benbradford
Well-Known Member
Contrary to how the title sounds, I actually keyed onto an idea by the brewmaster at the Springfield Brewing Company, Ashton Lewis. He also holds an MS in brewing science from the University of California at Davis, and is BYO's technical editor.
What he said in his article makes sense, and I would like to follow the thought further down the track that it is intended.
The article is called "Eight Tip to Advance your Brewing Skills", and the fifth tip goes like this:
5. Learn from the Giants of the Industry
Too many small-scale brewers (homebrewers and craft brewers) spend way too much time bad-mouthing big brewers. Maybe it makes small brewers feel superior or something, but it could simply be a complex. Most small brewers feel pretty tiny when they dwell on the numbers. A small brewery may squeak out 1,200 barrels of beer a year - that's roughly 0.0006 percent of annual domestic beer sales. If every domestic brewery only produced 1,200 barrels per year, there would be 150,000 breweries in the United States!
The fact is that the big breweries really know their stuff, but they choose to brew what 95 percent of the public wants to buy. Their decisions are based on basic economic principles that drive the world. Some past experimental brews from the corporate R&D facility of a rather large brewery located along the Mississippi River were truly exceptional beers. Included was a doppel bock, a barleywine aged in French oak, and a dry-hopped IPA. These beers will never be sold commercially because the market is too small, but they proved that these companies can do about anything they want.
Learn how the big breweries do what they do and you are sure to pick up some useful information. This doesn't mean you need to start brewing light beer at home, but many of the techniques used by the big breweries are pretty slick and can give homebrewers new ideas.
I would like to diagnose the steps that are used by the small brewer, the home brewers, and the craft brewers, and compare them to the way in which the big guys brew.
To begin:
Grain Sources
Malting
Roasting
Equipment
Mashing
Boiling
Chilling
Yeast
Fermentation
Carbonation
Bottling/Kegging
These are just a few of the steps to begin, but maybe a start to see what the big guys are doing that we could discuss and learn from.
Please do not use this thread as a place to bash the major breweries, as that is a frequently discussed topic that belongs elsewhere
What he said in his article makes sense, and I would like to follow the thought further down the track that it is intended.
The article is called "Eight Tip to Advance your Brewing Skills", and the fifth tip goes like this:
5. Learn from the Giants of the Industry
Too many small-scale brewers (homebrewers and craft brewers) spend way too much time bad-mouthing big brewers. Maybe it makes small brewers feel superior or something, but it could simply be a complex. Most small brewers feel pretty tiny when they dwell on the numbers. A small brewery may squeak out 1,200 barrels of beer a year - that's roughly 0.0006 percent of annual domestic beer sales. If every domestic brewery only produced 1,200 barrels per year, there would be 150,000 breweries in the United States!
The fact is that the big breweries really know their stuff, but they choose to brew what 95 percent of the public wants to buy. Their decisions are based on basic economic principles that drive the world. Some past experimental brews from the corporate R&D facility of a rather large brewery located along the Mississippi River were truly exceptional beers. Included was a doppel bock, a barleywine aged in French oak, and a dry-hopped IPA. These beers will never be sold commercially because the market is too small, but they proved that these companies can do about anything they want.
Learn how the big breweries do what they do and you are sure to pick up some useful information. This doesn't mean you need to start brewing light beer at home, but many of the techniques used by the big breweries are pretty slick and can give homebrewers new ideas.
I would like to diagnose the steps that are used by the small brewer, the home brewers, and the craft brewers, and compare them to the way in which the big guys brew.
To begin:
Grain Sources
Malting
Roasting
Equipment
Mashing
Boiling
Chilling
Yeast
Fermentation
Carbonation
Bottling/Kegging
These are just a few of the steps to begin, but maybe a start to see what the big guys are doing that we could discuss and learn from.
Please do not use this thread as a place to bash the major breweries, as that is a frequently discussed topic that belongs elsewhere
