This site is dedicated to solving your flat beer problems and is written by a brewery trained technical services engineer. This site is based on my daily experience’s with flat beer in the pubs, bars and clubs that I visit.
This site provides answers to the questions I hear every day.
Why is my beer flat?
Flat lager -
My beer glasses smell -
The site is meant to be an informative and jargon free guide, to help licensees resolve flat beer problems & solve them quickly.
The information on this site covers flat lagers as well as ales, bitters & mild beer.
If you have any questions or suggestions, then please feel free to contact me here.
These two differences are very important, because they are due to completely different faults.
Problem 1. Beer that is flat as it pours from the beer tap on the bar.
This is caused by:-
(a) The gas is not getting to the beer barrel for some reason.
I usually find on my visits that the gas has either been turned off accidentally, or the gas bottle is empty. This is a major cause of flat beer!
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(b) The beer barrel is damaged in some way -
The difference between a flat barrel and a good barrel will be immediately obvious at the beer tap on the bar. As you pour off the flat beer it will be followed directly by the new good beer, which will fizz and foam beautifully.
I usually find on my visits that the top sealing bit of the barrel where the barrel connector goes has stretched, or got cuts and scrapes in it. This will have allowed the gas in the beer to leak out and the beer goes flat.
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(c) With ales, bitters, stouts etc BUT NOT LAGERS a 'creamer plate' (sort of like a widget) is fitted in the beer tap nozzle, this make the beer creamy! This is also known as a 'sparkler'. If this 'widget' is missing then you will definitely get flat beer!
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If you have carried out the 3 checks above and you still have flat beer pouring from the tap, then it is time to call your Brewery Technical Services Engineer.
Looking through my diary for this year (2010) I have found that if 89 out of 94 licensees had checked for the above problems, they would have been able to get their beer back on sale within 5 minutes...Strange but true!
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Problem 2. Beer that is flat in the beer glass.
If the head on your beer disappears very quickly, then the beer glass is the problem. Full stop...
I've read all sorts of weird and wonderful explanations on the internet about beer going flat in a beer glass, but logic dictates that if your beer came out of the beer tap with bubbles and fizz and dies in the beer glass, then the beer glass is the problem.
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Beer is very fussy about glasses. If you don't give your beer a clean, cool dry glass, the head on it will disappear very quickly.
Most brewers sell 'branded' glasses to go with their beer and I always recommend my licensees to buy and use them. Brewers spend a lot of money developing these glasses, especially the lager glasses with the 'widget' in the bottom and if you want to sell good beer, you need to sell it in the right glass!
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So what is it about the beer glass that causes flat beer?
Issue 1. When a bar is very busy, the same beer glass may be washed and reused 20 times in succession and it is highly likely that within minutes of being washed, it is being used again to serve beer. This is a major problem for your beer, because, as soon as it hits the inside of that wet, warm glass, it will go flat in a matter of minutes if not seconds!
Solution: -
http://www.clenaglass.com/products/airack-
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Issue 2. If the beer glass is dirty or has glasswasher deposits on it, the beer will go flat very quickly. If your beer glass has bubbles on the side walls of the glass, then this glass is definitely dirty and you can't fail to notice just how fast the head on the beer dies.
What causes dirty beer glasses?
Beer glasses are washed in a glasswasher. This is not the same as the dishwasher you may have at home. For starters, the glasswasher cleaning products are not designed to get rid of food, grease and milky things, such as coffee cups or milky liquors, for example Bailey's.
If you need to wash glasses that have been used for things like Bailey’s, you need to ensure that they are thoroughly rinsed in the sink first, before going into the glasswasher. It is much better to wash these glasses in the sink and avoid them going into the glasswasher at all. It goes without saying that dinner plates, pudding bowls, tea cups / coffee cups should never go into your glasswasher!
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Most glasswashers don't actually drain the wash water away at the end of the wash cycle, instead the wash water is reused over and over again, until the bar staff remove the plug at the bottom of the glasswasher and drain the dirty wash water away.
The plug is then put back in and the glasswasher is filled back up with fresh water again.
This however is where the problems occur. It can take up to half an hour for a glasswasher to reheat the water and during this time the glasswasher can't be used for washing glasses.
This delay is simply too long when a bar is busy. So what tends to happen is the glasswasher gets filled up with freshwater at opening time and only gets emptied at closing time.
This means that the wash water (which is not being changed after each wash) gets progressively dirtier and dirtier as the night rolls on. This also means that more and more of that dirt sticks to your beer glass and even if the beer glasses are allowed to cool down and dry out, the dirt deposits on the beer glass will flatten the beer faster than your customers can drink it!
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Solution to dirty glasses: -
The immediate solution to dirty glasses is to 'renovate' them. Renovating beer glasses uses a special powder or liquid chemical that removes all of the dirt, grease and deposits on the glass and restores the beer glass to 'as new' condition.
The medium term solution to dirty beer glasses is to change the glasswasher water more often during your opening period. If you do not have enough glasses to cope without your glasswasher while it is heating up, you should consider getting more glasses.
The long term solution to dirty glasses is to purchase a glasswasher that uses a ‘fresh water wash’ for EVERY wash.
This is the best solution, simply because this type of glasswasher is not dependant on bar staff to manually drain and refill the wash tank.
Because each wash cycle uses fresh water, there is no deterioration in glass quality as the night rolls on and providing the beer glasses are allowed to dry and cool down, your last pint of beer will be as good as your first pint.
It would be fair to say that bars that use ‘fresh water wash’ glasswashers have very few problems with flat beer.
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During my travels I have found 2 glasswashers that use a ‘fresh water wash’ for every wash cycle.
The Clenaware Sovereign 45 and the Clenaware Sovereign 50.
These machines are not cheap, however I have found a supplier with a leasing option, this gives you the opportunity to see the difference in wash quality without a large down payment.
http://www.clenaglass.com/collections/frontpage/products/glasswasher-
Alternatively you could contact the manufacturer directly and request a list of distributors, thus ensuring the best price.
http://www.hubbardicesystems.co.uk/clenaware/glasswashers.php
I recommend these glass washers because I have seen them in action and have been very impressed with their wash quality.
I haven’t been paid for recommending them, but I live in hope! (any donations will be much appreciated!)
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Flat Beer Conclusions
In my humble opinion the most important piece of equipment in any bar is the glass washer.
Before considering a 60" plasma TV and an expensive refurbishment, you should definitely consider purchasing a ‘fresh water wash’ glasswasher.
If you look after your beer glasses, then they will definitely improve your beer sales and profit is what it's all about.
Once again, if you have any questions regarding flat beer then please feel free to
contact me here, or alternatively you could try visiting www.inndoctor.co.uk -
Cheers
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