Save beer, save profit

Some old habits die hard as they say. Since writing the odd article for Inn Doctor, odd perhaps being a good word to describe my humble offerings, I have become more aware of just what goes on behind the bar. I’m not referring to any inappropriate behaviour by the bar staff you understand, but practices that are carried out because “we have always done it that way.”

One of these old practices I have come across was the drawing off of beer at the start of a new session. The place was a social club in Liverpool. I watched as the steward diligently pulled off nearly half a pint of beer off ten beer dispensers along the bar. It seems the steward always did this as he thought it was what you where supposed to do. It seems he thought you had to do this because the beer had been laying in the lines and would not be at it’s best.

Maths is not my best subject but even I could calculate that he was wasting 5 pints per day, 228 gallons per year, 20 eleven gallon kegs per year, thrown down the sink for no good reason. I bet all you Corrie fans have seen old Jack Duckworth doing exactly the same thing for years.

The reality here is that modern beer dispense systems are designed to prevent this practice ever being necessary. Be it cask or keg beer “pulling off” should not be carried out. If you find that between sessions your beer becomes cloudy or develops off tastes you have a problem and need to call your local technician or refer to these pages. Making sure that all the taps on the bar are both needed and are used all the time, not just every blue moon is another factor. Beer taps that are not used on a daily basis will develop yeast quickly.

Our staff, bless them all, can sometimes forget that beer equals money, equals profit and that every drip tray of beer thrown down the sink is money lost from your business. I think it is a good idea now and again to re-educate staff on how to pull a pint properly and not waste beer. Getting the maximum yield from every keg of beer, reducing unnecessary wastage and realising that wasted beer means wasted profit should be a priority for all pubs and clubs.

We are all guilty of doing things the same old way year on year, but taking the time to take a fresh view of what and why we do things, in our pubs and bars, could just save you a great deal of money.