CASE STUDY – 3 weeks is better than 1

The Unley, Adelaide, which is part of the Aus Venue Co. group presented us with the unusual scenario where the venue doesn’t have their draught beer system and kegs in a coolroom, it is located within an ambient temperature storeroom.

The Unley is a 2 storey venue with 10 beers being served on both floors. The venue has worked very hard to improve its tap beer reputation, so they have adopted a weekly cleaning regime, which has been widely accepted. Cleaning every week has a lot of beer wastage, plus rostered labour.

Our challenge was to at least maintain the current ‘acceptable’ tap beer quality, an improvement would be welcomed… we improved it.

Dec 2022

Beer samples sent to laboratory

Samples of beer were taken prior to commissioning the system, to establish the ‘current’ tap beer quality at fortnightly cleaning. There is no independent microbiological laboratory specialising in beer analysis in Adelaide, samples must be air freighted in an esky.

Dec 2022

CellarControl installed & commissioned

Plus a comprehensive system clean was carried out, including couplers, drop leads and taps.

January & February 2023

Line cleans

3 x weekly cycles, then 2 weeks before moving to a 3 weekly cycle. We do this to ensure the lines are in the best possible condition prior to commencing an extended cycle.

Weekly

Tap soaking and scrub

Sitting in ambient temperature, the taps are a perfect habitat for bacteria to grow, we recommend weekly tap soaking in Maxi-Enzyme, which is non-corrosive.

March 2023

Beer samples taken after 3 weeks

It has been 3 weeks since our last line, the same beer samples from the same taps are collected and sent for analysis.

The following results are of ‘colony forming units’ (CFU) per 100mL for Coopers Pale Ale:

‘Before’ – after 1 week, December 2022

‘New’ – after 3 weeks, March 2023

“This result validates our solution provides better beer at this venue with cleaning every 3 weeks, than they were achieving with weekly cleaning.” – Right Beer

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