Keeping beer in line
There's always a risk that one rogue pint gets through your system. But one company, Brulines, says its monitoring device will give you far more quality control.
It can be a familiar story to any regular punter. A few pints and a takeaway followed by a mild dose of food poisoning. The ill effects associated with a night out drinking are often put down to spicy dishes or poor food hygiene rather than too much beer. However, it might not be an issue of quantity but more one of quality. It only takes a single bad pint to make a customer sick.
There are many things that can cause a bad pint. Poor cellar management can result in the beer being stored for too long or at the wrong temperature. If a small amount of beer is not pulled through the line each morning, stale beer, which was sitting in the tap overnight, will end up in the first pint served. A build-up of yeast deposits in the dispense pipes can also affect the quality of a pint, but this can be avoided by regularly cleaning the beer lines. However, even the line-cleaning process can cause a poor pint and result in unnecessary wastage. Line cleaning is one of the most important and time-consuming processes and involves the use of diluted caustic soda. There are strict guidelines under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations for the safe handling of hazardous substances such as line-cleaning fluid, which includes the use of protective eyewear and gloves. But, unfortunately, these are often not adhered to.
When diluted caustic soda is present in beer, it feels soapy. Some licensees actually feel the liquid with their fingers during the cleaning process to check for the presence of cleaning fluid, thus risking dermatitis or caustic burns. Another problem is beer wastage. In order to ensure line-cleaning fluid doesn't get into a pint, staff often end up wasting perfectly good beer by pulling too much through the lines. It is estimated that a pub with 15 pumps, which are cleaned on a weekly basis, might have an average of three pints of beer pulled through before a pint is actually served. This can equate to hundreds of wasted pints per year. Brulines chief executive Derrick Collin says, however, that its BQM (Beer Quality Monitor) system is set to revolutionise the way bar managers monitor beer quality, perform line cleaning and reduce wastage. He says Brulines is well established in the brewing equipment industry as a developer of hardwired systems, which monitor the flow, delivery and quality of beer.
The BQM, he explains, is a single push-button device that can monitor the quality of up to six different beers. It works by setting up a field between two electrodes and measuring the change of resistance depending on what type of liquid it is in. An LED display indicates the presence of beer, water or cleaning fluid. "There have been instances where customers have successfully sued and been given compensation after being served beer with line-cleaning fluid in it and burning their mouths," explains Collin. "We decided to package our existing monitoring technology into a portable device that could alleviate that danger while also being used by landlords as a cost-saving measure and to preserve the quality of the beer they serve. "We approached [industrial design consultancy] Ci3 with a brief to design something that was aesthetically pleasing as well as functional."
Based in Middlesbrough, Ci3 specialises in emerging technologies and has a reputation for total product creation. "What differentiates us from a lot of consultancies is that we manage the whole process from the very beginning right through the manufacturing process to the point when the product is actually packaged and on sale," explains Ci3 managing director Mike Shield. He adds that the success of any manufacturing business is dependant on the quality of its products. "Brulines came to us with the BQM technology housed in a very basic case that was extremely difficult to use and manufacture," says Ci3 design director Chris Smith. "It didn't look or perform like a technical instrument and it didn't convey any confidence that it was an accurate measuring device."
The challenge was to create a device that looked like a reliable scientific instrument, which would give accurate readings. There were also branding issues as Smith explains: "The original format used Brulines' yellow and black corporate colours as the main colours of the product, but it became clear that this would make any secondary branding difficult and costly. We determined that the device had to function first and foremost as a technical instrument and that any branding issues should be handled more appropriately."
From a product strategy point of view, Brulines didn't want to make significant investment in capital tooling. To reduce risk and client exposure, a decision was made to reduce the capital investment, get the product to market and invest in high-volume tooling at a later date in response to market demand. "We designed the BQM so that the assembly process required no special equipment," says Smith. "The actual labour base was unskilled as the components are designed to snap together."
Smith says the BQM comprises two "clamshells", which are snapped together to house a printed circuit board (PCB). The tail of the soft membrane switch on the front of the device connects to the PCB and allows a basic calibration to be carried out. The nose slides on and the wings expand and clip over two joints on the clamshells. There are seals running down both sides of the device and o-rings in the nose and lens parts to make it water resistant. Positioning the LED on the switch membrane reduces the complexity of the mouldings, adds Smith, and makes assembly and manufacture more cost effective. The end-user benefits of combining the switch with the LED include more tactile feedback from the switch itself and more definite distinction between switch modes.
Because the actual base mouldings of BQM stay the same, Brulines doesn't have to worry about huge stock levels or different parts for different people. Collin says the company is producing exactly the same components but its customers are getting a product that is tailor-made for them, featuring their own branding, and presented to them as an exclusive product but with the minimum effect on how it is manufactured. The silver and black remain constant and help to promote the BQM's technical qualities. "The end result is a sophisticated and stylish-looking monitoring device that will guarantee that customers enjoy a perfect pint time and time again," Collin adds.
