CDR BeerLab

[RockinBrewer]

I saw this system at Brau and CBC-it uses photometric methods to do beer analysis (abc, IBU, color, pH) and water mineral analysis. It is a small footprint bench top system that can do many analysis' that otherwise would require separate analytical equipment.

Has anyone ever used in practice? I'm exploring one for purchase in this next 6 months and was wondering if anyone had any feedback.
Thanks.

[MatthewS]

No one ever responded to this but figure I'll resurrect it to see if anyone has purchased and is using CDR BeerLab for beer and water analysis.

I have been speaking with ATP Group, who sells additives, process/filtering equipment, chemicals to the food, wine, pharma, and beer industry.
They just picked up this product and have not sold any yet. Planning for them to visit my brewery and do an on-site demo.

[wakeele]

Anything to report, Matthew???
I'm trying to build a respectable lab and curious about the new, cheaper technology available now.

[MatthewS]

I had a couple conversations with the people there. Never did get a demo after a couple attempts with the rep. They didn't seem all that motivated to be honest and also didn't have a ton of information about the system, other than, "Anyone can operate it and it's easy to use and very accurate"

Here's an email I received with some details:

[wakeele]

I had a couple conversations with the people there. Never did get a demo after a couple attempts with the rep. They didn't seem all that motivated to be honest and also didn't have a ton of information about the system, other than, "Anyone can operate it and it's easy to use and very accurate"

Here's an email I received with some details:

They ended up replying to me pretty quickly, but the cost of reagents, even in bulk at 100 tests each, is obscene. I'd rather contract with a lab to do these tests than blow over well $20,000 a year on reagents alone. For $800 you can get a LaMotte water testing kit that can do 50 tests that comes with the kit, which cover about half of what their nonsense does. Also those prices you included are less that what they are now. $82/10 for most. Not impressed for what I've seen.

[dick murton]

I agree these are scary figures at first glance, but realistically, how many of them will you do on each brew?

My guess is that you already have a pH meter, so won't bother with that analysis using this. The mineral salts you will do perhaps once or twice per year on standard brews, and might do a couple on a new brew with completely different mineral treaments, and you will concentrate on ABV, colour, and IBU. Starch tests should be done at the end of mashing anyway, and whilst I realise this is a crude test, I worked in major brewing companies for 35 years, and the only time they did a starch test outside the brewhouse was when they had problems with unfilterable hazes, or poor clarity out of cask beer. Mineral salts levels - not sure, but certainly not every brew - I think a couple of times a year only.

As for residual fermentables, we used to do forced fermentations to ensure the attenuation limit was reached and compare to the normal gravity.

If your processes and additions are consistent, then occasional samples of anything other than ABV, IBU, pH and colour are perfectly acceptable. Use consistent practices, your taste buds and eyeballs for most of it

[Larry Horwitz]

I demoed one of these units last year. It's basically a fancy UV Vis spectrometer with a very fancy interface. The challenge with that is that photometric technology doesn't do some things very well...like measure alcohol. We benchmarked the unit next to results from an Anton Parr Alcolyzer (TTB standard) and it wasn't just incorrect...it was all over the map. I'm sure the unit will do color, and BUs, FAN etc just fine and if you've never done any of these with your spec before, or if you just don't want to source all of the reagents and tools needed, then this unit might be for you. It's not that expensive when you consider the cost of the things you'd need to do all of these tests btw. Also, they have a small 4 path unit that i'd get instead. As Dick highlighted, I wouldn't need most of the tests offered.

BTW Hach is selling DR6000™ UV VIS Spectrophotometer with similar reagent kits for less...but with the same problems.

If you need the tests it may make sense. If you don't need 'em, then you don't need 'em.

on third party lab: can be very cost effective, but don't forget that shipping is expensive, and some tests need to be done ASAP (DO measurement, for instance)
cheers