In Breww, you have the ability to assign stock items to products or container types. This is really useful for keeping track of packaging items used when racking your products, but it is important to consider what stock items should be assigned directly to a product and which should be assigned to a container type.
Deciding whether to assign stock items to a product or container type
In the main, this decision is made simply by deciding on one thing. Is this stock item always used when I rack into this container type, or is it only used when racking certain products that use this container type?
Assigning stock items directly to the container type
As an example, I could have a container type of 330ml can. Each time I rack into a 330ml can, I may want Breww to consume 1 x 330ml Aluminum Can and 1 x Can Lids/Ends 330/440/500ML, in which case assigning these two stock items to the container type is perfect. (This will also mean that if I rack a 6-pack, for example, Breww will know to use 6 of each of the stock items.)
Assigning stock items directly to the product
If, unlike the example above, some of my cans are black cans and some are aluminium cans, then assigning them to the container type no longer works as it depends on what beer I am racking into cans as to which colour of can I use. In this case, I would need to assign the right stock item to the right products. For example, I might have the following two products with the following setup:
- 1 x 330ml Can - Beer A (Smallpack singe)
- 1 x 330ml Aluminum Can
- 1 x Can Lids/Ends 330ML
- 1 x 330ml Can - Beer B (Smallpack singe)
- 1 x 330ml Black Can
- 1 x Black Can Lids/Ends 330ML
It is also important to think about the product when assigning, as this is what is needed for the entire product, not per container for a 6-pack. For example, you might have the following:
- 6 x 330ml Cans - Beer A (multipack)
- 6 x 330ml Aluminum Can
- 6 x Can Lids/Ends 330ML
- 1 x 6 Can Branded Case
Assigning stock items to a product is also a little different as you can choose whether stock items directly assigned to a product are:
- Used when product is initially racked / packaged - The stock item is used when the product is packaged directly from a vessel, cask or keg.
- Used when product is assembled from existing stock - The stock item is used when assembled from a base product. e.g. if assembling a 6-pack from single cans, would you want Breww to consume a 6-can case?
- Added back to stock when product is disassembled - The stock item is added back to stock when this product is disassembled. e.g. if disassembling a 6-pack into single cans, would you want Breww to return the 6-can branded case to stock to be reused?
Assigning some stock items to a container type and some to a product.
It is very likely that some of your products will be best set up by having both stock items directly assigned to the container type (For example, if you always use the same stock items when racking into cans, you may assign the can components to a container type), but the product itself may also use a 24 can branded case which would be directly assigned to the product instead, as it is not used when you rack into single cans, 12 packs or 6 packs for example, and should only be consumed when specifically a 24 pack is created.
24 x 330ml Cans - Beer A (multipack)
- Directly assigned to the container type of 330ml can
- 1 x 330ml Aluminum Can
- 1 x Can Lids/Ends 330ML
- Directly assigned to the product
- 1 x 24 Can Branded Case
How to assign stock items
As mentioned above, there are two options that you can choose from to automatically consume stock items when racking a product. Once you have decided what is the best option for you, the below information will guide you through how to set this up.
Assign directly to a container type
To assign stock items directly to a container type, navigate to Containers, then under the header container types and on the relevant container type, use the view button (
, 
, 
) this will take you to the container type’s details screen. From here, you can see any stock items already directly assigned to the container type or some guidance on how to add them if none are assigned.
To begin assigning stock items to this container type, you will need to select the 
button. Once the container type edit window is open, scroll down to the section headered Default packaging stock items, and you can assign the stock items that are consumed whenever something is racked into this container type.
Once you have added your default packaging stock items, you just need to ensure you use the 
button at the bottom of the page, and you’re all set. From that point on, whenever you rack any beer or alcoholic drink into that container type, your chosen stock items will be consumed, so long as they are in stock.
Assign directly to a new product
When creating a product in Breww (In Products → New product), one of the stages will ask “Do you use any stock items when packaging or assembling … ?” Here you can define the stock items used when they are used and if they are returned to stock when disassembled.
On this screen, you will also see Stock items assigned directly to component container types, meaning Breww will look at all the container types within this product (for a mixed pack, this could mean bottles and cans, for example) and will show you if any stock items are already directly assigned to the container types themselves. Crucially, you will want to ensure you do not add the same stock item directly to the container type and the product, as this would double the amount consumed.
Assign stock items to an existing product
If you need to add component stock items to an existing product, this can be done by going to Products → All products finding your product and using the 
(view product) button. This will open the product details page. To add component stock items to this product, you will need to click Actions → Edit. This will open the Update product screen, and you will need to navigate to the Component stock items tab, where you can assign your stock items.
Racking
When racking into your product from a vessel, Breww will look between stock items directly assigned to the product and to the container type and pre-populate the stock items used page when racking.
If you do not have enough stock of the stock item to complete the racking, a yellow banner will appear at the top of the “stock items used” page to notify you that Breww attempted to add these stock items, but it was not possible as there was not enough stock, however, this will not prevent you from racking the product. If you genuinely don’t have the stock, you will, of course, want to stop here and cancel the racking. If you do have the stock, then you will want to abort the racking, correct the stock levels and then retry.
Adding additional items used when racking and accounting for damages
During the racking process, there may be some additional ingredients or materials used. This could be for a number of things; for example, you may wish to add a number of additional cans to account for any damages, in which case you can increase the quantity of the existing stock items so if 200 cans were actually racked, but an additional 20 were damaged you would enter 220 cans used, to account for the stock used and cost. Equally, you may choose to add a new stock item, such as 2kg CO2 used in purging for your racking of 200 cans, for example.
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