Image: SteadyServ Technologies

Beer and Tech Collide: It’s All Science

As written by Steve Hershberger, Chairman and CEO, SteadyServ Technologies on wired.com

Craft brewers toil over perfecting their beer in a keg. Experiments go well and then they don’t. Some may even say that there’s a “geek” quality — in the best way possible — to the science of brewing beer.

And it is science. Malting, fermentation, yeast, hop flowers, and CO2 mark just a few factors in the complex brewing process. Where the science has stopped for years in the beer industry is at the point-of-sale with beer kegs.

Keeping that passion-made product in front of equally passionate patrons has lacked precision and science in its keg measurement and distribution. The bar industry has long relied on shaking a 170-pound keg to guess how much beer remains. Beer lovers end up with the less-than-desirable alternative of an empty glass because their preferred beer ran out before the bartender saw it coming.

At SteadyServ, we’re beer geeks and technology geeks, too. They just go together for us — because wanting and having your beer are not the same thing. Our software engineers understand and carry the same passion as brew masters and aficionados. Our team brings the same spirit to the development of the iKeg system so that patrons get the beer they want.

First, keg content measurement comes from our RFID technology — getting rid of the shake test all together. Pubs and restaurants glean the precise keg measurements with iKeg, enabling accurate orders to beer distributors. But it’s with the iKeg mobile technology where the passions of craft brewing and technology collide — informing beer lovers where they can find their favorite brew on tap and how much still remains in an establishment’s keg.

All of the master brewer’s blood, sweat and tears — figuratively speaking of course — poured into the science of a beer’s flavor and aroma needs the support of precise measurement and distribution. It’s with that precision that beer lovers can have the beer they want when they want it.

Are you into the science of beer and technology? Do you “geek out” about beer?

Steve Hershberger is Chairman and CEO of SteadyServ Technologies.

Source: http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/01/beer-tech-collide-science/