Brewers Report(BROP) & Excessive Loss

[Amanda]

I need some experienced industry advice here...

I recently received a call from the TTB informing me that we have overpaid our excise tax according to the BROP since 2003! While this might seem like a great thing to be told we're getting money back, resubmitting every excise tax and brewer's report of operations is an extremely time consuming endeavor. Being that this is my first time dealing with the brewer's report, and I'm looking at other people's mistakes, I find it very difficult not to pull out all my hair. With that said I've spent enough time helping out in the brewery to understand that this is a very simple form. However, our records in the beginning-2003 denote only what beer was produced without the exact finished volume recorded. Now, I understand we are (supposed to be) producing 40bbls each batch, but my loss numbers are perplexing! According to what's been documented, 35% of what we are producing is going down the drain or out the door as samples?!!! Is it just me or does this seem extraordinarily high? Does anyone have an industry standard for percent of loss per bbl? Can anyone offer advice to minimize loss? Please help. Thanks.

[CallerFromLA]

I generally see beer spillage at 12 to 14%.

To look for:
- Proper physical inventory counting every week
- Make sure your spreadsheet has the correct equations and conversions
- Ring in every beer and/or sample. Document and account the following:
---- Free samples
---- Beer used in kitchen recipes
---- Shift beers for employees, if utilized
---- All comped beers
- Never use a 'call out' system. Always use a ticketed system at the bar.
- Only allow certain staff (bartenders only, no barbacks or servers) to pour beers
- Train staff to properly pour beers. If too much head, don't throw it down the drain - pour it into another glass for later serving.
- When training staff, show them where the 'beer' should be in the glass, and where the 'head' should be in the glass. Certain glassware have a marked line to help with this issue.
- Managers must watch the bartenders. Make sure their guests have checks in front of them. Review those checks in the middle of their shifts.
- Measure weekly for good results. Let your team members know the last 4 weeks' spillage numbers. Give incentives for making the goal (i.e., if you make the goal, you will be allowed two comped beers to guests per shift). Remove problem bartenders and servers from their shifts.
- Sometimes beers get foamy (bottom of tank, improper cooling, etc.) Have the brewer fix the problem immediately.
- Sell more beer! Higher sales seems to hide a lot of problems. This is cheating, but you still have the higher sales.
- I've never used them, but there are systems that can measure your beer flow, and break it into timed reports so you know when and where your beer is getting away from you.

Cheers,
--CallerFromLA

[beertje46]

http://www.sprintent.com/productsSentrySystem.html

This is an inexpensive (compared to wasted beer) flowmeter.

Interfaces with most POS systems and gives a one click variance report between beers rung v. beers poured.

[Michael Murphy]

I need some experienced industry advice here...

I recently received a call from the TTB informing me that we have overpaid our excise tax according to the BROP since 2003! While this might seem like a great .... Does anyone have an industry standard for percent of loss per bbl? Can anyone offer advice to minimize loss? Please help. Thanks.

Are you a brew pub or production 40bbl seems like production so I'll chime in.
I dont think 35% loss could be atributed to drinking and giving away free beer on a 40bbl batch size...



35% loss according to 40bbl brewhouse. It could be the result of many causes, so you should look at these areas:

-the brewer, ask him if he is getting the kettle full, if he is having problems with the whirlpool (falling apart), effecency from the mash... this is a good place to start your investigation. Then go on to ask him if he is dumping too much yeast or if the yeast is not floculating well and alot is being lost during yeast dumps durring filtration or filtration loss, Too much yeast could be the result of over aeration of the wort.

ask the packaging guys, are they pulling alot of low fills, is the bottling line working....

Analysis of the beer, is it frequently being dumped due to infection, slow sales, brewers mistakes?

Then ask the owner if he is trying to avoid paying tax by falsifying the ledgers and malt invoices, and trying to show less production than there really is.


So you can see it could be a result of many things. Your brewery chief should be on top of this problem at a 35% loss. I cant imagine him not, he may want to make sure the water to packaged beer ratio is right as well, seems wastefull...

[Graydon]

Amanda

This is a very high number, and you should expect less. The cold hard facts are that very few Micro's really track their losses correctly. The last place I worked at had 30 % loss from their brewhouse to the brights, and more than 12% loss in packaging . I guess what I am saying is it won't help to be upset, these things do happen, but fix it ASAP! and you may need to look at getting help for you staff. The losses were actually greater than what I stated, and this is a craft brewery thats considered to be among the very best.

The efficiencies in your brewhouse for a micro should be 86% to 92%.
In fermentation/filtering try for 6% loss.
Packaging should have a goal of 4%, but 6% loss is possible/reasonable.

Oh the staff at this micro corrected much of the waste and went from 65BBL of beer in the brights to > 80BBL beer in their brights with out changing the amount of raw ingredients used.

Graydon Brown
graydonb@sbcglobal.net

[GlacierBrewing]

Hi Amanda,
Check to make certain the volumes being measured are acurate. Is the 25BBL mark on the Brite Tank really 25BBL? DO NOT ASSUME IT HAS BEEN CORRECTLY MARKED AT THE FACTORY OR BY THE PREVIOUS EQUIPMENT OWNER!

my two cents
Dave