ASBC Sampling Plan
What to Test When
The sampling process is necessary to maintain the quality and consistency of a brewery's beers. A brewery should always have ample control over its batch-to-batch variations, control over the stability of each beer, and should know when a sample deviates from normal quality standards. In order to do this, samples need to be taken at every step of the Brewing Process, analyzed, and used to decide whether corrective processes need to take effect.
The Sampling Plan can be broken up into 11 steps, with the test performed at each step varying by production level. Click one of the parts of the Sampling Plan below to see it's details.
| ADD: Malt |
| 1. Mill |
| 2. Mash |
| ADD: Water |
| 3. Lauter |
| REMOVE: Grain |
| 4. Kettle |
| ADD: Hops |
| 5. Whirlpool |
| REMOVE: Trub |
|
6. Heat Exchange |
| ADD: O2 + Yeast |
| 7. Ferment |
| REMOVE: Yeast |
| 8. Condition |
| ADD: Hops |
| 9. Clarify |
| ADD: CO2/N |
| 10. Brite |
| ADD: CO2/N |
|
11. Bottle, Can or Keg |
ADD: Malt |
| Inspecting, archiving, and trending your supplier Certificates Of Analysis (COA’s) over time is a simple and low-cost way to keep good tabs on malt quality. Typically there is little value in repeating a large maltster’s analytical tests – it will be hard to match their intensive representative sampling regimens and highly-equipped labs. Visual inspection and regular at-line sensory is the best way to catch major issues. |
| Production Level | Test | Method | Tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| < 1000 bbls/yr | Visual Inspection | No Dedicated ASBC Method | |
| Sensory At-Line |
Sensory Analysis-14 | ||
| Supplier COA | Inspect and Archive | ||
|
1,000-30,000 bbls/yr | Hot Steep |
Sensory Analysis-14 |
Grinder, Water Bath |
| INCLUDE ALL TESTS, METHODS, AND TOOLS FROM THE PRODUCTION LEVELS ABOVE | |||
|
30,000-90,000 bbls/yr | Friability | Malt-12 | Friability Meter |
| Moisture | Malt-3 | Drying Oven | |
| INCLUDE ALL TESTS, METHODS, AND TOOLS FROM THE PRODUCTION LEVELS ABOVE | |||
| 90,000+ bbls/yr | Available Extract, Soluble Extract |
Brewer's Grains-4,Brewer's Grains-5 |
Mash Bath, Disk Mill |
| Extract | Malt-4 |
Mash Bath, Disk Mill | |
| INCLUDE ALL TESTS, METHODS, AND TOOLS FROM THE PRODUCTION LEVELS ABOVE | |||