Practical Hands On Cellar Management Course & BIIAB Qualification

 

The cellar management course takes place in Brew-School premises in Bakewell and at a local Microbrewery. This is a practical hands on cellar management course enabling attendees and their businesses to upskill staff on the practicalities of not only cellar management but also beer styles and being able to converse confidently about beer. This is ideal for people looking into leasing a pub as well as employers looking to upskill their bar and pub staff in beer dispense and beer quality and beer flavour styles in order that they can converse with confidence with customers.

 

Comprehensive Cellar Management Course

 

This full day hands on cellar management includes the following elements:

• This beer course includes a brief introduction on how beer is made
• You will gain insights on the negative impact of poor beer quality on a business
• You will gain an understanding on how to calculate wastage and yields and then understand how this impacts on the profitablity of a pub or bar
• Learn the differences between cask, keg and packaged beer
• Understand the cellar environment and equipment
• Get to grips with keg dispense systems
• Gain an understanding of how to condition cask beer
• Learn the importance of glassware and how to dispense beer correctly

 

 

What is cellar management?

 

Cellar management is the control of your cellar environment to allow for the optimum keeping and dispense of your cask craft beers and drinks.  Good cellar management is critical to minimise beer waste and maximise yields and profits through the quality dispense of your beers.

 

Is cellar management important?

 

is important to your pub, bar or taproom because the systems you put in place will effect the quality of the beer dispensed at the bar.  It is no good having a brewer cafefully brewing a fantastic quality craft beer and then it not being kept correctly and then dispensing this quality beer well.  Cellar management is concerned with the conditions of your beer store and ensuring the correct level of cleaning and management. For instance it is vitally important to clean your beer lines regularly and effectively. 

 

How do you clean beer lines?

 

It is no good dispensing your quality craft beer through dirty lines or pipes infecting your beer with off flavours.  Cleaning your lines regularly with the correct cleaning solution it vital. There are various line cleaning solutions on the market but austensibly they contain Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide (This is the Caustic Part) and Sodium Hypochlorite. It is the sodium hypochlorite component of these cleaners that acts as the disinfectant and kills bacteria and prevents biological contamination.  You must always remember to flush through your liines thoroughly with water for several minutes afterwards to clean out any remaining line cleaning solution and prevent flavour taint. There are more environmentally friendly line cleaning solutions such as Hydrogen Peroxide which is bio degradable to oxygen and water. The problem with this cleaner is that it is unstable as a compound and easily degrades so has a short shelf life compared to the caustic based cleaners.

 

How often do you clean your beer lines?

 

Cask Marque suggest that lines should be cleaned every 7 days although research in the Beer Quality Report showed that more than 30% of beers served in the UK were through lines not cleaned over the 7 days.  Cleanlines is not just about the cleanliness of your beer lines. There are other elements of the dispense systems that also require regular sanitising these include sockets and couplers.

 

What is the ideal temperature for my cellar?

 

This will depend on the type of beer being dispensed but as a general rule the ideal temperature for cask beer in your cellar is between 11-13 degrees celsius although cask marque gives a little bit more leeway of 10-14 so aim for 12.  Summer ales may be dispensed at slightly lower temperatures where they have been brewed to avoid chill hazes.

 

Lagers are meant to be dispensed at lower temperatures at between 5-8 and there are some specialist drinks and beers that require even lower termperatures to be consumeed at their optimum and these products will require specialist cooling such as glycol cooling systems and flash coolers to achieve these dispense temperatures.

 

Why is cellar management important?

 

It is critical to keep your beer well in order to maximise it’s shelf life and also is dispensed at the optimum temperature.  The quality of your cellar management will have a critical impact on the quality of your beer in the glass. Good quality beer will be the thing that will keep your customers happy and coming back for more.  A poor drinking experience resulting form improper cellar management will very quickly undermine the drinkers experience and the foundation of your pub, bar or tap room even if other aspects are right.

 

The storage temperature is particularly important for cask beers which is a fresh product and is meant to condition in the cask.

 

Is it possible to do a course in cellar management?

 

There are a number of cellar management courses that are available online and in person.  Whilst the online courses take you through the basics of cellar management we would always recommend given the practical nature of cellar management that where possible you attend a live training event where you can see and experience the real environment of a beer cellar and the dispense systems behind the bar.  After all working in a bar is a practical job and all bars are different so being able to recognise the fundamentals of each cellar in situ and then being able to apply this knowledge to each working bar environment is critical.

 

 

Practical Hands On Cellar Management Course

Brew-School in Bakewell provides a one day dedicated cellar management course which will be vital to entrants into the pub and bar industry and also a fascinating insight for anybody interest into the world behind the bar and down in the cellar and how to keep and pour the perfect pint.

BIIAB Level 2 Award In Beer & Cellar Quality

 

All attendees will following the successful completion of the examination at the end of the course will be awarded the BIIAB Level 2 Award in Beer and Cellar Quality (Cask and Keg)

 

All material to be provided by Brew-School and the designated trainer and both course and BIIAB Level 2 exams fees are included.

 

Lunch to be provided by Brew-School

 

Course times : 9.30 am - 5.00 pm (to be confirmed)