Running craft beer taps in Maharashtra, compliantly and well

Paperwork that matches the cellar

Every keg that arrives at a licensed venue in Maharashtra comes with an invoice and a transport pass raised on the state SCM portal. Keep both, filed by date, for every delivery. Your licence also requires you to keep a stock account of liquor received and sold, in the form and at the frequency your licence conditions set. Ask the excise office or your licensing adviser for the current format, because it has moved online in parts and the details change.

The test is simple. On any day, kegs received minus kegs emptied should equal kegs in the cold room, by brand and size. If an inspector can count the cellar and match it to the register, most of the job is done.

A daily routine that takes ten minutes

• At opening, count full, tapped and empty kegs by brand.
• Record any keg received that day against its pass and invoice.
• At close, record kegs emptied and anything spoiled or returned, with the reason.
• Keep empties apart from full kegs so they are not counted twice.

The same count tells you your loss. Compare litres sold through the till with litres in the kegs you emptied. Our guide to keg tracking and losses shows where the gap usually hides.

The draught kit

A craft tap needs a coupler that matches the keg fitting, a gas supply with a regulator, a cooler and a tap. In an Indian summer the cooler matters most. A python of beer lines run through a warm wall heats the beer between keg and glass. Warm beer foams. Many venues store kegs in a cold room at 2 to 4 °C and use a glycol or flash cooler to hold that temperature at the tap.

Use food-grade carbon dioxide from a reputable supplier. Set the pressure to the carbonation the brewer asks for at your keg temperature. Too little and the beer goes flat in the keg; too much and every pour is half foam.

Clean the lines on a schedule

Dirty lines are the most common reason good craft beer tastes bad at a bar. Yeast and bacteria build up inside the tubing within weeks, giving buttery, sour or vinegar notes the brewer never put there. The widely used standard is an alkaline line clean every two weeks, with an acid clean about once a quarter to strip beerstone. Taps and couplers should be stripped and scrubbed at each clean.

Write each clean in a log with the date and who did it. If your supplier cleans the lines, ask for the same record. The full method is in our draught line cleaning guide.

Serve it at the right temperature

Most lagers and pale ales show best between about 3 and 7 °C in the glass. Stouts and stronger beers open up a little warmer. The keg should still be stored cold, because temperature and carbonation are linked. Warm the glass, not the keg. Rinse glasses in cold water before pouring and keep them free of grease, since a film of oil kills the head. Our guide to beer serving temperature gives the ranges by style.

Rotate kegs, first in, first out

Craft beer in kegs is often unpasteurised. Hop aroma fades first, especially in hazy and pale beers, so pour the oldest stock first and watch the packed date on each keg. Once tapped, a keg kept cold under correct gas pressure stays good for weeks, not months. Ask the brewer for a target and hold to it.

A slow tap is a cost, not a feature. If a beer takes three weeks to empty, move it to a smaller keg size or swap it out. Knowing which tap earns its place is a weekly numbers job: litres poured, glasses sold, loss per keg and margin per glass.

When the rules move

Maharashtra changes excise procedures and licence conditions by notification, sometimes mid-year. Check the State Excise licence pages and our Maharashtra excise guide. Confirm anything you are unsure of with your excise office or a licensing adviser. This guide is a working summary, not legal advice.

Common questions

What records does a bar keep for draught beer in Maharashtra?

Keep every invoice and transport pass for kegs received, plus the stock account your licence conditions require. Ask the excise office for the current format.

How often should beer lines be cleaned?

The widely used standard is an alkaline clean every two weeks and an acid clean about once a quarter, with taps and couplers stripped at each clean.

What temperature should kegs be stored at?

Most venues hold kegs at about 2 to 4 °C. Stable cold storage keeps carbonation steady and stops foaming at the tap.

How long does a tapped keg of craft beer last?

Kept cold under the right gas pressure, usually weeks rather than months. Ask the brewer for a target, since hoppy beers fade faster.