While we all like to quote historical anecdotes about beer being safer to drink than water, there are critical factors in brewing as well. I have joked about the big lager breweries who seem obsessed about the technical side of beer, but, on the other hand, if you don’t have the necessary knowledge and focus on quality, you’ll soon be out of business.
The Austrian Health and Food Agency AGES took a closer look at some of the brewpubs in three regions, Upper Austria, Tyrol and Salzburg, and the results are not very encouraging.
Twelve of the 25 samples were had microbiological defects. Two of these samples were also criticized for not having original gravity as claimed.
The twelve samples had various problems: beer-spoiling bacteria, lactic acid bacteria or unwanted yeast. Two samples from Upper Austria contained- rather unusual – Escherichia coli, probably due to an unsanitary tap or leaking equipment.
AGES points out three critical factors for brewpubs:
- Poorly cleaned pipes and tanks, increased risk of infection with internal components (such as flow meters and valves) .
- The yeast used, which may be purchased or from the brewery’s own production.
- The dispensing system; compensation valves are complicated constructions and they are heavy and cumbersome to clean. Poorly cleaned beer lines will over time form a biofilm, which is not easily removed.
I dare say that these problems are not limited to Austria…
I am sure they are not limited to Austria and it does make you wonder to what degree the cause of good beer and potentially great brewers and brewpubs are being hampered by simple inattention to keeping the machinery clean. One of the most aggressively marketed craft brewers in Ontario – given far more shelf space than others by the government monopoly – is well known for its sour fouled beer. I long ago gave up any hope that buying a beer by that brewery would be worth it at all.
Alan, we have a brewery here in Norway I tend to avoid as well. Not a brewpub, but a micro which bottles its beers – and which I won’t pay good money for.
I agree with you here. This can not be a problem only in Austria.
Well said. Often, in the UK, I find the ‘elephant in the brewroom’ is hygiene. Either unclean or overclean (or should I say under-flushed). Of all the places that ought to be proud of what they achieve, brewpubs are too often shoddy and uncaring when it comes to consistency and care.
As the co-owner of O.Salm & Co GmbH, the manufacturer of the illustrated brewhouse in combination with your critical article about beer hygiene I have to inform you, that we cannot accept the photo of our brewhouse in our own Restaurant Brewery Salm Bräu (Vienna) in combination with your accusations.
Our Restaurant Brewery Salm Bräu is under all time monitoring with the local institute AGES, every batch is individually monitored. All laboratory results are evident and have to be kept evident back to seven years.
In fact, our company was the leading force some years ago, to establish a quality monitoring program for all micro breweries in Austria, the procedures of sampling, analyzing and the creation of limits have been developed in a close cooperation to the local authorities.
We can assure you, that there has never been a single batch exceeding the limits and been sold to the public and we assume, that all other SALM-customers in Austria are proceeding similar.
You are kindly requested within 48h after publishing this memo, to modify your article or remove the photo of our brewhouse and our company name in combination with your article, otherwise we are forced to launch legal steps (defamation, etc).
My apologies. I have removed the photo. I must add that Salm was not mentioned in the article, and it was uses as an illustration. If course I should have used a photo that could not been identified With any particular brewery.