’If you want to compete with the big brands – your beer should taste and look as good as theirs'

In what ways is Värmdö Bryggeri different from other breweries?

We focus on pale lagers. Other microbrewery owners, many who were homebrewers, are mostly interested in pale ales and more hoppy IPAs. But we wanted to dedicate ourselves to the beer that most consumers drink. We make other types of beer, but our core beer is pale lager. Around 93% of all beer consumed is pale lager. So why should we brew anything else? We organize beer tastings, educate restaurant owners and their staff on how to pair food with beer. We demonstrate how a beer can taste different, depending on what’s on your plate. We know a lot about beer and food, so we’re a fun, knowledgeable partner, not just a local microbrewery. That helps us to stand out on the market. 

How did you come up with an idea of starting your brewery?

Before Värmdö Bryggeri, I worked at a bank with investments in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. It was no fun to just sit at a desk and stare at Excel sheets all day. It all started when chatting with a friend I grew up with while we were having a beer in the sauna. We both wanted to do something new. Opening a brewery was one of the options. The idea gelled, and we got so excited and decided: ‘It’s time!’

Around 93% of all beer that is consumed is pale lager. So why should we brew anything else?

We established the brewery in 2012. The space that we rented was much larger than we initially needed, as we thought we’d start small and maybe brew once a week. But we ended up kickstarting the business and launched the brewery much faster. We were lucky to start up before the craft beer market got crowded.

Was it challenging to market yourselves in the beginning?

Once we started brewing beer, we reached out to the consumers who like pale lagers and got positive feedback. Värmdö is spectacular, close to Stockholm, set in the inner archipelago with tiny islands scattered in the sea. The local water is tasty and perfect for pale lager. Every summer, people flock to Värmdö for the holidays. This gave us a big kickstart. All we had to do was visit some local bars, restaurants and stores with our beer bottles and the beer sold itself. Competition is much tougher these days. No venue sells our beer exclusively. Usually there’s a contract with big commercial breweries and venues complement these with our local craft beer brands. Interest in local craft and organic beer emerged years ago and it keeps growing.

When and how did you realize you became successful? 

Shortly after we launched our beer, one of the biggest Swedish supermarket chains asked if we could produce a low-alcohol beer for them. That's how we started selling our beer in their supermarkets. After that, another large grocery chain asked us to do the same for them. Our business took off. That was very profitable time for us. Now we put more efforts in promoting ourselves . 

Why did you decide to invest in a beer centrifuge?

In order to compete against commercial beer brands our beer had to look and taste as good or even better.  To move forward, we had to make wise investments. First, we wanted to increase capacity and output, and second, to achieve high quality in every batch. Sediment on the bottom of the bottles was an issue then. We started looking into  different filtration solutions but they didn’t impress us. Then we discovered the separator. We visited some breweries using separators and looked at some second-hand options. After looking closely at some machines we chose Alfa Laval Brew 80 because it matched our capacity requirements of up to 50 hectolitres an hour.

We bought our separator in December 2018. Installation only took a day. A week later, we were operating it without any help from Alfa Laval. It’s running well so far. We need to follow our hygienic routines and do a checkup every six months. We run the centrifuge once or twice a week, which is not so often, but we produce beer four to five days a week depending on what we have in our fermentation tanks. If we have something ready to separate, we run the centrifuge. If the fermentation tank is full, then it’s time to brew. Once we have filled two bright beer tanks, we tap. The separator operates quickly and efficiently so we can make two batches a day.

Many brewers think that investing in a separator has to do with the type of beer you want to produce. But that’s not true. You can get a clear pale lager using other methods too. But for us buying a centrifuge was the right decision. We never regretted it. We can still make hazy beer and make beer that’s crystal clear too.

What are the main benefits of using a centrifuge, based on your experience?

The main drawback of the traditional beer-making is product losses. Before investing in a centrifuge, we lost around 250 litres of beer in every batch.  With the centrifuge, we’ve cut these losses to 100 litres, so we get out 1900 litres of beer out of our 2000-litre beer tank. In other words, our yield has increased by 8%. That’s fantastic! And the product that we get out of the fermentation tank has the same quality and consistency. Before we got the separator, we were tapping directly from the fermentation tank, and the beer usually was a bit hazy in the beginning and then clearer and clearer towards the end. The centrifuge ensures that the output is the same throughout the entire process. Since beer is very sensitive to oxygen, we’re happy we don’t need to worry about this anymore. The sustainability of the entire process has improved with this machine too. We’re really happy.

Before investing in a centrifuge, we lost around 250 litres of beer in each batch. Losses decreased  2.5 times with the help of the centrifuge, so out of our 2000-litre tank we get out 1900 litres of beer. Our yield, in other words, increased to 8%. That’s fantastic.

Was it complicated to figure out how to operate the beer centrifuge?

It was quite easy for us to figure out how it works. The only thing I want to mention is that the separator is a bit noisy, so we wear earplugs for protection. In the beginning, we only wanted to use it for our pale lagers. But we quickly noticed that the quality and the appearance of beer is so much better after centrifugation. So now we run all our beer through the separator.

Our capacity was too small for such a machine. But we knew that we want to grow and expand. Buying the Brew 80 was a significant investment for us. Our main goal has always been to offer a high-quality beer. If the quality is high enough, the rest will follow.