Thermochromatic Inks

[Chad]

I was thinking on the way to work this morning if there was a way that manufacturers could apply some kind of permanent marker to a beer bottle to show if it has been poorly treated. I was thinking something along the lines of a temperature marker found on some bottles that will let you know if your beer is cold enough for drinking, but in reverse..... and permanent.

It seems like the technology already exists. A quick search on Google led me to a few manufacturers and in particular, this article.

Surely it would only cost a few extra cents to use thermochromatic inks to apply say a 1cm dot on a beer label to let you know if the beer you are about to purchase has been exposed to high temperatures. If you are purchasing a carton, then it would be on there too.

The article has a few other interesting applications, I like the disappearing barcode.

 

[Fents]

Why in the hell would brewerys want to do that?

Brewery : " ok boys let ship those 100 slabs of pale ale that have been out in the sun for too long....dont forget to mark them with the texta, hopefully old man jack who buys it wont notice its been brewed at the wrong temp?"

 

[Jye]

This would be a great idea because I reckon I've had a few craft beers that have been abused with elevated temps. But I dont see the breweries doing this because most of the time it would have been the distributors fault.

I cant remember who (one of the brewers of TBN) but a micro in America started their own distribution company because they wanted to know their beer was being treated correctly.

Fents I dont think it would be the brewery who abuse the bottles but they would be interested to know if they are getting to the consumer in their peak. Ive seen plenty of delivery trucks driving around Brisbane in summer and who knows how long they have been sitting in a warehouse for :blink:

 

[Airgead]

Fents I dont think it would be the brewery who abuse the bottles but they would be interested to know if they are getting to the consumer in their peak. Ive seen plenty of delivery trucks driving around Brisbane in summer and who knows how long they have been sitting in a warehouse for :blink:

I really don't think the big breweries give a stuff how the beer is treated. As long as people buy it. My BIL works as a chopper pilot in the Kimberly. All the beer is delivered by road - 3 days on an un-refrigerated road train from Perth plus whatever sitting time in the warehouse. As the road trains only come through every few weeks the pubs have to buy huge amounts which they don't have room to store properly. The beer up there is pretty foul. The response to complaints from the Breweries - "Stiff $hit".

He buys his beer at the Argyle mine whenever hes out that way. The company there looks after its workers and flies the beer in. Refrigerated and everything.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Jye]

I really don't think the big breweries give a stuff how the beer is treated.

This is probably true for the larger breweries but I dont think a micro would survive if this was the case.

 

[goatherder]

Depends on the brewery I suppose. I read that Sam Adam's in the US actually tour their distributors warehouses looking for out of date beer. If they find some then they replace it at the brewery's cost.