Quality Control
The beer at the Trafford Arms is always of an excellent quality.  To achieve a supreme quality beer is not as easy as you might think.  On the other hand however it is not necessarily as complicated as you might expect.  In reality, it boils down to very hard work, as well as being very expensive.  The second factor explains why you've probably happily walked in to a pub, only to be confronted by beer that doesn't quite taste as it should do.  In short, if pubs don't spend heavily on quality control procedures, the quality of the beers will rapidly diminish.

This page will unveil the unknown and take you through some basic (but absolutely essential) quality control cleaning procedures, and introduce you to the person who makes sure that you receive excellent quality beer at the Trafford Arms.

The following procedure takes place religiously every week, it is viewed as a core function of our business with which we attribute much pride.

All of our beer, lager, cider and stout pipes (twenty in all) are cleaned every week.  If you feel that the beer you are receiving is not of optimum quality, please bring it to the bar and tell us so we can change it for you.
 

Who's The Trafford's Quality Control Pipe Cleaner
The man who weekly ensures that the Trafford regulars' get perfect quality beer is Mick, an avid beer drinker and regular.  He is meticulous about the quality of beer and the cleanliness of the pipes.  He takes pride in what he does, and anyone that drinks at the Trafford would probably agree that he has every right to.  click here to see his profile.
 

The Pipes
Within a cask, the beer settles in layers and thus can taste different, depending on how much beer is left in the barrel.  As beer is a lively and fermenting product it inevitably sticks to the pipes, forming a layer of yeast residue on the inside of the pipe.  If these pipes are not regularly cleaned, a build up of layers will form.  As well as tasting like an old sock it can also cause stomach bugs and all kinds of nasties that people wish to avoid.  So what's the answer?  KEEP THE PIPES CLEAN.

There is no substitute for this professional cleaning fluid.

The Pipe Cleaning Fluid The fluid must be pulled through the whole of the pipe has the special cleaning fluid inside it.  No trace of beer must be found in the pipes as this will jeopardize the efficiency of the procedure.  The fluid is checked by being pulled through the hand pump until it is a deep grey colour, with no traces of discolour (i.e. beer).  At this stage, It  is absolutely vital that the cleaning fluid is left in the pipes for around half an hour.  This will loosen any yeast residue that was left in the pipe.  If the fluid is not left in the pipes for this duration, there is no guarantee that the the pipes have been comprehensively cleaned of all yeast residue.  The Trafford has 20 pipes to clean, the pipes are between one and three quarters and two and a half pints long.  This means that at this stage alone, between 35 & 40 pints need to be pulled through.

The pipes are put in both the cleaning fluid and water in numbers to save time.

Pipes To put each individual pipe in the bucket would take far to long.  It saves lots of time for us to put a number of pipes in the bucket when cleaning or flushing the pipes. We cannot however put all of the pipes in the bucket together; because our cellar is larger than average the pipes would have to be  extremely long to allow this.  As the photo shows the pipes are all a neat length with minimal slack.

There Is No Substitute For This  Pulling The Cleaning Fluid Through With Water This stage is just as essential as the last.  The cleaning fluid must now be washed totally through to ensure that no harm is done to our customers.  Quite simply the cleaning fluid is pulled through until the water is crystal clear, and no trace of the fluid is left.

For safety reasons it is of paramount importance that the water is pulled through before the beer

The beer must be thoroughly pulled through!

Pulling The Beer Through Again This is the stage that any dubious consumer is concerned about.  To cut costs, I have no doubt that some houses don't pull through enough beer, leaving customers with a trace of water in the first pint pulled after the pipe cleaning procedure.  Obviously, the more beer that's pulled through, the higher the cost.  The beer must be pulled through far beyond the point at which it begins to reappear, we estimate that around three quarters of a pint of beer needs to be pulled through after it first appears.  This means that approximately 15 pints of beers, ciders, lagers and stouts are pulled through.  The above procedure ensures that the customer is drinking 100% beer, with no water and definitely no cleaning fluid.

 
The Final Comment
It is essential that the procedures are all carried out correctly.  Should any one of the stages in the procedure not be carried out correctly, there is no guarantee that the beer will be at its optimum quality.  For example, even if the fluid is washed through and the beer has no traces of water in it, if the fluid was not left in the pipes long enough, the pipes will not be clean and the exercise will have been a waste of time.

As we have stated above the overall procedure requires us to pull through at least 50 pints of beers, lagers, ciders and stouts; this ultimately costs the Trafford about £100 a week, £5200 a year, but for your enjoyment and quality of beer, we believe it's well worth it.

 

But after all the hard work
the outcome is sure worth it.

 

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