Simple and fast chemical analysis of beer for quality control in brewing process directly in the brewery
Are you the owner of a brewery? Are you a master brewer and are looking for an analyzer to perform quality control in your brewing process? Are you a consultant for breweries? We have the most appropriate analysis system for your business.
CDR BeerLab®
: the self-contained analyzer to perform chemical analyses on beer, wort and water for in-house brewing process control.
Thanks to CDR BeerLab®, you no longer have to send beer or wort samples to dedicated external laboratories. Beer analysis methods are quick and easy to use. The results of the tests are available in real time so as to be able to promptly take key decisions during the brewing process.
For detailed technical characteristics, visit the dedicated page
Analysis for in-house brewing process control
In just a few minutes, CDR BeerLab® analyzer allows to determine a wide panel of parameters on beer and water for the inline control of the brewing process:
- Beer and Wort:
Bitterness (IBU)
Fermentable Sugars
Alcohol by Volume (ABV)
Acetic acid
Yeast Vitality
Vicinal Diketons (VDKs)
Total sulfur dioxide
Free Amino Nitrogen by OPA (FAN)
Colour
Starch
pH
Lactic Acid (D + L)
Polyphenols in beer
Alkalinity of water
Bicarbonate in Water
Calcium in Water
Zinc in Water
Sulfate in Water
Magnesium in Water
Potassium in Water
Chloride in Water
How it can help you to perform analysis for beer quality control
The analytical system built to analyze Beer, Wort, and Water, CDR BeerLab®
- is easy to use: you can perform the tests directly in the brewery, during any phase of the brewing process even if you are not a chemical lab specialist;
- exploits optimized analytical methods that are simple and fast, with no risks for the operator, with no waste and without having to be equipped with a laboratory;
- removes the need to rely on dedicated external laboratories;
- enables to take key decisions in a timely manner: results on dozens of samples are obtained in just a few minutes;
- provides accurate results, which are verified by correlation and compliance curves with the reference methods;
- performs a complete panel of tests, all main parameters on beer and water to the purpose of the brewing process quality control;
- is self-contained and compact, does not require maintenance operations: it is a spectrophotometer that perfectly meets breweries’ and master brewers’ analysis requirements.
A true testing laboratory: chemical analyses for beer quality control that comes in a complete, intuitive and reliable equipment
CDR BeerLab® is a true analysis laboratory. We have developed it to perform easy and fast chemical analyses on beer directly at the brewery, without the support of personnel with specific lab tech experience, and without relying on a dedicated external laboratory.
CDR BeerLab® optimize traditional testing procedures, making them faster and easier, while guaranteeing accuracy standards in line with the ISO reference methods
Compact and handy, it is composed of:
- an analyzer based on photometric technology equipped with state-of-the-art LED emitters, available in 2 versions
- a kit of pre-vialed and ready-to-use low toxicity reagents, specifically developed by our research laboratory to fine tune analytical methods and avoid any contact with toxic or carcinogenic substances
- pipettes that allow for the collection of the correct volume of sample.
Our device comes from a family of fast and reliable testing systems that we have developed and manufactured to perform food and beverage quality controls during the production process.
The ‘help’ function makes beer analysis methods easier
The system is reliable, fast and intuitive. It is so simple to use that anyone can run a test in total autonomy as if they were skilled personnel. Just a few steps suffice to perform the analyses and, if there is ever a doubt, the HELP function will lead you through the process by displaying detailed instructions. Click here for more info on the Help function
Applications: Quality Control in Brewing Process
“Since its installation, we have found the analyser to be accurate and easy to use. We are looking to list BAD Co. beer with a well-known national retailer and we wouldn’t be able to do that without in-house quality control using the BeerLab”.
Paul Holden-Ridgeway
head brewer of BAD Co.’s
CDR BeerLab®: The Effect of Late and Dry-Hopping on IBU Value
It has been thought that late-hopping and dry-hopping do not contribute to IBUs in beer, however, in Hackney Brewery, an english brewery, brewers have been able to conduct an investigation into this with a very fast and easy in-house quality control without the need for a chemical laboratory: CDR BeerLab®. With CDR BeerLab® the analysis can be performed directly at every step of the beer production process and so you have the possibility to study your recipe optimizing the additions of the hops and monitoring the actual extraction of the bitter. [More…]
Analysis of Mashing in the Brewery
Is it possible to reduce the mashing time improving the process efficiency with in-house brewing process control? The case study shows that it is possible to reduce the mashing time improving the process efficiency using CDR BeerLab® to perform chemical analysis of beer for in-house brewering process control. [More…]
Evaluation Reports
CDR BeerLab® beer analysis methods are reliable, easy to use and fast as confirmed by Campden BRI
The international reference analysis laboratory Campden BRI carried out a comparative study between the analytical methods exploited by CDR BeerLab® and the reference methods. The study concluded that: “The correlation of analytical results obtained with CDR BeerLab® with the reference methods is very good for all types of tested beer and must samples.”
Some Extracts from the Report:
“The CDR BeerLab® analyser has been shown to give comparable performance in the measurement of pH, colour, bitterness (IBU) and alcohol (ABV) to established methods. …”
“Accuracy of the CDR BeerLab® with regards to agreement with the declared values of ABV was very good for all sample types. …”
“… precision values for the CDR BeerLab®, for all analyses, are well within the tolerances expected for spectrophotometers in the brewing industry”
“The low reagent and sample volumes required for analysis not only reduces reagent costs but also reduces the amount of waste produced, thereby providing analysis with a low environmental impact.”
“In the case of alcohol and bitterness, the CDR BeerLab® methods are faster than traditional methods (in the case of bitterness significantly faster) and all methods tested during this evaluation show close agreement to the reference method.”
Furthermore, the Campden BRI laboratory highlighted that:
- The instrument is easy to use
- The user interface is logical and simple
- No calibration is needed
- As compared with traditional methods, CDR BeerLab® analytical methods are much faster
- The system has a low environmental impact due to minimum waste production and very low volumes of sample and reagents used
Evaluation of the determination of VDK and yeast vitality in beer with the CDR BeerLab® – CampdenBRI
CDR Srl with QCL (QuadraChem Laboratories Ltd), the distributor of CDR products in United Kingdom, have requested to Campden BRI the evaluation of new VDKs concentration analysis and determination of yeast vitality, now available on the CDR BeerLab® Analyser.
The reference methods used are:
• Reference UKAS accredited VDK method (Campden BRI Method AM/008 based on Analytica-EBC, 9.24.2, 1999)
• The yeast acidification power test (APT), one of the most common vitality tests
Compared to the acidification power yeast vitality and the reference VDK methods, the CDR BeerLab® methods were much quicker
Correlation between CDR BeerLab® and official methods for analysis of Beer, Wort and Water – University of Udine
Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmentaland Animal Sciences of the University of Udine Italy, under the guidance of Dr. Stefano Buiatti, performed:
• the evaluation of correlation between the results obtained using CDR BeerLab® and those obtaibed with EBC (European Brewery Convention) official methods
• the evaluation of the correlation between the results obtained with the CDR BeerLab® and those obtained with the official methods of analysis on the parameters relating to the quality control of water used in brewing.
The methods of CDR BeerLab® for analysis of beer, wort and water provided statistically correlated results (p <0.05) with low standard deviation values indicating good accuracy.
The two versions of CDR BeerLab® for chemical analyses on beer
 CDR BEERLAB® |
 CDR BEERLAB® JUNIOR |
|
|---|---|---|
| Tests |
Beer and Wort: Bitterness (IBU) Fermentable Sugars Alcohol by Volume (ABV) Acetic acid Yeast Vitality Vicinal Diketons (VDKs) Total sulfur dioxide Free Amino Nitrogen by OPA (FAN) Colour Starch pH Lactic Acid (D + L) Polyphenols in beer Alkalinity of water Bicarbonate in Water Calcium in Water Zinc in Water Sulfate in Water Magnesium in Water Potassium in Water Chloride in Water |
Configuration with tailored panel of analyses |
| Simultaneous analyses | 16 | 3 |
| Possibility of running several tests on the same sample |  |
– |
| Photometric module | 4 thermostated reading cells (37˚C) | 4 thermostated reading cells (37˚C) |
| Incubation module | 37˚C thermostatic block with 16 slots | 37˚C thermostated reading block with incubation function |
| Dimensions and weight | 32 X 29,5 X 13 cm (L x P x H) – 2,8 Kg | 15 x 22 x 8,3 cm (L x P x H) – 0,80 Kg |
| Lithium ion battery | – | |