The phone call nobody wants
A pub rings to say the last keg of your pale is hazy and tastes wrong. Then a second pub, then a webshop customer about cans. You think it is one batch. The question is where else that batch went: which pubs got kegs or casks, which bottle shops got cases, which web orders went out, how much is still in the cold store.
Answering it means pulling delivery notes, the webshop's order list and the packaging sheet and matching them up by date, because the batch code was never written on the delivery.
Why the trail breaks
Each step records its own thing. The brew sheet has a batch number. The packaging run has a best before date that might or might not match. Deliveries record beers and containers, not batches. The webshop records products. So the trail from a batch to a customer exists only by inference from dates.
- Batch codes change format between brewing and packaging.
- Delivery notes list the beer, not the batch.
- Webshop orders list products, not batches.
- Two batches of the same beer are often on sale at once.
- Ingredient lots are not recorded against brews.
What a slow trace costs
Time, when time matters most. Uncertainty, which means you either withdraw more beer than you need to or not enough. Trade customers who lose confidence because you cannot give a straight answer. And the questions that arrive from a supermarket buyer or distributor's supplier audit, asking how you trace a batch, are harder to answer honestly.
Your food safety obligations and what to do in a real incident are for your own procedures and advisers. What we fix is the ability to produce the list quickly and correctly.
Carrying the batch code all the way
- One batch code format, set at brew day and carried through every step.
- Ingredient lots, hops, malt and yeast, recorded against the batch when used.
- Each packaging run records the batch and the containers produced: kegs by number where you track them, casks, cans by pack and best before date.
- Deliveries are picked by batch: the picking screen shows which batch to take, and the delivery records it.
- Webshop orders are allocated to a batch when packed, recorded against the order.
- Taproom keg changes record the batch on each line.
- A trace search: enter a batch and get every delivery, order and keg, with contact details and quantities, plus what remains in stock.
- A reverse search: enter an ingredient lot and see every batch that used it.
| Step | Batch recorded? | Before | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brew | Batch code | Yes | Yes |
| Packaging | Batch and best before | Sometimes | Yes |
| Trade delivery | Batch per line | No | Yes |
| Webshop order | Batch per order | No | Yes |
| Taproom line | Batch per keg | No | Yes |
A trace that takes one search
When a pub rings about a keg, you look up the batch and see every account that got it. You can call the right people, not everyone. Stock of that batch in the cold store is identified and held. Supplier questionnaires about traceability have a factual answer. You also run a practice trace now and then to check the links hold.
It helps with smaller questions too. A landlord says one keg tasted different from the last; you can see straight away that it came from a different batch, check that batch's brew log and give a real answer instead of a promise to look into it.
Could you trace a batch today?
- Delivery notes do not show batch codes.
- Two batches of the same beer are often in the trade at once.
- Webshop orders cannot be linked to a batch.
- Ingredient lots are not recorded per brew.
- A trace would mean a day of matching dates.