Efficient Quality Control Solutions for the Best of Brews
Brew with Confidence - Spoilage Detection by Sartorius
The art of brewing and the science of microbiology are an interesting and dynamic partnership which has been centuries in the making, one cannot exist without the other. But besides brewer’s yeast there also lurk other microorganisms whose effects can cause detrimental changes in aroma and flavor and ultimately in the quality of the product. Any brewery, whether a craft, regional or multi-national, all share the same concerns that their product hits the shelf in prime condition and is safe for consumption.
Quality Control solutions by Sartorius help you focus on consumer safety and your own unique taste. Because taste is key.
Flow Chart of Your Beer Process*
Discover the different steps in the beer workflow and click on the icon „+“ to get to know the variety of applications and solutions Sartorius offers for testing during your brewing process.
*This workflow may not exactly represent your brewery workflow however generalizes the QC checkpoints
Featured Resources
Applications in Your Quality Control (QC) and Our Product Solutions
You are committed to creating high-quality beer with consistent look, smell, feel and flavor from one bottle to the next. We are committed to providing you the products you need to ensure your beer’s taste, aroma and quality. For beer processing QC, we have solutions for the following applications:
Moisture determination of Raw Materials and Spent Grain
Malt, barley and hops are core ingredients in your beer. To safeguard your beer’s consistency and quality, you need to have confidence in your raw ingredients. To do this, you must avoid fungal contamination by checking your raw ingredient’s moisture content before you start brewing. Control of malt moisture will help optimizing extract and breakage and will prevent decline in quality during storage.
Additionally, at the end of production, to recycle waste and get the maximum from your brewing by-products, you can sell your spent grain as livestock feed or to a distillery. Again, testing moisture content is critical for avoiding fungal contamination and making sure you get the best price for your spent grain.
What to test?
- Moisture determination of incoming raw materials, such as barley, hops, and malt
- Moisture analysis on spent grains and yeast
Sartorius has products and solutions to help you detect moisture quickly and easily in your raw ingredients and spent grain.
Moisture Analyzer MA 160
A fast alternative to the classic oven drying method. Compact design for routine brewery applications in production and incoming inspection of yeast, hop, wheat, barley, corn, amylum, sugar, solid process wastes and any organic sample.
- Easy sample handling, designed for a secure and fast sampling removal.
- Intuitive configuration and image-guided programs procedure.
- Large 4.3“ color display, including touch and scroll functionality. Dry programs procedure are image guided.
- Status light / acoustic signal shows status of analysis.
- Achieve reference value in three easy steps with Method Development Assistant.
- Better Clean Design - for easy organic removal from the heating areas.
- Safe storage of 100 programs for different samples and 9999 results, sorted by date.
Moisture Analyzer MA 37
Rugged design, 100% reliable with small space requirements and easy operation in the brewery.
- Intuitive configuration and image-guided programs procedure.
- Large 4.3“ color display, including touch and scroll functionality.
- Status light / acoustic signal shows status of analysis.
- Better Clean Design - for easy organic removal from the heating areas.
Water is the major ingredient in your beer brewing but is often overshadowed by its equally important teammates: hops and barley. So the quality of your water shouldn’t be taken for granted. Water for brewing must be of a purity standard appropriate for drinking water and you may even be treating your water so that your beer’s flavour profile doesn’t have regional taste differences if you have breweries in multiple locations.
Although cities routinely perform microbiological and chemical water monitoring, contamination of the water used in breweries, can occur during the production process affecting the quality and flavor of your beer, so regular testing of water supplies, piping, tubing/gaskets and water from external wells is essential.
What to test?
Regular total colony counts and tests to identify coliform bacteria (specifically, E.coli) are recommended for microbiological quality control of this important ingredient.
e.motion Dispenser Membrane filters
Optimize water testing workflows and save time. Dispense filters automatically eliminating the need for manual operation. Brewery benefits include:
- Easy colony counting due to clear colony morphology and distinct grid lines.
- High speed beer sample filtration.
- Avoid re-loading during a shift with 250 filters per pack.
Microsart® e.motion Dispenser
Automatically dispense membrane filters for water testing in the brewery by touch of a button, hands-free motion detection or a foot switch to minimize risk of secondary contamination. Brewery benefits include:
- Space-saving small footprint.
- Easy to clean, lightweight and robust.
- Available with long-life battery option.
Microsart® Manifold
Facilitate routine microbiological water testing in the brewery by selecting the manifold size (1, 2 3 and 6 branch). Compatible with all Sartorius reusable and single use funnels and filtration unts. Brewery benefits include:
- Robust, full stainless steel material
- Easy assembly without tools
- Easy to clean and operate
New Video: Microsart® Manifolds: Adaptable to Your Needs - Watch Now
Microsart® e.jet pump
Liquid transfer pump connects to Microsart® Manifold as the vacuum source for filtration of water samples in the brewery. Brewery benefits include:
- Small footprint
- Adapt directly to the manifold, no need for a suction flask
- Use Quick connectors to attach tubing and manifolds
Biosart® 250 Funnel
Reusable 250 ml funnel for use with a membrane filter on the Microsart® Manifold. Brewery benefits include:
- Can be autoclaved multiple times
- Large inner diameter ensures high flow rate
- Conical shape design ensures no liquid remains in the funnel
Microsart® 250 Funnel
Single use 250 ml funnel for use with a membrane filter on the Microsart® Manifold. Brewery benefits include:
- Save time compared to reusable funnels
- Easy click fit connection
- No need to autoclave
Biosart® 100 Monitors
Ready-to-use sterile filtration unit combines a 100 ml funnel, lid, filter base, gridded membrane filter and a cellulose pad in one unit. After filtration, simply add nutrient media and remove the funnel to convert the monitor into a petri dish, eliminating the need to manipulate the membrane. Brewery benefits include:
- All-in-one design saves time and handling steps.
- Minimize the risk of secondary contamination.
- Different ampoule media types available for water testing.
Biosart® 100 Nutrient Media
Sterile ready-to-use liquid media in 2.5ml ampoules. For use with Biosart Monitors or Cellulose Pads in Petri dishes. Brewery benefits include:
- Eliminates time required to prepare media.
- Saves space in the laboratory refrigerator.
- Different ampoule media types available for water testing.
Microsart@filter
Ready-to-use sterile filtration unit in 100 or 250ml sizes. Combine a funnel, filter base and gridded membrane filter in one unit. Brewery benefits include:
- Reduces time and handling as autoclaving of funnels and base is eliminated.
- High speed sample filtration.
- Reliable results as no liquid remains after filtration.
Nutrient Pad Sets (NPS)
As alternative to agar plates, NPS are dehydrated media pads in petri dishes, packed in a double layer aluminum protective bag. Available with membrane filters for economical, time-saving microbiological quality control of water samples. Brewery benefits include:
- Eliminate time-consuming, labor-intensive culture media preparation.
- Eliminates need to keep media pads cool during storage or transportation.
- Long, 2 year shelf-life.
- Different NPS media types available for water testing.
Prospenser Plus
Robust design and high-quality materials provide accurate and precise dispensing in the brewery setting.
- Lightweight and easy to use
- Excellent chemical resistance and fully autoclavable
Despite beer’s intrinsic anti‐microbial properties and having a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system in place, contamination can still occur at many stages of your brewing process. This can damage customer confidence and consequently your brand and may have a serious financial impact on your company. The main contaminants include: Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus lindneri and Pediococcus damnosus, as well as molds, wild strain yeasts and Saccharomyces species, all of which can survive hostile conditions and can have an undesirable effect on your beer quality.
What to test?
Adhering to a strict, robust sampling plan with in-process controls along the entire production chain from raw materials and brewing water, through fermentation steps, ending with filtration and filling you can easily detect unwanted microbes.
Sartorius has the products and solutions for fast, effective, and efficient detection of potential spoilage- microorganisms in your process.
e.motion Dispenser Membrane filters
Optimize water testing workflows and save time. Dispense filters automatically eliminating the need for manual operation. Your benefits include:
- High speed sample filtration.
- Easy colony counting due to clear colony morphology and distinct grid lines.
- Avoid re-loading during a shift with 250 filters per pack.
Microsart® e.motion Dispenser
Automatically dispense membrane filters by touch of a button, hands-free motion detection or a foot switch to minimize risk of secondary contamination. Your benefits include:
- Space-saving small footprint.
- Easy to clean, lightweight and robust.
- Available with long-life battery option.
Microsart® Manifold
Facilitate your routine microbiological beer testing by selecting the size of the manifold (1, 2 3 and 6 branch). Compatible with all Sartorius reusable and single use funnels and filtration unts. Your benefits include:
- Robust, full stainless steel material.
- Easy assembly without tools.
- Easy to clean and operate.
New Video: Microsart® Manifolds: Adaptable to Your Needs - Watch Now
Microsart® e.jet pump
Liquid transfer pump connects to Microsart® Manifold as the vacuum source for filtration of beer samples. Your benefits include:
- Small footprint.
- Adapt directly to the manifold, no need for a suction flask.
- Use Quick connectors to attach tubing and manifolds.
Biosart® 250 Funnel
Reusable 250 ml funnel for use with a membrane filter on the Microsart® Manifold. Your benefits include:
- Can be autoclaved multiple times.
- Large inner diameter ensures high flow rate.
- Conical shape design ensures no liquid remains in the funnel.
Microsart® 250 Funnel
Single use 250 ml funnel for use with a membrane filter on the Microsart® Manifold. Your benefits include:
- Save time compared to reusable funnels.
- Easy click fit connection.
- No need to autoclave.
Biosart® 100 Monitors
Ready-to-use sterile filtration unit combines a 100 ml funnel, lid, filter base, gridded membrane filter and a cellulose pad in one unit. After filtration, simply add nutrient media and remove the funnel to convert the monitor into a petri dish, eliminating the need to manipulate the membrane. Your benefits include:
- All-in-one design saves time and handling steps.
- Available in different pore sizes and membrane colors.
- Different ampoule media types available for beer testing.
Biosart® 100 Nutrient Media
Sterile ready-to-use liquid media in 2.5ml ampoules. For use with Biosart Monitors or Cellulose Pads in Petri dishes. Your benefits include:
- Eliminates time required to prepare media.
- Saves space in the laboratory refrigerator.
- Different ampoule media types available for beer testing.
Microsart@filter
Ready-to-use sterile filtration unit in 100 or 250ml sizes. Combine a funnel, filter base and gridded membrane filter in one unit. Your benefits include:
- Reduces time and handling as autoclaving of funnels and base is eliminated.
- Available in different pore sizes and membrane colors.
- Reliable results as no liquid remains after filtration.
Nutrient Pad Sets (NPS)
As alternative to agar plates, NPS are dehydrated media pads in petri dishes, packed in a double layer aluminum protective bag. Available with membrane filters for economical, time-saving spoilage detection of brewery samples. Your benefits include:
- Eliminate time-consuming, labor-intensive culture media preparation.
- Eliminates need to keep media pads cool during storage or transportation.
- Long, 2 year shelf-life.
- Different NPS media types available for beer testing.
New Video: Nutrient Pad Sets: For Quality Control of Beer Samples
Prospenser and Prospenser Plus
Robust design and high-quality materials provide accurate and precise dispensing.
- Robust design and high-quality materials provide accurate and precise dispensing.
- Lightweight and easy to use.
- Excellent chemical resistance and fully autoclavable.
To ensure your beer’s quality and flavor meet the highest standards, you need to perform quality control with analytical testing, on your incoming raw ingredients, during intermediate production steps, as well as before final release. These tests can detect the following:
- Sugar content, nitrogen compounds, salts and minerals, and other compounds that may be extracted in the mash or wort
- Alcohol content
- Measurement of pH value
- Compounds such as international bitterness units (IBUs), polyphenols, free amino nitrogen (FAN), sulfur dioxide, and color measurements
To run any analytical or sensory tests, you need the right tools for sample preparation, such as pipettes, laboratory balances, syringe filters, and filter papers. Additionally, no matter which analytical tests you are performing, high-quality, ultrapure water is important for preparing stock solutions, buffers and sample dilution for use in all your lab’s standard analytical applications.
What to test?
- Analytical tests can include Wet Chemistry Assays, pH, Gas Chromatography (GC), Atomic Adsorption (AA), Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)
- High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) can also provide you with valuable information about undesirable compounds in your raw ingredients.
The quality of your results is dependent on the quality of your samples, we provide the right products and solutions to make your analytical testing sample preparation fast, effective, and efficient.
Arium® Mini UV Water Filtration System
Quality control of beer is essential for consumer safety. The water used for highly sensitive chromatographic analysis such as HPLC, GC-MS, or ICP must always be high quality. Arium® Mini lab water system is a compact ultrapure water system for labs with requirements up to 15 liters per day. The option UV lamp (185/254 nm) removes TOC levels down to < 5 ppb. Key advantages:
- Consistent delivery of high quality ASTM Type 1 water increases sensitivity of analytical results and minimizes chemical ion interference.
- Comprehensive services include installation and preventative maintenance for consistent and reliable water quality.
Filter Papers
To ensure the quality of beer, samples are removed from production and tested. Standardized methods and filter paper grades are available for different applications including removal of turbidity from wort, removal of yeast cells after fermentation and reduction of CO² or to degas the sample prior to tests such as density measurement or specific gravity. Common filter paper grades for beer testing:
- Grade 6 - Fast filtration for Malt-4 analysis and degassing.
- Grade 4b - Medium fast filtration for malt analysis.
- Grade 3 hw - Medium fast filtration with high wet strength and smooth surface for clarification.
- Grade 470 – Made of cellulose and diatomaceous earth for turbidity removal.
Cubis®️ II Premium Laboratory Balance
Precision Balances offer the highest performance for breweries. Fully configurable hardware and software ensure connectivity, compliance and confidence in results.
- Avoid sampling errors with the largest 7“ color display with touch, scroll and swipe functionalities; graphic guided procedures/applications are built-in and dozens of QApp Packages are available including statistics, averaging, check weighing with counter and 70 others.
- Status Center provides system info, notifications, tasks, and alerts. Advanced user management includes centralized password support, high security configuration and login rules with LDAP capabilities.
- Unique, built-in, interactive motorized auto-levelling function up to 8 kg.
- Easy to clean rounded edges and chemical resistance to eliminate organic residues or spill stains.
Quintix® Lab Balance
Featuring the highest performing weighing technology available in Precision Balances for breweries.
- Best performance right-out-of-the-box by its Start Assistant, SmartTouch and intuitive applications.
- Checkweighing, statistics and peak-hold built-in applications; menu lock function available to avoid configuration changes.
- Easy to clean and high chemical resistance disposable cover to avoid organic residues or spill stains.
Prospenser and Prospenser Plus
- Robust design and high-quality materials provide accurate and precise dispensing for brewery applications.
- Lightweight and easy to use
- Excellent chemical resistance and fully autoclavable
Tacta® Pipette
- Superb comfort and unparalleled reliability ensures minimal variation for brewery applications.
- Advanced ergonomics including soft tip attachment and light ejection delivers the best user experience.
- Adjustable to improve pipetting accuracy by accommodating for viscosity or liquid temperature.
- With only three parts to clean, there is a low risk of contamination. Combine with Safe-Cone filters or SafetySpace Filter tips to further increase contamination control and prolong pipette lifetime.
Optifit Tips
- With a perfect fit and seal, Sartorius pipettes deliver the highest possible accuracy and precision for breweries. Further improve pipetting performance of viscous liquids with low retention tips.
- Broad volume range and packaging options to suit your application and use.
- Optifit tips meet the highest purity and quality standards.
Minisart® Syringe Filters
- Samples for HPLC, GC-MS, or ICP require proper clarification prior analysis to ensure high sensitivity and accuracy and protect instruments from particle load.
- Minisart® syringe filters are optimized for sample preparation with maximum chemical compatibility to ensure high performance. Minisart® RC is optimized for aqueous liquids, solvents and a wide range of chemicals.
- Minisart® NY Plus syringe filters include a pure quartz glass fiber prefilter optimized for sample prep of particle-laden samples prior to HPLC or GC . The polyamide membrane combines fastest flow with low non-specific binding.
Claristep®
- Samples for HPLC, GC-MS and ICP require proper clarification prior analysis, however, to ensure high sensitivity and accuracy and protect instruments from particle load.
- The Claristep® Filtration System can process up to eight samples simultaneously without any vacuum source or power supply. The syringeless filter and the simple manual processing enable customers to simplify their sample clarification.
Process hygiene is critical in beer production and knowing which microorganisms are present in your brewery is the first step to ensuring contamination free operation. Introducing contaminants at any stage in your brewing process may cause changes in flavour and odor, as well as oxidation, and spoilage leading to poor quality beer, which may be unsafe to drink.
What to test?
Test ambient air for airborne microorganisms, for example at your filling line and at critical points in your production areas.
Sartorius provides you with products and solutions to make testing for airborne microorganisms fast, effective, and efficient.
Learn More about Air Monitoring
MD8 Airport
A portable device to monitor microbiological air quality in your beer production area and at the filling line. Your benefits include:
- Battery operated and portable
- Ergonomically designed and easy to clean
- User-friendly prompting with the option of four languages: English, French, German and Spanish
- Flexible options for customized use, including adjustable air throughput and air flow rate
- Storage of last-used parameters, even after automatic shut-off
- Can be calibrated on-site
Our balances are a great partner when quantity controlling your filling process. Using the Check Weighing program with defined limits and visual aids means you can accurately control your actual contents or nominal gross weights. With the integrated temperature and time controlled self-adjustment functionality isoCAL in all Quintix®, Cubis® II and Entris® II models, accuracy is guaranteed every time, regardless of the conditions. Cubis® II offers additionally an integrated levelling warning with motorized self-levelling function for highest accuracy and convenience.
Features
- Check weight is included in our essential weighing applications package with Cubis® II (MCA), Quintix, Secura® and Entris® II balances.
- Check weight determines whether a weight value falls within a specified tolerance range. This application makes your analytical QC team’s job easier as it helps them prepare samples to a specified target weight range.
- Print out each measure and change to the next identical bottle or can and get the stats in the end at the touch of a button.
Recommendations, norms, regulations and directives our balances work according to, include:
- OIML R 79, R 87 & R138
- Directives 76/211/EEC, 2007/45/EC, 2009/34/EC & 75/107/EEC
- NIST Handbook 133, 21-C.F.R. Part 101 and 27-CFR Parts 7, 25 & 27
Cubis®️ II Premium Laboratory Balance
Precision Balances offer the highest performance for breweries. Fully configurable hardware and software ensure connectivity, compliance and confidence in results.
- Avoid sampling errors with the largest 7“ color display with touch, scroll and swipe functionalities; graphic guided procedures/applications are built-in and dozens of QApp Packages are available including statistics, averaging, check weighing with counter and 70 others.
- Status Center provides system info, notifications, tasks, and alerts. Advanced user management includes centralized password support, high security configuration and login rules with LDAP capabilities.
- Unique interactive, motorized auto-levelling function up to 8 kg or graphic-interactive guide up to 70 kg. Configurable electronic stabilization filters and lecture speeds for fast response in production areas.
- Easy to clean rounded edges and chemical resistance to eliminate organic residues or spill stains.
Quintix® Lab Balance
Featuring the highest performing weighing technology available in Precision Balances for breweries.
- Best performance right-out-of-the-box by its Start Assistant, SmartTouch and intuitive applications.
- Checkweighing, statistics and peak-hold built-in applications; menu lock function available to avoid configuration changes.
- Easy to clean and high chemical resistance disposable cover to avoid organic residues or spill stains.
Entris® II Lab Balance
Unrivalled value and performance in Precision Balances for breweries backed by 150 years of German engineering expertise.
- The only Balance in its class with an automatic internal calibration program, 4.3“ color touchscreen or LED touch display and built-in checkweighing application.
- Easy to clean and high chemical resistance polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), stainless steel and glass construction to avoid organic residues or spill stains.
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