Vijay Raines and Megan Waters own and operate the Rainwater Brewery, a micro-brewery that grew out of their shared hobby of making home-brew. The brewery is located in Kelowna, B.C. the home of Okanagan College where Vijay and Megan went to college. 

Kelowna has a number of bars and restaurants that are patronized by students at Okanagan College and the local resident population. When setting up their small brewery, Vijay and Megan decide that they will target their sales to individuals who will pick up their orders directly from the brewery and to restaurants and bars, where they will deliver orders on a daily or weekly basis. 

The brewery process essentially occurs in three stages. First, the mixture is cooked in a vat according to a recipe; then it is placed in a stainless-steel container, where it is fermented for several weeks. During the fermentation process, the specific gravity, temperature, and pH need to be monitored on a daily basis. The specific gravity starts out at about 1.006 to 1.008 and decreases to around 1.002, and the temperature must be between 10 and 15ºC. After the brew ferments, it is filtered into another stainless-steel pressurized container, where it is carbonated and aged for about a week (with the temperature monitored), after which it is bottled. It is then ready for distribution. Megan and Vijay brew a batch of beer each day, which results in about 1000 bottles for distribution after the approximately three-week fermentation and aging process. 

In the process of setting up their brewery, Megan and Vijay agree they have already developed a proven product with an appealing taste, so the most important factor in the success of their new venture will be maintaining high quality. Thus, they spend a lot of time discussing what kind of quality-control techniques they should use. They agree that the chance of brewing a “bad,” or “spoiled,” batch of beer is extremely remote, plus they cannot financially afford to reject a whole batch of 1000 bottles of beer if the taste or colour is a little “off” the norm. So they decide to focus more on process control methods to identify quality problems that would enable them to adjust their equipment, recipe, or process parameters rather than rejecting the entire batch.

Describe the different quality-control methods that Rain-water Brewery might use to ensure good-quality beer and how these methods might fit into an overall quality management program.