Q Guard Beer System, Glycol Beer System

Q-guard Beer System

By upgrading your Glycol Beer System to Q-guard you will not only be dramatically improving the quality and taste of your beer, but save thousands of dollars by reducing beer wastage.

Introducing Q-Guard™

Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer Dispensing System is the latest technology in glycol chilled beer dispensing.  Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer Dispensing System helps to reduce the impact of bacteria and wild yeast on tap beer, resulting in a more consistent product being dispensed. 

In early 2002, after seven years of development and laboratory testing, Andale's tubing supplier, Valpar Industrial released Brewmaster Q-guard. Brewmaster Q-guard has an anti-microbial agent impregnated within the inner lining of the tubing which works by inhibiting the growth of bacteria that has contact with the wall of the tube.  This means that any bacteria that is introduced into the system cannot grow, reducing the impact of dirty beer lines to the flavour and quality of tap beer.

A further extension to Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer Dispensing System are Andale's Q-guard range of fittings. Many manufacturer's of beer dispensing equipment employ poor manufacturing techniques that result in low quality fittings. These fittings are generally machined to an 'engineering quality' resulting in a rough surface finish.  This poor surface creates many 'bug traps' where bacteria grow, reducing tap beer quality. Andale's Q-guard beer dispensing fittings are machined to a food grade quality.  This quality is achieved by micro-polishing each fitting, resulting in an ultra-smooth finish, eliminating 'bug traps', thus helping to reduce the 'flavour change' from the keg to the tap.

With the use of Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer Dispensing System beerline cleaning cycles can be extended from weekly to monthly, resulting in massive savings in beer wastage and cleaning costs.

Andale's Q-Guard Beer System will help you save money.

How does this system work?

The Q-Guard™ Beer System works by combining 5 main elements that help to reduce the impact of yeast and bacteria on the quality of tap beer.

• Brewmaster Q-Guard™tubing

The worlds most advanced beerline technology. Q-Guard™ utilises an anti-microbial agent in its inner layer to inhibit the growth of bacteria and yeast.  This helps to retain the freshness of your beer.  Brewmaster Q-Guard is exclusive to Andale.

• Q-Guard Fittings (Polished Food Grade Fittings)

Andale's exclusive range of Polished Food Grade fittings help to eliminate 'bug traps', reducing the impact of bacteria and yeast on beer quality.

• More Effective House Keeping Procedures

Andale have devised a range of simple house keeping procedures that help to ensure your beer remains in pristine condition from the keg to the tap.  These include:

• Sanitising keg couplers, transfer leads and kegs before tapping.
• Weekly cleaning and sanitising of taps and adaptors
• Weekly keg coupler and transfer lead cleaning

• Tap Design

Andale's Floryte tap is designed with reduced 'bug traps'. This is achieved by the taps micro polished body and removable nozzle, which helps the Floryte have a superior finish to other taps available in the market today. Many other taps have stationary nozzles which are prone to bacteria growth and are made from cast stainless steel which has a rough pitted surface (the perfect place for bacteria and yeast to cultivate).  Standard taps may be used, but only with a strict cleaning program.

• Latest Glycol Technology

With the help of the latest glycol chilling technology, Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer System ensures your beer is chilled from the keg to the tap.  This helps to eliminate any 'hot spots' in the system design and enures your beer remains in pristine condition. Each Andale Glycol System is installed in conjunction with a refrigerated cool room set to below 6 degrees.  This low temperature helps to inhibit the growth of bacteria and yeast.

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Q-Guard™ - Why should we strive to serve quality tap beer?

Research by Interbrew found that...

• "Up to 65% of people will reject a brand on the basis of quality and an average of 33% will not return to the outlet if given a bad pint".
• "53% of drinkers in on-trade food outlets say they would pay more for a well-served product.... 21% of consumers are influenced in their choice of drink by product quality and that if they have a bad pint 50% of consumers will not order the brand again"!
• "A staggering 50% of consumers would not order the same brand again if served a poor quality pint, and this figure rises to 65% in outlets such as young persons' venues, while 40% would boycott the pub completely and go to a different venue"!
• "Beer accounts for 58% of an average pub's turnover so the performance of the category is vital — and product quality is the key element that will determine its future health"
• "The worrying aspect of these figures for the industry is that because licensees may never receive negative feedback from customers they may never realise they are failing to deliver on quality.

Q-Guard™ - A quest for quality tap beer

How many times have you heard a publican state that their establishment has the "best beer in town"?  Yet when you go from venue to venue and order the same product, the beer looks the same but tastes completely different.  It's not difficult to dispense an attractive looking beer, but how many publicans can say that their beer is in 'pristine' (having its original purity) condition.

Dispensing beer seems like a simple task.  You hold the glass, pull the tap and there's your beer.  According to CUB's Jim King "unlike packaged beer, draught beer requires a number of processes to be followed to ensure the beer gets from the cellar to the tap without affecting the quality and presentation in the glass"

It seems some venues are unaware of these processes or ignore them altogether, which is affecting the quality of tap beer served in Australia.  According to Lion Nathan's Gordon Cairns; "there's nothing that puts people off more than getting a bad beer" (Herald-Sun, November 8, 2002). 

This 'bad beer' has been a major contributor to Australia's flat beer market over recent years.  With many consumers looking to other alcoholic beverages (such as wine and RTD's) which have a more consistent quality.

How many customers are you losing by serving bad tap beer?

In 2002, Andale set out to find the cause of 'bad tap beer'. In order to better understand the extent and reach of this 'bad tap beer', 30 venues were randomly and anonymously selected.  A sample from each of these venues was taken to EML Consulting Services Laboratories for microbiological testing.  These tests confirmed the inconsistency of tap beer served in the trade, with results ranging from 10 bacteria per millilitre to 60,000 bacteria per millilitre.  They also shed some light on 'bad tap beer' served in the trade.

The testing also found that the following four bacteria's are the cause of the 'bad tap beer' served in the trade today.

Lactobacillus: grows in beer making it cloudy in appearance and produce lactic & acetis acids which causes sour tasting beer.

Pectinatus: produce lactic & propionic acids, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide and hydrogen sulfide making your beer cloudy in appearance, smelling like rotten eggs while producing a delightful foul taste to your beer.

Pediococcus: produce diacetyl which gives the beer a popcorn or buttery aroma.

Acetobacter: produce acetis acid which causes beer to become sour, ropy, turbid and visibly discoloured.

Note: The following graph demonstrates the range in quality of tap beer currently in the trade. With results ranging from 10 bacteria to 19,000 bacteria. These results help explain the inconsistency of tap beer dispensed in the market and impact of flavour changing bacteria on tap beer quality.  It is assumed that these outlets are using the brewery recommended weekly cleaning cycle.

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Q-Guard™ - Field testing

After discovering that bacteria and wild yeast were the cause of 'bad tap beer', the team at Andale set about finding the solution to this problem.  Much time, money and resources were exhausted researching 'bad tap beer' and the results showed that there were two main causes.  Dirty Beer lines and poor quality fittings

Dirty beer lines have long been a major problem for many publicans.  In the past the only solution was weekly cleaning.  Judging by the inconsistency of tap beer served in the trade this method is not an appropriate solution. 

By mid 2002 the team at Andale began combining Brewmaster Q-guard™ tubing with micro-polished fittings in the hope of eliminating 'bad tap beer'.

In order to test this new system in a trade situation, the Keilor Hotel was fitted with Brewmaster Q-Guard™tubing and Q-guard™ fittings and used as a test bank.

The results achieved were nothing short of astonishing.  After four weeks without cleaning their beer lines, the Keilor Hotel achieved perfect results of less than one bacteria.  These amazing results continued for 322 days (46 weeks).  Without cleaning their beer lines, the Old Keilor Hotel were dispensing tap beer that was the same quality in the glass as in the keg.

To verify the results achieved at the Keilor Hotel the Malvern Hotel, another venue fitted out with Brewmaster Q-guard™ tubing and Q-guard™ fittings was used as a test bank.  Once again the results were astonishing.  After 533 days (76 weeks) without cleaning their beer lines the Malvern Hotel was still dispensing tap beer that was in pristine condition.

After conducting this testing it became clear that the team at Andale had not only found a solution to 'bad tap beer', but also how to limit the need for weekly beer line cleaning, which is one of the biggest hassles that publicans face.  Using the brewery recommended weekly cleaning cycle, the average pub must suspend their beer dispensing system for up to 2 to 3 hours in order to dump their beer, soak their lines and pull through fresh beer to the taps for trading.  With the use of Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer System, beer line cleaning can be reduced to once every 4 weeks when venues conduct their own cleaning or every 13 weeks when cleaning is completed by Andale under a maintenance contract, resulting in massive savings in beer wastage and labour.

In the big picture, if every hotel adopted Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer System, the industry could save approximately $16,270,000 or grow their market by some $60,000,000 for no extra cost.

Q-Guard™ Benefits

• Longer cleaning cycles: Safely increase beerline cleaning cycles from a brewery recommended 7 day cycle to a 28 day cycle while still dispensing pristine quality beer.
• Less Wastage: By increasing your beerline cleaning cycle from brewery recommended 7 day cycles to a 28 day cycle, you are eliminating the need to dump thousands of dollars in beer down the drain each year, resulting in massive savings in beer wastage.
• Less Maintenance: 28-Day cleaning cycles equals less maintenance.  By reducing beerline cleaning from 52 times per year down to 13 times per year, your venue will reduce maintenance costs and lost labour hours considerably.
• Pristine Beer:By reducing the 'flavour changing' impact of bacteria and yeast on beer quality, Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer System helps to ensure your beer remains in pristine condition from the keg to the tap, resulting in packaged quality tap beer.

Why Choose Q-Guard™?

• Savings: By eliminating the need to dump thousands of dollars worth of beer every week, Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer System will save you thousands.
• Quality: Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer System helps you to dispense pristine tap beer.
• Reputation:By serving pristine beer your venue will have the reputation of serving the best beer in town.
• Higher Margins:It's quite simple less waste and maintenance costs equal higher tap beer margins.  This means you will be making more from every keg, helping to make your tap beer sales even more profitable.

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Q-Guard™ - Savings

The following table and graphs are based on an actual installation and are designed to better illustrate the savings that can be achieved by Andale's Q-Guard Beer System.

By upgrading your Glycol Beer System to Q-guard you will not only be dramatically improving the quality and taste of your beer, but save thousands of dollars by reducing beer wastage.

Savings analysis: Q-Guard™ System versus Standard System

This Graph illustrates an example of the system running costs of a standard glycol system compared to a Q-Guard system

This Graph illustrates an example of the cost to dispense a standard 285ml glass of beer with a 10cm head. Costs include overheads, such as labour, system running costs, gas, system purchasing costs and beer costs

Q-Guard™ Approvals

• Australian Standard 2070-1999: Plastic materials for food contact use.
• North American National Sanitary Foundation (Standard 51).
• Complies with the Food and Drug Administration guidelines in North America.
• Complies with BRI (Brewing Research International) standards.

What the BRI said about Q-Guard:

"I now have analytical data from Valpar detailing the results of tests carried out by independent laboratories according to the prescribed EU methods. This data confirms that Q-Guard conforms to both these limits and therefore we can be as certain as it is possible to be that this material is suitable for food contact use and safe to use in beer dispense lines" - Denise Baxter (Brewing Research International) November 2006.

Australian Hotels Association product endorsement for Andale's Q-Guard™ Beer System - "Wastage and low quality tap beer has long been a major problem in the Australian hotel industry. Andale's Q-guard™ Beer System uses advanced technology to reduce the impact of bacteria and yeast on tap beer quality, while at the same time reduce beer wastage (by reducing necessary beerline cleaning from weekly to monthly).

By maintaining tap beer quality and making tap beer more profitable, the introduction of Andale's Q-Guard™. Beer system is seen as a major positive by the Australian Hotel Association (Vic). Therefore as a collective the Australian Hotels Association (Vic) wholeheartedly endorse the use of Andale's Q-guard™ beer system in the Australian hotel industry". - Peter Burnett President - Australian Hotels Association (Vic)

In the beer dispensing equipment industry the best method of testing a product is trade testing. In 2008 Lion Nathan Australia completed their extensive trade testing of Andale's Q-Guard Beer System at the Pineapple Hotel in Brisbane. The results were amazing and showed just how effective Andale's Q-Guard System is. Q-Guard is now the only brewery trade tested beer system.

"I am serving beer at the maximum profit return because there is no wastage caused by having to clear out my line for cleaning every week... The real value of this beer system is of course our ability to dispense beer in perfect condition and thus enjoy a reputation for selling beer as good as it gets." Alan Giles - Malvern Hotel, on his Andale Glycol Block Beer System with Q-Guard™, Smart Plate & Beer Pump Gas System upgrades

"We have not only achieved huge savings in beer wastage, cleaning and labour cost. But we are also serving better tasting beer and our customers have noticed the difference." Peter Burnett - Lord of the Isles, on his Andale Glycol Block Beer System with Q-Guard™, Smart Plate, Beer Pump Gas System and Font upgrades

"This system is good for the industry, great for the Keilor Hotel. I have achieved massive savings by not having to flush and clean my beer lines on a weekly basis". Ray Dodd - Keilor Hotel, on his Andale Glycol Block Beer System with Q-Guard™ & Smart Plate upgrades

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