Serving batches allow you to track beer that is being served directly from a vessel, such as in a taproom or tasting room. Instead of packaging beer into kegs or casks before serving, you can transfer beer from a fermenter or brite tank into a serving vessel (or keep it in the same vessel) and then record dispenses as drinks are poured.
This is particularly useful for:
- Taproom and tasting room operations where beer is served directly from a tank
- US TTB compliance where you need to track beer moving from bonded storage into "Tax determined" serving tanks
- Cost tracking so you can see the value of beer being served versus packaged
Setting up vessels for serving batches
Before you can create a serving batch, you need at least one vessel that is enabled for serving batches.
- Go to Production → View → Vessels and either create a new vessel or edit an existing one.
- Tick the Can be used by a serving batch checkbox. This tells Breww that this vessel can hold a serving batch.
- Optionally, you may want to untick Can be transferred to and packaged from if this vessel is dedicated to serving only. This prevents it from appearing in regular transfer and packaging screens.
A new vessel type called Serving tank is available when creating vessels, which is designed specifically for this purpose. However, any vessel type can be enabled for serving batches by ticking the checkbox above.
US TTB breweries
If your Breww account is configured for US TTB reporting, the Can be used by a serving batch setting is labelled as marking the vessel as a "Tax determined" tank for TTB purposes. This is required for TTB compliance — serving batches can only be created in vessels marked as "Tax determined". Breww will enforce this requirement when you attempt to create a serving batch.
Configuring dispense measures
Dispense measures define the serving sizes you use (for example, pint, half pint, 500ml). Breww creates a default set of measures when your account is set up, based on your country. You can customise these at any time.
To manage your dispense measures, go to Settings → Production settings → Serving batch dispense measures.
Each measure has two volume values:
- Intended volume — the volume the customer receives (e.g. one pint)
- Fill adjustment volume — the actual volume deducted from the vessel, which accounts for a small amount of wastage during pouring (e.g. a pint plus a few percent for spillage and overpour)
You can add, edit, or remove measures to match your actual serving sizes.
Creating a serving batch
To create a serving batch, start from an in-progress drink batch that currently has beer in a vessel.
- Navigate to the drink batch detail page.
- Click Actions → Convert to serving batch.
- In the form that appears:
- Vessel to transfer from — select which vessel currently holds the beer you want to serve from.
- Transfer to another vessel — choose whether to move the beer into a different vessel (such as a dedicated serving tank) or keep it in the same vessel.
- If transferring to another vessel:
- Vessel to fill with the serving batch — select the target vessel. Only vessels with the serving batch setting enabled will appear here.
- Volume transferred successfully — enter how much volume to transfer.
- Waste remaining volume — if ticked, any volume left behind in the source vessel after the transfer will be recorded as waste.
- Date & time done — when the transfer occurred.
- Click Save to create the serving batch.
Once created, the serving batch will appear in the serving batches list and on the vessel visualisation on the serving batches page.
If the target vessel already contains an open serving batch of the same beer, the new volume will be added to the existing serving batch rather than creating a new one.
Viewing serving batches
You can view all your serving batches by going to Production → View → Serving batches. This page shows:
- A vessel visualisation of all vessels enabled for serving batches, grouped by site and vessel group, showing their current fill levels
- A list of all serving batches with their number, beer, open/closed status, vessel, site, and creation date
Click on a serving batch to see its detail page, which includes:
- Basic details (beer, vessel, site, current volume)
- A vessel fill level visualisation showing the current state of the vessel
- A pie chart showing the estimated fill breakdown by drink batch (if the serving batch has been topped up from multiple batches)
- A line chart showing the volume change over time
Recording dispenses
When drinks are served from a serving batch, you should record the dispenses in Breww. We recommend doing this once per day, using totals from your POS system rather than recording every individual pour.
There are two ways to start recording a dispense:
- From the serving batch detail page, click Actions → Record dispense
- From the production quick-add menu, select Record dispense
The dispense wizard will guide you through:
- Select the drink — choose which beer was dispensed (this step is skipped if you started from a specific serving batch).
- Select the vessel — choose which vessel it was dispensed from (also skipped if you started from a specific serving batch).
- Enter measures — for each of your configured dispense measures, enter the quantity dispensed. For example, if 20 pints and 5 half pints were served, enter 20 and 5 respectively.
- Dispense options:
- Dispense type — choose Served/poured for normal sales, or Wasted for beer that was lost.
- Date & time done — when the dispenses occurred.
- Notes — optional notes for this dispense record.
- Record another dispense after this one — tick this to be taken straight back to the start of the process after saving, which is useful when recording dispenses for multiple beers.
Reconciling the fill level
If the actual volume in a serving vessel differs from what Breww is tracking (for example, after taking a physical measurement), you can reconcile the fill level.
- Go to the serving batch detail page.
- Click Actions → Reconcile fill level.
- Choose the Volume entry type:
- Current fill level — enter the actual volume currently in the vessel. Breww will calculate the difference.
- Relative adjustment — enter a positive number to increase or a negative number to decrease the tracked volume.
- Enter the Date & time done and optionally add Notes.
- Click Save.
Warning: Reconciliation should only be used to correct the tracked fill level. Do not use it to record refills from another batch — use the "Convert to serving batch" action instead, so that duty/tax is handled correctly.
Packaging from a serving batch
If you need to package beer from a serving batch into containers (for example, filling growlers or cans from a serving tank), you can do this directly.
- Go to the serving batch detail page.
- Click Actions → Package.
- This will take you to the standard packaging screen, pre-filtered to the vessel containing the serving batch.
The packaging will reduce the volume of the serving batch accordingly, and the packaged products will appear in your stock as normal.
Serving batch action log
Every action on a serving batch is recorded and can be viewed in the action log. To access it, click the Action log button on the serving batch detail page.
The action log shows all fills, dispenses, reconciliations, and packagings, along with the volume change, date/time, cost effect, and who performed each action.
How serving batches close
A serving batch is automatically marked as Closed when its volume reaches zero. This happens naturally as beer is dispensed or packaged. Once closed, the serving batch remains in the list for historical reference but no further actions can be performed on it.
Stock valuation
Open serving batches are included in Breww's finished goods stock valuation reports. The value of a serving batch is calculated based on the WIP (work-in-progress) value of the beer that was transferred into it, adjusted according to your stock valuation wastage settings.
