Maintenance

Craft-brewery consolidation is booming, but hidden maintenance issues cost acquired breweries big. Standardizing operations and leveraging asset-management tools are crucial for success.

The old tech of the oak barrel still works beautifully in the brewery—but it does need a nice, solid thwack with the mallet now and then. Brewers are already janitors, plumbers, and microbiologists, among other things. Might as well add coopers to the list.

In this edition of Gearhead, John M. Verive zooms in on the arsenal of less specialized, more humdrum (and often more beloved) tools that brewers use every day.

Steve Crider, founder-brewer-handyman at 2nd Shift Brewing in St. Louis, demonstrates a quick, low-cost method for making your own tap handles.

Nobody wants to turn their brewhouse upside-down hunting for a measly clamp or gasket. In this video tip, 2nd Shift founder-brewer-handyman Steve Crider shows how they keep things sorted—and reveals a secret weapon for cleaning kegs.

Poorly stored hoses are a sanitation risk. In this video tip, 2nd Shift founder-brewer-handyman Steve Crider shares his unusual method for making sure they're kept high and dry.

Steve Crider, founder-brewer-handyman at 2nd Shift in St. Louis, explains the value of knowing how to fix your own broken pumps.

Steve Crider, founder-brewer-handyman at 2nd Shift Brewing in St. Louis, shares his know-how on keeping a brewery running—and what to do when things break down.