Cellar to glass: day in the life of a technician

It's a bright and blustery autumn morning as Alex Prentice pulls up in his van on his way to the first job of the day. Alex is a relative newcomer to the tech services game, having worked for Innserve for just one year, the first three months of that having been taken up with training.

"I used to work on fruit machines and I saw an ad in the local paper," he says. "A year ago I couldn't even change a barrel. It's been a steep learning curve. I'm still learning the names of the parts, there's no logic to it in the beer business!

"There are four of us working the south coast and if I come across something I don't understand I can ring them and they'll talk me through it."

In the back of the van is almost everything Alex might need to complete a repair on the spot. His stock is continually replenished by deliveries made directly to the van overnight, while he sleeps.

"I still haven't seen the person who does it," he says. "It's quite mysterious."

Calls come through from Innserve headquarters on a hand-held computer in the glove compartment. Emergencies are also texted to his mobile phone. There are three classes of job: four-hour (emergencies when a pub has lost dispense), 24-hour and 96-hour (non-urgent jobs such as ullages).

9.50am Copthorne Hotel, Crawley​

The first job today is a 24-hour call to a hotel bar where the Foster's tap has gone on strike following a line-clean. Alex quickly diagnoses that the torpedo valve that controls beer flow has jammed shut. Within five minutes the beer is flowing again and we're back on the road.

10.30am Crow's Nest, East Grinstead​

While we're in the area, we nip across to do an ullage job. Sickeningly, this involves pouring beer down the drain. In this case the manager has reported that the Foster's is cloudy and Alex has to take a sample - required in 20 per cent of cases.

11.10am Emperor restaurant, Felbridge​

A Chinese restaurant has complained that the Carlsberg is cloudy, fobbing and smells more like cider than lager. Alex knows what's wrong straight away - it's the blight of dirty lines. And even if the place had been cleaning the lines, they had been using the wrong cleaning bottle. He also notices that the fan grill on the cooler behind the bar is blocked by dirt. "I'll come back next week and take an hour out to train them and go through it all," he says. "They need someone to hold their hand, and that's quite good fun."

11.30am Coppingham Arms, Horley​

Back in the van, Alex's routine suddenly takes an exciting twist. It's an emergency job, just up the road. Because HQ knows roughly where the technicians are, it can direct calls such as this to someone in the vicinity.

The emergency is that Pete from Big Brother is making a personal appearance at the pub the next day, a packed house is expected - and the Tetley's Smooth has lost dispense.

Fortunately, it's only a faulty fob detector, one of the most common problems. "This is where I'll get covered in beer," says Alex. "You learn quickly to remember to turn the gas off, though."

Within half an hour of the call coming through, the Tetley's is on again. "That should cheer them up," says Alex. "It's lovely when that happens!"

12.50pm Preston Park Bowls Club​

Back towards the coast, it's another ullage job, this time resulting from a leaking container of Foster's. There's an unusual number of ullages today, says Alex, but no two days are the same.

1.30pm Exchange, Hove​

In the cavernous cellar there's more ullage to pour down the drain, and the manager is also complaining that a line is icing up. Alex has a quick look but declares it's not his department - it's a cooler problem.

2.15pm Duke of Norfolk, Brighton​

The pub isn't getting enough out of a keg. Alex spots a fob detector with a low level of beer in it and traces the fault to perished seals (the rubber washers, not the sea mammals) in the keg coupler.

After they're replaced the assistant manager mentions that the extra cold beers aren't cold enough. Alex points out that the lines under the bar are running round the back of a glasswasher that's giving out a lot of heat, and advises moving the glasswasher.

3.00pm Smugglers, Brighton​

Fobbing beer is again traced to perished keg coupler seals letting the air in.

4.15pm Rat & Parrot, Crawley​

This job didn't come in until Alex was back on the south coast, so it means he has to drive back up north to replace a broken tap.

"It takes longer to get there than to do it, but that's typical," says Alex. Then it's home, after another satisfying day keeping the beer flowing in Sussex.