10 ms·

I've done a bit of consulting work for breweries and beer bars over the last couple of decades, nothing in the brewing process directly (mostly bespoke hardware

I've done a bit of consulting work for breweries and beer bars over the last couple of decades, nothing in the brewing process directly (mostly bespoke hardware and software solutions), but have had a great view into craft brewing. it seems like there hasn't been any real technological progress in craft brewing since the 90's. in the 90's, there were unix based control systems, with X11 interfaces, for larger craft breweries, while smaller breweries were using notebooks and pens. now, there are spreadsheets. it seems like there's a lot of room for the booming craft beer industry to have a shake up in software.

WarDores 7y ago
I'd love to hear more about this. I've thought a lot about this space, given that the business side is what seems to trip a lot of these enterprises up. And the business is connected with trends, COGS, seasonality, etc., the same as others in the space. There just aren't targeted ways of tracking/measuring these specific to the beer industry.
- jerrysievert 7y ago
  > There just aren't targeted ways of tracking/measuring these specific to the beer industry. there are, actually. if you're near Portland I'd discuss over a pint.
  - WarDores 7y ago
    In the SLC area, but if I get up that way I'll take you up on that.
- stdbrouw 7y ago
  The software isn't the issue. A lot of bars and restaurants go broke within the first year, and lack of financial literacy is a big part of that, but you're not going to fix financial literacy with a bunch of software and a dashboard or two. Ditto for breweries and practically any other type of business started by people with passion but no business sense.
jcomis 7y ago
Hmm, this is not really true. There are a number of apps/software for brewing and I would wager nearly every brewery is using one and not using paper/pen/manual spreadsheets. BeerSmith, Ekos, Fermentable are a few.
- jerrysievert 7y ago
  hm. there are a ton of craft breweries locally, and there doesn't seem to be much commonality between them, especially when it comes to data and data collection. beersmith targets homebrewers, fermentable replaces some of the note taking and materials ordering, and ekos seems to focus on consulting (no prices available, and "we'll build it!"). none of this replaces the automated brewing systems, even in small production lines or automated data collection, leaving notebooks on pretty much every fermentor. if you want a good look at a large number of craft breweries, and get a good insight to exactly how their processes work, what's missing, and what commonality there is, I'd highly recommend https://oregoncraftbeer.org/zwickelmania/ https://oregoncraftbeer.org/zwickelmania/ - almost every brewery in Oregon ends up open, touring, and explaining their process in depth.
  - anfractuosity 7y ago
    By 'automated brewing systems' do you mean a system which controls the initial brewing process (mash, liquor tun temp etc.), controlling valves etc. too maybe, then regulating fermentation? I found out about https://www.craftautomation.com/ https://www.craftautomation.com/ recently from /r/thebrewery, which looks interesting. I'm just a home brewer, but I also enjoy some of the control system aspects. I created a little flow controller display a year or so ago, to measure water from the HLT->mash tun.
- hyperbovine 7y ago
  BeerSmith is fine and I've seen it used at a number of different craft breweries, but ultimately it is indeed a glorified spreadsheet. I think OP is right, brewing remains pretty low tech. The process is ultimately not that complicated, as befits an 8000-year old craft! The step that is most difficult/error-prone, malting, has been outsourced to a few large industrial producers. The rest is essentially just making tea and letting it sit around.
stdbrouw 7y ago
Craft breweries don't have a lot of money and spreadsheets are cheap and therefore hard to compete with.

WarDores 7y ago

I'd love to hear more about this. I've thought a lot about this space, given that the business side is what seems to trip a lot of these enterprises up. And the business is connected with trends, COGS, seasonality, etc., the same as others in the space. There just aren't targeted ways of tracking/measuring these specific to the beer industry.

jerrysievert 7y ago
> There just aren't targeted ways of tracking/measuring these specific to the beer industry. there are, actually. if you're near Portland I'd discuss over a pint.
- WarDores 7y ago
  In the SLC area, but if I get up that way I'll take you up on that.
stdbrouw 7y ago
The software isn't the issue. A lot of bars and restaurants go broke within the first year, and lack of financial literacy is a big part of that, but you're not going to fix financial literacy with a bunch of software and a dashboard or two. Ditto for breweries and practically any other type of business started by people with passion but no business sense.

jcomis 7y ago

Hmm, this is not really true. There are a number of apps/software for brewing and I would wager nearly every brewery is using one and not using paper/pen/manual spreadsheets. BeerSmith, Ekos, Fermentable are a few.

jerrysievert 7y ago
hm. there are a ton of craft breweries locally, and there doesn't seem to be much commonality between them, especially when it comes to data and data collection. beersmith targets homebrewers, fermentable replaces some of the note taking and materials ordering, and ekos seems to focus on consulting (no prices available, and "we'll build it!"). none of this replaces the automated brewing systems, even in small production lines or automated data collection, leaving notebooks on pretty much every fermentor. if you want a good look at a large number of craft breweries, and get a good insight to exactly how their processes work, what's missing, and what commonality there is, I'd highly recommend https://oregoncraftbeer.org/zwickelmania/ https://oregoncraftbeer.org/zwickelmania/ - almost every brewery in Oregon ends up open, touring, and explaining their process in depth.
- anfractuosity 7y ago
  By 'automated brewing systems' do you mean a system which controls the initial brewing process (mash, liquor tun temp etc.), controlling valves etc. too maybe, then regulating fermentation? I found out about https://www.craftautomation.com/ https://www.craftautomation.com/ recently from /r/thebrewery, which looks interesting. I'm just a home brewer, but I also enjoy some of the control system aspects. I created a little flow controller display a year or so ago, to measure water from the HLT->mash tun.
hyperbovine 7y ago
BeerSmith is fine and I've seen it used at a number of different craft breweries, but ultimately it is indeed a glorified spreadsheet. I think OP is right, brewing remains pretty low tech. The process is ultimately not that complicated, as befits an 8000-year old craft! The step that is most difficult/error-prone, malting, has been outsourced to a few large industrial producers. The rest is essentially just making tea and letting it sit around.

stdbrouw 7y ago

Craft breweries don't have a lot of money and spreadsheets are cheap and therefore hard to compete with.