Missing Link Brewing – Quality Control and Brand Protection
Jeremy Cook started Missing Link Brewing not only with a passion to create outstanding beer but to create a resource to let others do the same.

Missing Link Brewing created their own staple range of excellent beers which are above all drinkable and which beer lovers want to keep coming back to. Using the best ingredients, state of the art equipment and expert knowledge Missing Link Brewing are providing really exciting, modern craft beers that people want to drink again and again.

Now they have added a full laboratory to guarantee consistent excellent quality in their output plus a bigger, better, faster canning line so they can increase production of their increasingly popular core range. To equip the new laboratory, Jeremy wanted accurate equipment that was fast, easy to use and economical so turned to QCL.

Jeremy wanted to measure Diacetyl in particular as this is usually a very subjective test so he started with the BeerLab. Using a simple distillation setup and an easy to use measurement the BeerLab gives an accurate VDK (Diacetyl) result down to 0.05 ppm and removes the well-known problems with differing detection levels between people. The BeerLab also brings a wide range of other capabilities so in one analyser they have the capability for most of the key QC chemistry checks.

After this pH was the focus. Many breweries use the cheapest pH electrode they can find but these can be slow to respond, results can drift and they don’t last very long. QCL are experts in pH measurement, having been supplying the UK with high quality pH products for 40 years. The new pH meter and electrode is faster and more accurate giving everyone more confidence in the result.

Part of the Missing Link Brewing philosophy is to be a hub for other brewers to have access to high quality brewing and packing equipment. This means lots of beer from different sources and a potential risk of beer contaminated with spoilage bacteria or wild yeast entering the processing equipment. Jeremy wanted a fast and easy method to detect these organisms, particularly wild yeasts because, despite a rigorous CIP procedure, if these enter the lines they are very difficult to remove.

QCL provided the solution with Veriflow rapid microbiology, allowing wild yeast, diastaticus and spoilage bacteria to be detected in less than 4 hours. Now every beer which arrives for canning is unloaded into a holding tank before processing. A sample is taken and only when a negative result is obtained is it released to the canning line.

“The VeriFlow PCR system is very fast and easy to use. It allows me to check all beers for spoilers and wild yeasts before they are put through my canning line and is now a crucial part of my QC procedure”. Jeremy Cook, Founder