03.06.20 | Industrial

Why raw material optimization is exactly what your beer brand needs

In recent years, competition has gotten fiercer. The bottom line: You need to be fast and flexible in today’s brewing market.

In recent years, competition has gotten fiercer. We’ve seen increased variability and volatility in raw materials, growing pressure from tax authorities and regulators, and several breweries challenged on their sustainability efforts. The bottom line: You need to be fast and flexible in today’s brewing market.

To adapt, some breweries have started using adjuncts, such as sorghum and cassava, to complement sugar and syrup additions, which help to increase the flexibility and speed of many breweries. This also makes beer production more affordable, and helps to bring new, innovative products to the market.

But, the use of adjuncts has its challenges:

Potential for unwanted change in beer quality
Added variability in your raw materials, which adds complexity to your supply chain and brewing process
Capacity-related issues
Higher temperature operations, which require more energy and time

Adding sugar or syrup to your process

To overcome these challenges, some breweries add sugar or syrup to their extract bills. In doing this, you might address the beer quality and capacity issues. But you are working at higher temperatures and consuming more energy, which increases your cost base. This also does not address your raw material volatility, and can result in both a high cost to operate and an increased environmental footprint.

In addition, you add more cost due to needing more sugar in your process; this could expose you to taxes on sugar or syrup, which are becoming more common.

Malt also has regional limitations

Other players are adapting by adding malt. By using malt, you may improve beer quality, and you don’t change your process. In addition, you keep using same amount of energy, while potentially addressing capacity. But you are adding to your cost and exposing yourself to import taxes. Not to mention, your environmental footprint will increase.

At the core of these difficult scenarios is the real issue: You’ve been looking at this as an incremental improvement problem instead of a changing brewing philosophy.

Getting the most from your raw materials

So, what if you could reach your beer quality requirements all the time — and in a short period of time — by extracting more fermentable sugars from your raw materials? At the same time, what if you could change your process to reduce the temperature and energy consumption?

With more fermentable sugars, you could remove many of the challenges associated with adjuncts. And, with a lower-temperature process and no need to cook, you could address your capacity situation and the risks posed by the variability from raw materials. All while improving your cost base and your environmental footprint.

Your partner for improved profitability

Through the use of enzymatic technology, you can improve your beer quality by extracting the highest amount of fermentable sugar possible from your raw materials – going well above the standard 75%, and in a short process time.

This would enable you to serve the local consumers what they really want: a beer that speaks to their traditions and heritage. And, you’d be helping local communities by supporting the farmers and suppliers of local crops.

Making a beer that's truly sustainable

To make a truly sustainable beer, beer brands must consider the full life cycle of their products. Many opportunities exist to create a beer that satisfies the tastes of consumers and is gentler on the environment. Some of those opportunities like packaging and agriculture lie outside the brewery walls.

But others can be found by using innovative techniques in the brewery itself - especially by optimizing raw materials with enzymes. Smart, new-age beer brands can make changes that not only elevate their brand but also add up to a dramatic impact on the planet.