What makes a craft beer? It should be handcrafted, preferably by the creative master brewer. Ultimately, however, it is not the production process or the quantity that is the deciding factor. It is the philosophy of the brewer that makes a difference: With creativity and interpretive skills, a new generation of mostly young master brewers is bringing a breath of fresh air to the industry.

However, like their high-volume market leading counterparts, craft brewers face the crucial challenge of selecting the ideal filtration solutions to produce high-quality products. Here, master brewers can count on the support of Eaton. The Filtration Division of the energy management company supplies products for haze reduction, extension of shelf-life, filtration before bottling as well as disinfection for improved hygiene. The Craft Beer Guide provides information about this product range. For start-ups, newcomers from different backgrounds and craft breweries, it sets compact, concise recommendations on how to go about optimizing their beers.

“I am always delighted to see that consumers increasingly appreciate small but fine products in craft quality,” says Désirée Meinhardt of Eaton’s Filtration Division. As a master brewer she advises many of the craft beer brewers who have entered the market in recent years and has been familiar with the young industry since its inception. “Many craft beer brewers originally come from completely different, unrelated fields,” she says, from experience. “This is a great enrichment for the brewery scene, because these people sometimes have quite a different approach to things than the established producers,” continues Meinhardt.

When it comes to knowledge of the core processes however, major breweries have some experience that puts them ahead of innovative founders. Therefore, Eaton supplies products that are specially tailored for brewers of craft beer, to suit the needs of the modern scene. “In our view, in-depth knowledge about production and industry-specific services are indispensable to enable us to provide our customers with the best possible support,” explains the master brewer. This includes products that cover almost the entire value-added chain, from the hops through to the bottled beer.

“If quality and taste are right from the outset at market entry, that is the best prerequisite for new suppliers to succeed and, if that is the goal, for growth,” emphasizes Meinhardt. As demand increases, the solutions can be scaled up easily and reliably. The supplier provides customers with support on increasing production volumes without having to compromise on quality.

The Craft Beer Guide is available in a number of different languages and is available to brewers for downloading from the Eaton Knowledge Center. Here you will also find detailed background information about filtration in the brewing trade, catalogs, customer references and the latest technical articles.