Did you know that there is a lot of science behind a perfectly presented glass of beer? Besides the beer itself, the glassware or beer glass and how it is cleaned has a significant impact on the flavor and aroma of your favorite brew.
For instance, does your beer not produce enough foam or head after pouring? This can be a result of unclean beer glasses. If the glass is properly cleaned, a good quality beer should produce at least ½” to 1” head.
So, how to clean a beer glass for the best results? and what does the term “beer clean” actually mean?
What Does Beer Clean Mean?
In simple words, beer clean is a sort of industry term which is used for a beer glass that is properly cleaned. Glasses that are correctly cleaned are free from impurities. Due to this, the CO2 does not have any place that it could cling to inside the glass. The outcome? The beer will taste and look the best!
It will form a proper head, ensure lacing while you consume the beer, and not feature any bubbles or patches on the glass walls.
What are the Benefits of a Clean Beer Glass?
If you know anything about how beer is made, you will know that it is a painstaking process. Right from grain harvesting, malting to brewing, there are several laborious steps involved in the process. All the different parties involved in manufacturing beer take utmost care at every step to provide you with a high-quality product.
When you spend a good amount of money on purchasing good quality beer, why let the delicious taste and appearance be impacted by something as minuscule as glass cleaning, right? By doing so, all the hard work put in by the manufacturer would turn futile.
If the glasses are properly cleaned, rest assured that you will be able to enjoy your beer just the way the manufacturer wanted you to. With this, you’ll also do justice to all the time and effort spent by the manufacturer.
How to Wash a Beer Glass?
There are 3 things you need to correctly clean a beer glass:
What are the Steps to Clean a Beer Glass?
- You will need a sink that is divided into three different compartments. If you only have a single sink, you can use something like a bowl or container. The first sink should have warm water that is mixed with the bar glass detergent.
- The second sink/bowl should have cold water. The last one will also have cool water but with sanitizer.
- Place the glasses in the funnel of the first sink and use the detergent for scrubbing the glasses. You can use a manual brush or a motorized brush.
- Once scrubbed, rinse the glass in the cold water of sink number two. Ensure that the glasses are placed with their bottoms down to avoid the formation of air pockets.
- Follow the same process in sink number three.
- After the glasses are sanitized, let them air dry by placing them upside down.
- If you are using a drying towel, ensure that you use good quality microfiber towel that is lint-free.
How to Check if a Beer Glass is Clean?
There are many different ways in which you can check whether a beer glass is clean or not.
Here are 4 of the most popular methods:
1. Salt Test
For this, simply sprinkle some salt on the inside walls of a wet beer glass. If the salt coats evenly throughout the glass, you’ve done an excellent job. If the salt forms an uneven coat or sticks on patches and spots, the glass is not as clean as it is supposed to.
2. Bubbles On Inside
This is another common way to check the cleanliness of a beer glass. The only disadvantage is that you’ll have to drink a serving in an unclean glass. After filling the glass with beer, check the sides for bubbles. If you see bubbles inside the glass, you can assume that the glass is not clean. If the beer is producing bubbles on the walls, even the head retention will be low.
3. Lacing Test
This will again require you to pour a glass of beer. Fill the glass and wait for some time to let the foam settle. If parallel rings are formed as foam settles, the glass is clean. If there are no patterns or if the pattern is random, the glass is not clean.
4. Sheeting Test
Another very simple way to confirm whether the glass is beer clean is to dip it in water. See how water coats the glass. If the water coating is even, the glass is clean. If the coating is not even, or if you see the water breaking into small droplets, you’ll have to clean the glass again.
Tips to Keep Your Beer Glasses Clean
Some helpful tips to keep your beer glasses clean:
- Beer glasses should not be used for serving any other liquid. Beverages such as soda, juice, or milk should never be served in beer glasses
- Avoid using regular towels for drying the glasses after cleaning them (The lint from a regular towel will only make matters worse)
- Ensure that you never store your beer glasses anywhere close to dust, heavy odors, or grease
- The sponge or brush you use for cleaning the beer glass should not be used for cleaning anything else
- Before pouring beer, make sure that you rinse the glass with cold water
- Replace the glasses at regular intervals
Final Thoughts
If you feel that unclean beer glasses are affecting the taste or appearance of your beer, the information in this post is sure to help. You shouldn’t need convincing on why you should drink beer from a glass as there are many reasons. Follow the steps discussed above, and rest assured that you will have beer clean glasses every time.
