Euroboozer works with some of the best breweries in the UK and around the world. We choose our breweries and partners carefully to ensure that we have as few quality issues as possible. However, things can still go wrong, so this blog is here to help you (our customers) understand what to do (and what we will do) if you encounter any quality or dispense issues while serving beers you've bought from us.
Firstly, let's deal with product quality issues, or ullages. An ullage is beer (or cider) which is unfit for sale. This can happen for a few reasons, not limited to, but including...
- The beer has gone out of date
- The container has been damaged or breached before the point of sale
- The container is faulty and won't dispense, or has a leak
- The beer has little or no carbonation
- The beer tastes bad (Have a look at these common off flavours from this Morning Advertiser Article)
Some ullages could due to poor stock rotation, storage or could have been caused by unreported issues with your dispense system. Please be aware, some of these may not warrant a credit or replacement. Other ullages will be issues that arose during the brewing, packaging or transport of the product. If we feel there is a case, we will report these issues to the producer and aim to get you a credit or replacement.
What to do if you believe you have an ullage
- Try to ensure it is definitely an issue with the beer: Are the lines clean; Have you tried another beer on the same line to ensure the issue is isolated? There are some more questions to answer in our ullage form.
- Complete our ullage report form (and let your Beer Ambassador know)
- Keep the beer onsite - label it so that it isn't accidentally disposed of, or dispensed. We may need to collect it.
- We may ask for more details on the ullage, or for photo's/video of the issue.
- We will contact the brewer on your behalf to report the issue
- Once we have processed your ullage form, we will let you know if we need to collect the beer
Do NOT send the beer back to Euroboozer without a specific collection note on your delivery paperwork.
This may result in any possible credit not being processed - If we don't need to collect the beer we will let you know, we may ask you to dispose of it, or the contents.
- Once the brewery confirms they are happy to raise a credit for the beer we will pass this on to you.
Next let's deal with technical dispense issues. Euroboozer can provide a wealth of cellar support where required and can look after everything from the keg to the tap as well as all of the associated equipment in between. Please note, we do not look after air conditioning, or cellar cooling equipment (the machine that gets the ambient temperature in the cellar down – we do deal with remote cooling, the machine the beer passes through along the line).
- Product is pouring flat
- Product is fobbing (excessive foam)
- Product tastes bad (see also ullage above)
- No dispense at all
If the product is pouring flat there can be a few reasons why. Please check through these, as the more information we have the better. Also, some of them are simple fixes which you may be able to troubleshoot yourself!
- Is the correct gas connected? Is the cylinder full? Do you have pressure guages you can check?
- Has the product been connected too long? We'd reccomend not having a keg connected for more than 5 days, it may cause fobbing issues, and in turn not enough carbonation in the end product
- Are the lines, couplers and fob detectors clean? Yeasty lines can cause flat or spoilt beer
- Can you hear hissing? Perhaps you have a gas leak somewhere along your dispense system. this could be a loose connection, or a faulty piece of equipment
- If you've checked all of the above it could be a faulty keg/spear
If the product is fobbing it could be as a result of the following...
- Is the correct gas connected? is the cylinder full? Do you have pressure guages you can check?
- Has the product been connected too long? We'd reccomend not having a keg connected for more than 5 days, it may cause fobbing issues, and in turn not enough carbonation in the end product
- Is the cellar temperature correct. Most UK cellars should operate between 11 - 13C
Has the beer been allowed to reach cellar temp before dispense - Are the lines, couplers and fob detectors clean? Yeasty lines can cause flat or spoilt beer
- Is your remote cooler working? Is it low on water? Does it have an ice bank? Is the re-circ pump on the top working to keep the line/python chilled? Is the glycol level too low?
- Does the remote cooler have sufficient air flow?
- Has the fob detector been "bled" so there is no air/space at the top? Has the knob at the top (or base sometimes) been pushed up out of cleaning mode?
- If you've checked all of the above it could be a faulty keg/spear
If your product tastes bad, or the clarity isn't what you'd expect, it could be a product quality issue, or it could be dispense. Below are a coupe of situations where the dispense could cause off flavours
- Your cellar temperature is above 13C or your remote cooler isn't working, this can cause gas breakout and yeast growth in lines to accelerate.
- Were your lines cleaned properly, were they flushed through after cleaning? Could there be residual cleaning fluid or water in your lines?
- Is there a defective keg/container
Finally, if you have no dispense at all it could be one of the reasons below
- The keg is empty - please double check this before reporting an issue ;)
- The gas cylinder is empty - please double check this before reporting an issue.
Or has the gas pressure on the line been reduced or tampered with? - No supply to pump (if fitted) - have you check the gas or air supply to your pumps?
- Electric pumps? Have they been primed?
- Fob detector empty, or stuck. Have you pessed the knob to raise the float and "bled" the fob until full
- Are any of your pipes "kinked" please do a visual check from keg to cellar board
- Flow control valve has been closed, please ensure it is open.
- Are the coils frozen? Please don't leave water in your lines for long periods of time, it will freeze in the line inside the remote cooler.
- Is the sparkler plate fitted incorrectly? Nozzles with sparker plates should only be on creamflow products and should be cleaned regularly
- If you've checked all of the above it could be a faulty keg/spear/ullage
What to do if you have a dispense fault, or no dispense
- Read above and try to ensure it isn't something simple that could be rectified by your team.
Even if we have a dispense agreement with you, we may still need to charge for callouts that could have been avoided - Complete our Cellar Techinical Fault Report (and let your Beer Ambassador know)
- We may ask for more details, or photo's / video's of the issue before calling an engineer.
- Once we have processed your Techinical Fault Report form, we will let you know if we are calling an Engineer (we generally use Atlantic), and if we are able to provide one, a rough ETA
- Please ensure the engineer can contact you and gain access at the times on the completed form. Failed visits may incur charges
- If we do not have a dispense agreement with you we can still call out Atlantic on your behalf, charges will be billed onto you at the invoice cost price to Euroboozer
- If the callout wasn't necessary as it was something that could have been rectified on site (see above suggestions), or damage was due to tampering with the equipment we may need to pass charges on even if we have a dispense agreement with you.