Month: April 2024

Keg Washing: Working Smarter to Conquer an Essential Brewery Task

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kegs on conveyor belt going through wash machine

By: Cheryl Gray

Imagine a dried egg inside a frying pan. Then, imagine the bacteria that immediately begins to grow because you’ve left the problem to fester, and, well, you know the rest.

  The same premise holds true when cleaning the kegs for your brewery. If the job is not done properly, breweries are setting themselves up for all kinds of safety and hygiene problems, both inside and outside the keg. Ensuring that beer is safe to consume is not an option. It is a must.

  Beer products are very sensitive to any outside contamination. Even tiny traces of bacteria or other contaminants can ruin an entire batch of beer, costing breweries money in lost time, resources and, of course, product. 

  There are some key differences in cleaning the outside of a keg versus the inside. Cleaning the inside of a keg involves focusing on removing any beer residue, bacteria or contaminants. Success in this area can ensure that the beer dispensed maintains the quality its brewer intended and is safe to drink. A proper external cleaning, of course, guarantees the removal of any contamination or dirt that may be present on the outside surface of the keg.

  While properly cleaning beer kegs is not an impossible task, choosing the wrong cleaning apparatus can be costly on all fronts. If you choose kegs for your beer products, knowing how to protect your customers from contamination is the job of expert companies with solutions that can help. Many breweries are opting for automatic solutions to clean and sanitize their kegs.

  Fillmore Packaging Solutions, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, promises affordable solutions for keg washing designed for craft breweries of all sizes. Since owner Tony Saballa founded the company more than twenty years ago, it has focused on perfecting the mechanical side of production. Saballa says his company is all in when it comes to automatic keg washers.

  “We don’t offer manual keg washers since they typically require the same amount of labor and cost to construct as fully automated washers. We also have found that manual washers often have variable outputs with wash quality issues due to operator missteps and errors.

  Our keg washers are built to completely automate the washing process utilizing state-of-the-art UL certified electronics. Automation simplifies the washing process so brewers can apply their attention to other tasks.”

  Saballa adds that Fillmore’s keg washers are UL Certified and constructed to meet the UL508a safety code standards for the United States and Canada. The washers are constructed at the company’s St. Louis manufacturing facility.

  “We aim to deliver American-made automation that functions to the highest standards at a cost that is affordable for both startups and expanding breweries.”

  Saballa points out some major mistakes that brewers make when it comes to keg washing and how Fillmore can steer them in the right direction. One major error, Saballa says, is overdoing the cleaning process. He says that more is not better in the case of keg washing.

  “Here at Fillmore, we often find that brewers tend to over-concentrate their cleaning and sanitizing solutions, sometimes using double and triple the manufacturer recommended usage rates. More is not better. This increases the operational cost, and safety for the operator must also be taken into consideration. Other factors that exist are the accelerated wear on pumps, valves, seals and gaskets, which can lead to down time and costly repairs.”

  Saballa explains how Fillmore’s keg washers are built to operate on a special voltage and designed for different breweries of different sizes. 

  “This is important since most new breweries are not located in industrial zones. Single-phase machinery offers a solution for brewers operating in areas where three-phase power is inaccessible or installation would be cost-prohibitive.”

  Each Fillmore keg washer operates on either 120v or 220v AC and compressed air and is capable of handling advanced pressurized CO2. Equipped with an enhanced design and technologically advanced features, the semi-auto keg washers include a fully programmable interface designed for customized operation, high-capacity cleaning and advanced sanitizing for brewery kegs.

  Another company specializing in keg washers is Craftmaster Stainless, headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California. The company manufactures production equipment for multiple beverage industries, including beer, cider, wine, spirits and coffee. Its clients range from small craft brewers to large global producers. With more than two decades of experience in stainless steel fabrication, the company’s team has the capability to custom-design and build commercial beer brewing equipment.

  When it comes to cleaning kegs, Craftmaster Stainless offers the Keggernaut Semi-Automatic Keg Washer. The product features a Siemens interface that gives breweries full state-of-the-art touch control over temperature settings and wash cycle timing. 

  The Kerrernaut is equipped with dual cleaning stations designed to wash two kegs of any size.    It can clean up to 40 kegs an hour, contingent upon the length of the wash cycle. The user-friendly features allow the kegs to simply be inverted, automatically washed, sanitized and pressurized in minutes. This semi-auto beer keg cleaning equipment allows for a quick and easy option to increase productivity. 

  Craftmaster Stainless offers its customers lifetime support on all commercial brewing equipment. It also provides custom designs for its microbrewery clients. 

  Keg washers are also available from Alpha Brewing Operations. The company, headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, provides fully automated options for an entire brewery. Its automation options from breweries range from semi-auto to what the company calls its fully automated package. The works include features such as a large touchscreen interface and connectivity options with mobile devices.

  For keg washing, Alpha Brewing Operations offers a product called the Alpha “Wash Dog Junior.”  It is an affordable, compact, automatic version of the company’s larger and fully automatic counterpart. The “Junior” is still highly automated but requires manual coupling to kegs and comes in a smaller package. This smaller keg washer is designed to fit into the tight budgets and tight spaces of startups and small breweries.

  Keg washers are also available from international manufacturers, such as Comac, which has its headquarters in Italy. Comac has several varieties of external keg washers, capable of washing anywhere from 30 to more than 1,000 kegs per hour. Comac offers customized keg-washing solutions for breweries of all sizes.

  Comac’s most compact keg washer is only about six and a half feet long, including a single section and one track. The company touts it as an ideal option for hot or recycled water washing. There is a larger option that performs multiple tasks for keg washing, such as pre-washing with recycled water, washing with a caustic solution to remove hard-to-clean dirt and a final rinse with clean water.

  For larger production facilities, Comac offers a dual-track keg washer to boost cleaning capacity. Other features include easy and cost-effective maintenance, quick changeover ability and savings in water consumption. Other options available for large production lines include a separate skid for components, such as pumps, valves and heat exchangers to simplify cleaning and maintenance.

  Experts agree that keg washing, inside and out, protects the beer and the consumers who buy it. For breweries large and small, the task is an inevitable necessity made easier by automated machinery designed to make a mundane task easier to manage while increasing safeguards against cross-contamination.

Testing the (Still) Waters

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By: Tod Stewart

A 30-year friendship solidified by a passion for whisky, a desire to put this passion into practise, and a determination to break new distilling ground in an environment where practically everything was against them – welcome to the story of Barry Bernstein and Barry Stein (affectionally known a “the two Barrys”) and the evolution of Ontario’s Still Waters Distillery. It’s a story that should inspire craft distillers around the world – and entrepreneurial types thinking about joining the ranks.

  Today, Still Waters Distillery continues to grow and its flagship – STALK&BARREL Canadian Whisky – should soon be available nationally across Canada, and plans are in the works to expand distribution into the US market. Beverage Master Magazine caught up with the Barrys to talk about past challenges, current successes, and future plans.

* BM – Beverage Master Magazine

BM:  Initially, your venture involved importing whisky in bulk for blending. And, again, if my recollection is correct, you ran into some regulatory hurdles. Assuming I’m correct on both counts, can you elaborate a bit on this part of your past?

Barry Stein: Our initial venture, in 2005, was as an independent bottler of scotch for the Canadian market. We were importing single casks of scotch and bottling here in Canada. We were, at first, restricted to selling scotch in an “adulterated” fashion – by adding one per cent domestic whisky to comply with an obscure Canadian law. This meant we couldn’t call it scotch, which presented some marketing challenges. After much negotiation, we were able to finally get permission to bottle without blending, but that was short lived as the Scotch Whisky Association brought in rules that prohibited the bulk export of scotch for bottling purposes outside of Scotland.

BM: When did you decide to actually create a distillery? Though the regulatory landscape for small distillers has changed a bit over the years, what challenges did you face – both physically and regulatory – in setting up your operation?

Barry Bernstein: While struggling with our importing business, we were also seeing the growing small distillery industry in the US. It was clear that our importing business was not sustainable, with the regulatory restrictions, and we thought there was an opportunity to be the first craft distillery in Ontario and one of the first in Canada. We opened the doors to our distillery in 2009 after a great deal of work with the Canada Revenue Agency – CRA – on federal licensing.

BM: Where there issues with the CRA?

Barry Bernstein: The local CRA office had never seen a small scale distillery, and it required extensive documentation and due diligence. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario – AGCO – had rules that only allowed large distilleries to sell direct to the public, and the only sales channel available to us, The Liquor Control Board of Ontario – LCBO – hadn’t dealt with a small local spirits producer, and it gave us no preferential treatment, expecting the same from us as it would a large multinational brand. Our local municipality relied on building code regulations that only described large scale distilleries, which forced us to invest heavily in facility upgrades. At every level of government there were significant challenges, but the constant “you cannot do that” only strengthened our resolve. We were determined to prove everyone wrong.

BM: Was your aim always to make whisky, or were you interested in a broader range of spirits – or was it the case that you were more or less forced to produce other spirits until your whisky was legally old enough to be called whisky?

Barry Stein: When we started, our focus was on whisky. But, by Canadian law, that requires a minimum of three years maturation, so we made vodka as well. By virtue of being the first in Ontario, we also attracted attention from others looking to get into the business, and we did both contract distilling and bottling. This gave us an opportunity to make different vodkas, gins, whiskies, liqueurs, and so forth.

BM: Sounds like you certainly gave the various authorities pause to reconsider what could and couldn’t be done. Have things got any easier for craft distillers from a regulatory standpoint?

Barry Stein: The ability to sell direct, which didn’t exist when we started, was significant. There has been some small wins on the taxation front, but it is still very difficult to be profitable. For us, the most significant changes have been the growth of the industry. Everyone now understands what a craft distiller is, and it is a lot easier to make noise as a group than as an individual.

Barry Bernstein: Our biggest challenge is taxation, federally and provincially, that take the vast majority of the sale proceeds. Canadian excise rates for spirits are ridiculously high. We’d like to see reduced rates across the board, and special rates or graduated rates for small producers, similar to what is in the US – or even in Canada for wine and beer producers. Though small producers can now sell direct to the public – which took years of work to make happen – significant distribution can only occur through the government run liquor stores, and it remains a difficult sales channel for a small player.

BM: Would tapping into the export market help you bypass the stranglehold of Canadian liquor boards?

Barry Bernstein: My role at Still Waters Distillery is primarily new business development, and I can say there are plans being made as we speak to be launched in the USA, which we are very excited about. We should have more details on this later on this year. In the meantime, I think it’s important that we focus on core competencies, and that is making truly great tasting Canadian whisky. We have perfected the STALK&BARREL Canadian Whisky blend and this brand is gaining significant distribution, which includes Ontario, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Alberta. Hopefully STALK&BARREL will be nationally distributed across Canada the near future.

BM: It’s said there’s strength in numbers. Have you collaborated with other distilleries or joined any trade organizations that are pushing for things like excise parity?

Barry Stein: We founded the Ontario Craft Distillers Association and are a member of national organizations. These organizations are more directly helpful to our clients, the brand owners, but that indirectly helps us. The more our clients prosper, the better we do.

BM: Are there any plans to expand production facilities in the future, or perhaps change locations?

Barry Stein: Yes, although we are still working on a plan. We have been increasing our production capacity incrementally. Our space is very tight and is an ongoing challenge. We actually have three facilities (production, bonded storage and non-bonded storage) and are looking at consolidating in a single location. We expect to have some definite plans by the end of year.

BM: Can you give us a sneak peek as to what new SWD spirits may be in the works?

Barry Bernstein: I think right now we are focusing on the rebrand of STALK&BARREL Canadian Whisky. This brand is definitely getting noticed by whisky lovers and cocktail enthusiasts. STALK&BARREL Canadian Whisky is now the Official Canadian whisky of Golf Canada, so with the RBC Canadian Open in June, and CP Women’s Open in August, we are ramping up production to meet the anticipated demand.

  With the ongoing expansion of the Still Waters Distillery – and growing market for its balanced, warm, vanilla and butterscotch-tinged flagship STALK&BARREL Canadian Whisky, not to mention the Golf Canada partnership – the “two Barrys” appear to have hit a Canadian distilling hole-in-one.

Uncorking Accessibility:  Ensuring Your Website Complies with the ADA

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By: Vanessa Ing, Farella Braun + Martel

In today’s digital age, having an online presence is crucial for businesses, including wineries, breweries, and other beverage companies. Accordingly, it’s essential to ensure that your beverage website meets federal standards for accessibility to avoid lawsuits and fines. In this article, we will help beverage companies understand how to comply with federal law and implement accessible features on their websites.

Why is web accessibility important?

In 1990, Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It prohibits businesses open to the public (otherwise known as “public accommodations”) from discriminating against people with disabilities in everyday activities. These everyday activities can include purchasing goods and services, or offering employment opportunities. 

In March 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice issued web accessibility guidance, reiterating that ensuring web accessibility for people with disabilities is a priority for the Department. Relying on the ADA’s prohibition against discrimination and its mandate to provide equal access, Department of Justice emphasized that the ADA’s requirements apply to all the goods, services, privileges, or activities offered by public accommodations, including those offered on the web. The Department of Justice’s guidance was particularly timely given that many services moved online during the pandemic. 

In its guidance, the Department of Justice explained that people with disabilities navigate the web in different ways: for example, those with visual impairments might require a screen reader that reads aloud text to the audience.  Those with auditory impairments might require closed-captioning software, while those with impaired motor skills might require voice recognition software.  A website, therefore, should be compatible with the full range of such software. 

Is your beverage company a “public accommodation” business?

Public accommodations include businesses that sell goods and services, establishments serving food and drink, and places of recreation or public gathering.  Companies that sell drinks, wineries that offer a tasting room, or breweries that host events are all considered public accommodations.  Thus, those businesses’ websites must comply with the ADA by being accessible to people with disabilities.  

It is an open question whether beverage companies without a physical location open to the public must still have ADA-compliant websites. Some jurisdictions, like the Ninth Circuit (which has jurisdiction over Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington), have tied the necessity of ADA-compliant websites to the existence of a brick-and-mortar location (Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, LLC). However, the Department of Justice, along with several federal circuit courts of appeals, has taken the position that even a public accommodation business without a physical location must have an ADA-compliant website.  

Given the increased prevalence of online-only services open to the public, it is very likely that litigation over the next few years may resolve this open question.  In the meantime, it is wise for beverage companies to take preventative caution and ensure that their websites are accessible.  

What are some website accessibility barriers?

To ensure ADA compliance, beverage companies must be aware of common website accessibility barriers.  These include poor color contrast, lack of descriptive text on images and videos, mouse-only navigation, and more.  By addressing these barriers, beverage companies can enhance the user experience for people with disabilities.

Six examples of website accessibility barriers highlighted in the DOJ’s accessibility guidance include:

  • Poor Color Contrast: Ensure sufficient color contrast between text and background to aid individuals with visual impairments or color blindness. Use color combinations that are easy to distinguish.
  • Use of Color Alone to Give Information:  Avoid using color alone to provide information.  Using color alone can be very disorienting for someone who is visually impaired or colorblind.  Someone who is colorblind might not be able to distinguish between shades of gray.  One solution might be to ensure that symbols conveying information are differently shaped.  
  • Lack of Descriptive Alternative Text for Images and Videos: Provide descriptive text (alt text) for images and videos, allowing screen readers to convey the information to visually impaired users. This makes your content more accessible and inclusive.
  • No Closed Captions on Videos: Include closed captions for videos to accommodate individuals with hearing impairments. Utilize manual or automatic captioning options and review the captions for accuracy.  Free options are available on the web.
  • Inaccessible Online Forms: Make online forms user-friendly for people with disabilities. Provide clear instructions before the form, ensure that a screen reader could recognize required fields and fields with special formatting, ensure keyboard-only navigation, use accessible labels for inputs, and display clear error messages.  Note that an image-based CAPTCHA is not a fully accessible way to secure your form; your CAPTCHA should offer users who are visually impaired an audio alternative.
  • Mouse-Only Navigation: Enable keyboard-only navigation on your website to assist individuals with motor skill impairments or those who cannot use a mouse or see a mouse pointer on the screen.  Make sure all interactive elements can be accessed using the tab, enter, spacebar, or arrow keys.  Use a “Skip to Main Content” link to ensure that users employing only a keyboard can easily navigate the website’s primary content. 

To implement these features, beverage companies should discuss accessibility concerns upfront with the web developer.  Beverage companies should keep in mind that posting a phone number on a website to call for assistance, as commonly utilized by businesses, does not sufficiently provide equal access to the website and the services or goods provided.

Who can sue beverage companies?

Non-compliance with ADA standards can lead to potential lawsuits.  Although some courts have held that a nexus must exist between a private plaintiff’s disability and the web accessibility barrier claimed, a private plaintiff may easily surf the web for websites that are inaccessible.  A private plaintiff may then file a lawsuit in federal court without first notifying the business.  Further, liability under the ADA is strict, which means that the intent of the business to comply is immaterial.  Thus, it is prudent for beverage companies to proactively address accessibility issues to avoid potential legal troubles.  

Private lawsuits under the ADA can result in injunctive relief (a court order to comply with the ADA) and attorney fees.  And in some states, like California, the state law version of the ADA may enable plaintiffs to demand monetary damages ($4,000 per violation of the ADA). 

Government involvement, while less frequent, is possible in cases involving national retailers.  If the Department of Justice observes a pattern or practice of discrimination, the Department will attempt to negotiate a settlement, and may bring suit on behalf of the United States. At stake are fines of up to $75,000 for the first ADA violation, and up to $150,000 for each subsequent violation.

What are the rules for website accessibility?

Although the ADA itself does not spell out the rules for website accessibility, several sources provide detailed rules that can aid beverage companies in building accessible websites. 

First, the ADA authorizes the Department of Justice to enforce the statute.  Accordingly, the Department develops and issues regulations explaining how businesses must comply.  Specifically, § 36.303 of the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations specifies that a public accommodation shall provide auxiliary aids and services when necessary to ensure effective communication with people with disabilities, and that a public accommodation should consult with people with disabilities whenever possible.  The Department also issues administrative guidance, such as its March 2022 guidance described above.  

Second, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities, provides detailed guidance concerning the display screen ratios, status indicators, audio signals, and other accessibility features. 

Third, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1), which were originally designed by a consortium of four universities, provide highly specific web accessibility guidelines grounded on the idea that information on the web must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.  These guidelines are widely referenced in court cases and settlements with the Department of Justice, as the guidelines address numerous aspects of web accessibility and offer three different levels of conformance (A, AA, AAA). Beverage companies can consult the WCAG 2.1 guidelines (including a customizable quick reference guide, at https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/quickref/) to ensure their websites meet ADA compliance. 

Looking Ahead

Web accessibility standards evolve over time, with updates being released periodically. Beverage companies should stay informed about changes and updates to ADA compliance regulations. For example, the WCAG 3.0 is scheduled for release in the latter half of 2023, further refining accessibility guidelines.

In sum, by understanding and identifying web accessibility barriers, and implementing necessary accessibility features, beverage companies can enhance user experiences and minimize the risk of legal repercussions. Embracing web accessibility is not only legally required but economically prudent in the long run, as it enables beverage companies to cater to a broad and varied audience, and demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity in the digital realm.

Vannesa Ing headshot

Vanessa Ing is a litigation associate with Farella Braun + Martel and can be reached at ving@fbm.com. Farella is a Northern California law firm representing corporate and private clients in sophisticated business and real estate transactions and complex commercial, civil and criminal litigation. The firm is headquartered in San Francisco with an office in the Napa Valley that is focused on the wine industry.