By Karl Ockert

Karl Ockert began his brewing journey in 1983 after earning a BSc degree in fermentation science from the University of California, Davis. He has spent his career designing, building, and operating craft breweries—from brewpubs to major regionals. Karl has written The Craft Brewer’s Guide to Best Practices to pass along hard-learned lessons and up-to-date methods to the next generation of craft brewers worldwide.

All successful breweries blend theoretical knowledge with practical application. Yet despite the booming popularity of craft beer, no books connecting theory and application have been available specifically for small, manually operated breweries and brewpubs.

Karl Ockert, lead editor of Master Brewers’ bestselling series Practical Handbook for the Specialty Brewer, has filled this gap with The Craft Brewer’s Guide to Best Practices: a set of four comprehensive handbooks offering craft brewers information that is current, practical, and relevant to operations of their scale. Based on his wide-ranging experience, Ockert provides information and insights that are not found in other brewing guides and textbooks.

The Craft Brewer’s Guide to Best Practices, Volumes 1–4 connect brewing theory with day-to-day operations in a question-and-answer format that’s accessible to brewers of all experience levels. These books identify the important concepts of successful brewing and provide the most effective techniques and methods to apply them. Readers will find the information they need to design, build, and run a craft brewery to consistently make high-quality beer.

Who will benefit from reading these books?

• Anyone looking to start or maintain a career in craft brewing
• Personnel in manually operated craft brewpubs and breweries (although many of the concepts can be applied universally to a brewery of any size)
• Brewing and malting science educators and students
• Technical staff and other professionals in industries related to brewing and fermentation

Raise the bar of your craft brewing operations with The Craft Brewer’s Guide to Best Practices, Volumes 1–4.

The Craft Brewer’s Guide to Best Practices, Volumes 1–4

Volume 1: Management, Regulation, and Brewery Design

Chapter 1
Craft Brewery Management

Chapter 2
Safety First!

Chapter 3
Quality Management

Chapter 4
Food Safety Management

Chapter 5
Brewery Site Selection and Build-Out

Chapter 6
Brewery Equipment Selection and Design

Appendix 1
Sample Quality Management Sampling Plan

Appendix 2
Brewhouse and Cellar Equipment Design Guidelines

Appendix 3
Useful Equations

Index

Volume 2: Raw Materials, Wort Production, and Fermentation

Chapter 1
Supply Chain Management

Chapter 2
Cleaning and Sanitizing Plant and Equipment

Chapter 3
The Brewhouse: Sweet Wort Production

Chapter 4
The Brewhouse: Boiled Wort Production

Chapter 5
Fermentation and Maturation

Appendix 1
Sample Cleaning and Sanitizing Schedule

Appendix 2
Sample Brewhouse Sheet

Appendix 3
Sample Cellar Sheet

Appendix 4
Useful Equations

Index

Volume 3: Dry Hopping, Sours and Funky Beer Production, Packaging, and Utilities

Chapter 1
Developing Hop Flavor

Chapter 2
Sour, Funky, and Fruited Beer Production

Chapter 3
Wood Barrel Aging

Chapter 4
Finishing Beer

Chapter 5
Keg, Serving Tank, and Draft Beer Operations

Chapter 6
Packaging into Small-Pack Bottles and Cans

Chapter 7
Maintenance and Utilities

Appendix 1
Sample Packaging Sheet

Appendix 2
Sample Maintenance Log Sheet

Appendix 3
Useful Equations

Index

Volume 4: Standard Operating Procedures

Chapter 1
Introduction to the SOP Manual

Chapter 2
SOPs for Receiving, Storing, and Shipping

Chapter 3
SOPs for Brewhouse Operations

Chapter 4
SOPs for Brewhouse Cleaning

Chapter 5
SOPs for Cellar Operations

Chapter 6
SOPs for Cellar Tank and Equipment Cleaning

Chapter 7
SOPs for Wood Barrel Cellar Operations

Chapter 8
SOPs for Finishing Operations

Chapter 9
SOPs for Keg and Small-Pack Packaging

Appendix 1
Brewhouse Sheet

Appendix 2
Cellar Sheet

Appendix 3
Packaging Sheet

Appendix 4
Cleaning and Sanitizing Schedule

Appendix 5
Quality Management Sampling Plan

Appendix 6
Carbonation Chart

Appendix 7
SOP Setup Drawings

Index