Whatever your brewing and distilling challenges, our expert team are on-hand to help you through them.
Our dedicated product development team can help fast-track new recipes to production scale quickly and economically.
The Brewlab project team of industry experts also conduct advanced research into brewing topics, particularly those relevant to craft production. We have experience analysing properties of brewing ingredients such as unique yeast strains, new barley varieties and alternative grains for specialist products.
Whether you’re new or already in the beverage industry, check out the services we offer below or contact our support team on +44 (0)191 549 9450.
Project Support Services
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As the beverage market expands with new concepts and evolving tastes, producers must continually innovate to gain or maintain a competitive edge. The process of bringing a new beverage to the market can be a complex as well as costly in terms of time and resources.
Brewlab can work with beverage producers and entrepreneurs to fast track new and innovative recipes from concept to production scale economically. Our specially trained product development team have experience creating a variety of products, from standard beer styles using innovative ingredients and yeast strains, through to low and dealcoholized beverages. Brewlab is also accredited for gluten free production.
We have worked with a range of clients who have gone to launch successful products and brands.
“Having contacted Brewlab with regards to creating a low alcohol beer, they put me in touch with Julio. Having discussed all our requirements Julio laid out exactly what he could do for us. From this, he expertly produced 3x 25lt brews which were bottled and sent to us for trials. This allowed us to confidently scale up production and produce a beer in house which we are really proud of. Julio supported us throughout the project with his helpful manner and wealth of knowledge. I would not hesitate to use or recommend Brewlab to anybody looking for help in beer recipe formulation.”
Working with you we can either:
- Develop your beverage concept and produce and package different varieties for market testing
- Produce and package an existing beverage recipe for market testing.
At the end of each option the client is provided with a full technical brewing summary with all relevant information for upscaling recipes consistently to production.
Our brewing systems enable product development for breweries seeking small scale product batches for analysis and marketing. 30, 100 and 400 litre production units provide for scale-up from initial trials to small scale commercial production. We offer packaging options that include bottle, cask, and keg with rough and sterile filtration options.
Brewlab has its own onsite commercial laboratory where samples are analysed, ensuring a fast, accurate turnaround. We also have access to vastly experienced expert tutors from our training services whenever additional solutions or opinions are required.
“We were recommended Brewlab by a contact in the beer world, as we were looking to create a premium low-calorie lager. The service we received from Julio and the rest of the team was top notch. Julio guided us through the process, providing expert advice and teaching us more about the brewing process throughout. We selected one of the three variations produced and provided feedback based on product testing we had carried out. This feedback was then incorporated into the brewing document, which we were able to use to scale up production with a commercial contract brewer. We are really happy with the result and our customers seem to agree! Even now when we look to tweak our recipe or create a new batch, we reach out to Julio for any advice and he has been a trusted sounding-board throughout. We really couldn’t have got to where we are now without Julio or the rest of the team and we would highly recommend Brewlab’s services!”
Contact our project support team now on phil@brewlab.co.uk or +44 (0)191 549 9450.
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Problems inevitably arise in brewing and Brewlab has an extensive resource of experience to rapidly identify options to investigate and solve your issues. In many cases these are microbiological whereby identifying a contaminant microbe is important allowing the correct treatment to be made. Our laboratory uses classical and molecular biology DNA techniques to identify contaminants and also to type your yeast strain for future comparison. Identification also assists due diligence and provides information to determine if problems have a common source.
Some problems arise from ingredients such as hydrophobin proteins on malt inducing gushing in a bottled beer and can be identified by our state of the art equipment. In other cases, mutation may cause a yeast strain to show anomalous characteristics. Again, we can use appropriate techniques to identify the cause.
Example case study:
A brewery experienced over-attenuation in certain beers but not in others causing excess carbonation in bottle. Analysis of the range of beers indicated a contaminant dextrin digesting yeast present in the problem beers and originating from the yeast supply. Sourcing purer yeast provided an immediate solution.
A “worm” of slime found in a dispensed beer following a customer complaint suggested a beer line contamination. Observation of the sample indicated a community of microorganisms including lactic acid bacteria and yeast. Samples of the dispense system demonstrated the presence of a biofilm due to poor cleaning.
Contact our project support team now on info@brewlab.co.uk or +44 (0)191 549 9450.
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Brewlab conducts research into brewing topics, particularly those relevant to small scale production. We are partnered with breweries, institutions, and suppliers to develop initiatives and unique products.
Example research studies:
Chevallier barley
A long-term research project conducted in collaboration with the John Innes Research Centre has investigated the potential of the historic Chevallier barley variety. Initial work with the University of Sunderland identified the strong disease resistance of the variety and a further PhD investigated how this could be transferred in a breeding experiment to more modern varieties. The potential of Chevallier was determined using Brewlab’s production brewery providing information to support the release of the variety to the brewing trade.
Filter efficiency
Beer filtration can cause a major reduction in protein and a subsequent effect on head retention as well as blinding filters and slowing processing. Brewlab worked with a major filter producer to investigate this problem. Assessing the specific adsorption of proteins on filter materials allowed the development of materials and processes to optimise filtration and limit the effects on beer quality.
Beer line hygiene
Dispense of beers is a major area of product contamination and is critically dependent on the hygiene of the beer lines. Brewlab worked with a major manufacturer of beer lines to assess the hygiene of different polymers on biofilm production and allow the development of better dispense systems.
Microbiology of natural fermentations.
Natural fermentations can produce some novel products with unique flavours. They may also harbour health contaminants and so require safety assessment. Using next generation DNA sequencing we analysed example beers to determine the range of yeast and bacteria present and provide reassurance of safety and absence of pathogens. Sequential sampling provided a view of the microbial succession during fermentation allowing selection of the best point to stabilise and package.
Contact our project support team now on info@brewlab.co.uk or +44 (0)191 549 9450.