlad's is the only entirely farmer-produced beer in the state. Although the avid market for craft beer has nurtured the growth of boutique brewing operations in New York, most of the barley and hops used to make that beer is imported from Europe or elsewhere in the United States.
The hops in Tundra's ale are among the first to be grown in New York - which once produced most of the nation's supply - since the crop was damaged by disease and pests early in the 20th century, and then wiped out by Prohibition. The lack of small malt houses to process barley for beer production has added to the challenge of brewing beer from local grain. This stymied Mr. VanGlad at first, he said, until he heard about a small malt house, Valley Malt, in Hadley, Mass., that was willing to malt his barley. Marketgoers weren't the only ones who took notice of Mr. VanGlad's Ma-Pale ale on Friday. By the end of the day, Tundra had an offer from a restaurant keen to make a wholesale order. Jeffrey Zurofsky, a partner in the 'Wichcraft sandwich stands, Riverpark restaurant and the Southwest Porch lounge at Bryant Park, hopes to be the first restaurateur to sell Tundra beer, he said. "It's great beer," Mr. Zurofsky said. "Oftentimes you have local products where the idea is really good, but the execution lacks. That's not the case here. This is something that we'd be proud to sell." Last week's successful debut felt like a vindication of all his hard work, Mr. VanGlad said. But even after running the stand from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., he didn't have the luxury of kicking back with a cold beer on Friday night. "I had to get up early to do another market," he explained. "So I'm saving the celebration." Editors' Note: May 10, 2011 This post was updated after Mark VanGlad's beer went on sale at the greenmarket
Setting up a Microbrewery
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Continuing my previous post about Microbrewery and opportunities in India, this post is about how to establish a Microbrewery. The idea of starting your own microbrewery is a potent combination of business and pleasure. Starting a Microbrewery and selling Beer is becoming a hot and trendy business in India. Microbrewery start ups have a substantially better than average success rate as compared to other businesses. Besides the availability of funds, there are certain factors which need to be considered before setting up a microbrewery. They are: Selection of brew: What kind of Beer you want to brew and what variety/quality will make you to stand above the competition from commercial Beer or other microbreweries. This can also be answered with what kind of Barley, Water, Hops, Yeasts (any special strain) etc. you want to use to get that special Beer you wish to brew. Location of the Microbrewery: As of now the concept of Microbrewery in India, is restricted to bigger cities like Gurgaon, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi etc. These cities follow global trends and it is more likely that people here have an inclination to try more variety/ flavored Beer over the commercially available ones. Requirement of space: This usually depends on the capacity you want to produce, types of equipments, sitting capacity (in case of Brewpub) etc. Because of its size, a reasonable Microbrewery can be started in a single room or the basement/ terrace of your apartments (Depending on availability of power, water and appropriate licences) Licensing: The license for operating a microbrewery is issued by the respected state excise department. If you wish to start a pub also along with microbrewery then you need to apply for a separate license. Equipments: Based on the Beer type and the capacity, the brewing equipments are selected. The basic equipments are Mash tun, Hot liquor tank, kettle, wort aeration, apparatus, plate heat exchanger, vessels etc.
Most of it is usually available for online buy, but it is preferable to interact with someone knowledgeable from the industry. Usually hiring a Microbrewery consultant eases of a lot of your pressures. They can help you with all the requirements, processes, formalities, setting up, procuring and some amount of marketing too. In the next post I will talk about the costing that go in setting up a Microbrewery All about beer
Microbreweries in India
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A microbrewery is a brewery (Beer producing unit) which produces a limited amount of beer. The capacity of microbrewery in Beer production is ranges from 100 Litres per day to 5000 Litres per day. Microbrewery usually focus on brewing quality beers for local, statewide, or region wide distribution. Since microbreweries produce Beer in small batches so they are able to provide a diverse selection of Beer flavors and varieties. The concept of microbrewery first became popular in America, around 30 years ago. However now days microbrewery is becoming fast popular in India as well. There are many microbrewery units coming up India in the cities Like Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai etc. Microbreweries which are installed in pubs,restaurants, hotels, clubs, malls etc. are generally referred as Brewpubs. Based on the volume and variety of Beer produced microbrewery can also be reffered as contract brewery, regional brewery, craft brewery etc. There are lot of factors due to which restaurateurs, food enthusiasts and investors are looking at setting up Microbreweries in India. Some of them are mentioned below:
Young consumers prefer fresh and customized Beer over bottled Beer, largely because of exposure to global trends

Unpasteurized nature of Beer Beer consumption market is growing rapidly (More than 300% in North India) Cost of production is less than buying commercial Beers Low taxing condition and licencing fee levied by state excise government (though some investors debate that the taxes are pretty high, compared to the global market) Its easy to set your own microbrewery, specially with specialized consultants available with the requisite knowledge
Whats your view on the above?
I often go there with my friends for some fresh and chilled beer at this wonderful brewery next door. In my next post I shall discuss as what all it require to set up a microbrewery. So stay tuned with a glass of Beer!!
Beer, Belly and Cholestrol

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Is beer fattening?, less fattening than wine? Will it lead to beer belly? Does beer increase cholesterol These questions must have come up in everyones mind, i guess, whoever is fond of beer. More than that there are a lot of misconceptions about beer, beer belly, effects of beer, its calories etc. That is why it is important to know the truth about beer and its effect on your body. Read on for a few of the commonly misconceptions and myths about beer and your belly along with the true facts too. Beer is fattening : Myth Fact: Beer is not at all fattening. It contains zero fact. In fact beer has some nutritional value. It contains sodium, carbohydrates, proteins and even vitamins B2 and B6. Lets look at following table:
350 ML of beer contain following nutrition: Calories 150 Carbohydrate 13gm Proteins 1.5 gm Fat 0 gm Alcohol content 5% So Beer is a fat free and cholesterol-free alcoholic beverage. In fact studies have shown that beer actually regulates cholesterol levels. Beer is less fattening than wine: Fact Fact: Yes, it is true that Beer is less fattening than Wine and far less fattening than spirits. The following table demonstrates it: 100 ML of beer contain following nutrition: Beer - 41 calories Wine - 77 calories Spirits 250 calories Milk - 64 calories Orange juice 42 calories Apple juice 47 calories So Beer is less fattening than apple juice and even less fattening than wine. Beer leads to Beer belly: Myth Fact: The beer belly is not the result of Beer, but of the beer-drinking lifestyle. It includes a lot of greasy pub food and a lack of physical activity. Moreover, alcoholic calories are used by the body first they are not stored and converted into fat. So chill, your beer belly is not beer fat. Moreover, Doctors have suggested that drinking up to a pint of beer a day is good for the health and can reduce the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Ending this post with the following quote of Benjamin Franklin Beer is a living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Types of Beer
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People have been drinking beer for centuries now and since then Beer has evolved into many different types. There are two primary types of beer, Ales and Lagers. These two classes of beer collectively make up thousands of different varieties of beer. The first difference between these two types is the temperature at which the beer is fermented. Ales are fermented at higher temperatures 18-21 degree Celsius, whereas Lagers are fermented in colder temperature at about 7-11 degree Celsius. However both Ales and Lagers contain hops, malted barley, yeast and water. In Ales and Lagers classes there are many different beers. Following is the hierarchy of many types of beer. Though this is not the complete list, since the types could be numerous.
The other difference between these two types is the type of yeast used to brew them. Ale uses yeast that ferments best at warmer temperatures. Ales generally use top fermenting yeast. This means that the yeast floats on the surface for the first few days and then settles on the bottom. While Lager uses yeast that ferments best at cooler temperatures. Lagers use bottom fermenting yeast, which does not float to the surface before settling.
Beer could be fresher for longer, says chemistry study
Molecules like this one (tricyclocohumol) are largely responsible for the taste of stale beer Continue reading the main story
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Scientists have identified the chemicals that lead to the bitter aftertaste of stale bottled beer. Chemicals present in beer's hops break down over time, forming other compounds that result in the unpleasant taste. Researchers reporting in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry say the trick to avoiding the taste is to avoid that breakdown. That can be done by adjusting beers' acidity when it is produced, and by always keeping it cool. The idea that the naturally-present, slightly bitter-tasting compounds are the source of the more bitter, more long-lasting flavours of "aged" beer is not new. But the exact catalogue of compounds that are responsible and how they develop over time has remained a mystery until now. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have been looking into the particulars of beer chemistry for a number of years. For the recent study, they stored a number of commercially available, pilsnerstyle beers for as much as 10 years in order to compare the chemistry of aged beers with that of freshly-obtained samples. The primary offenders are what are known as trans-iso-alpha acids, which over time degrade into a number of chemicals that lead to bad taste - and it is these that the TUM researchers hope to address. Recent studies have shown that the level of acidity, or pH, has a strong effect on the degradation of trans-iso-alpha acids, but the new study indicated that pH in ageing beer was incredibly stable - so the researchers asked a commercial brewer to make batches of beer with slightly varying pH levels. They found that by making beer that was incrementally less acidic, the trans-isoalpha acid degradation process could be much reduced.
However, the reactions that transform the acids into the ingredients of a staletasting beer are accelerated at higher temperatures, so the simplest route to keeping beer tasting fresh is to keep it cool.
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Beer Ingredients
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Beer is a fermented hop flavored, malt sugared, liquid drink. Sounds simple? However the process of making beer and ingredients used are not. Because of the length of the content, I have broken down the post in two. In this post I would be talking about the ingredients of Beer and follow it up with a post that would discuss the process of making Beer. Ingredients of beer The basic ingredients of Beer are water, malt, hops, and yeast. They are discussed as below: Water: The main ingredient in Beer is water and one needs to be very careful about the water, water source that is being used in producing Beer. It must be pure, with no trace of bacteria. This is very important because only then will it allow the other ingredients to release all their flavours. Usually the minerals present in the water available varies regionally, that is why the taste of beer also used to vary in olden day as per the regions. However today we can chemically adjust, to produce the desire flavour/variety of beer. Barley: Beer is a grain based drink. Traditionally Barley has been the main grain ingredient which went in producing Beer. However today there are alternatives like rye, maize, rice and oatmeal. Barley being a cereal and since it can be preserved for a long time after harvesting, brewers preferred its use. It is the malted barley that gives beer its characteristic color and taste.
Barley is malted before being used to brew beer. Malting is a process of bringing grain to its highest point of possible soluble starch content by allowing it to sprout roots/germinate. Hops: Humulus lupuluare is a flowering plant. Flowers of this plant are used to add flavor and aroma to balance the sweetness of the malt. They are generally dried before use. The variety of hops used, will leave its own distinct flavor\aroma. Yeasts: To convert the sugars that are extracted from grains, into alcohol and carbon dioxide, yeast is used. Different types of Beer yeast help to give Beer its various tastes. Nowadays there are two main varieties of yeasts that are used in brewing, saccharomyces cerevisiae and saccharomyces carlsbergensis. Certain other products are also used in the making of beer, in particular spices: Coriander, Ginger, Cloves, Sage, Fennel, Mustard seeds, Aniseed, Cinnamon etc. So, this is all about ingredients used in beer making. In next post I shall discuss about the beer making process. Stay tuned! All about beer
Beer Making Process

leave a comment Brewing in the brewery by a brewer makes the beer . However this is not as simple as it is written. The execution is highly precise and in fact sophisticated. It requires a series of steps, to make a good brew. It has to go through the phases of Malting, Milling, Mashing, Lautering, Boiling, Fermenting, Conditioning, Filtering, and Packaging. I have briefly mentioned about each of the steps, followed by a brewing flowchart: 1. Malting: Here the conversion from carbohydrates to dextrin and maltose takes place. The grain used as the raw material is usually barley. Barley as a cereal can be preserved for a long time after harvesting and it is the malted barley that gives Beer its characteristic color and taste. 2. Milling: The malt is then mixed with water to complete the conversion of starches in the grain to sugar. After that the grain is milled to create the proper consistency to the malt. 3. Mashing: This process converts the starches released during the malting stage, into sugars that can be fermented.
4. Lautering: The liquid containing the sugar extracted during mashing is now separated from the grains. It is then generally termed as wort. 5. Boiling and Hopping: Boiling the wort, ensures its sterility, and thus prevents a lot of infections. Hops are added during this stage of boiling.As I mentioned in my earlier post, hops are used to add flavor and aroma to balance the sweetness of the malt. 6. Fermenting: The yeast is now added and the Beer is fermented. The yeast breaks down the sugars extracted from the malt to form alcohol and CO2. 7. Conditioning: Fermented Beer contains suspended particles, lacks sufficient carbonation, lacks taste and aroma, and less stable. Conditioning reduces the levels of these undesirable compounds to produce a more finished product.
8. Filtering: Filtration helps to remove excess of the yeast and any solids, like hops or grain particles, remaining in the Beer. Filtering is the process which produces the clear, bright and stable Beer. 9. Packaging: Packaging is putting the beer into the bottles, cans or some other high volume vessels. One of the most important things in packaging is to exclude oxygen away from the Beer. These are the basic steps and the style of brewing may vary little. These can be customized to improve the taste of your beer. I will follow up this post with the type of machinery, equipments, weather conditions, for the Beer making process. http://www.bluestone.com/jewellery/fashion.html?id_category=2&p=2 http://www.jabong.com/21diamonds-14-Karat-gold-Earrings-with-Diamond-MKSP150789.html http://www.investmentnetwork.in/entrepreneur/20
Angel investors launch first online platform for start-ups

Piyali Mandal / New Delhi May 18, 2012, 1:19 IST
Heres some good news for start-ups. With a goal to connect entrepreneurs with investors, a group of angel investors, including Google India Managing Director Rajan Anandan, has come together to launch an online platform VentureFund.com with an initial corpus of $100 million. The founding team members include Lord Alli, co-founder and chairman of www.asos.com, Ashok Kurien, director in the boards of Zee TV, Sun TV and Playwin, and Paul Shoker, a serial investor who has interests in Indian ventures such as thePrivateSales.com and Koovs.com. Shoker would lead the fund as its vice-chairman. Anandan, also a member of the Indian Angel Network, is part of the venture in his personal capacity. VentureFund.com, a brainchild of Shoker, aims to connect entrepreneurs of early stage companies with qualified investors from around the world. The site will go live later this week. Shoker, who claims this is the first online platform for entrepreneurs and angel investors, started working on this concept six months back when his younger son wanted to invest
in start-ups. There was no authentic platform from where you could get details about start-ups, Shoker said. He was quick to spot this problem and wrapped an online solution around it, in the form of the VentureFund platform.(WEB OF INVESTMENTS) The response we have had from entrepreneurs and investors clearly demonstrates that we are building upon a need to help the start-up community to get their ideas off the ground and succeed. Within six weeks, we have been able to get $100 million, said Shoker. By the end of the year, we expect this to be a $500million fund. Besides, VentureFund.com would also act as an e-commerce platform. It has already tied up with the US-based e-retailer Amazon.com to offer a reading list for its users. Though the platform would be free for investors, entrepreneurs would have to pay a one-time fee of around $100 (about Rs 5,400) after being contacted by a prospective investor. With over 100 million start-ups coming up every year worldwide, this market is very fragmented. But, most of these start-ups look for mentoring and funding. We wanted to create a platform for both entrepreneurs and investors, said Kurien. Qualified deal flow is essential for any investor, and for that to happen we have to educate and mentor the best ideas and startups, he added.

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