Page 22 - Beverage MasterFebMarch 2021_Update

Craft Brewery
Craft Brewery
of the process involves keeping the vessel safe with “In beer filling, oxygen content must be mini-
a separating device and situating it on a lifting plat- mized, so full and complete purging prior to filling
form underneath the filling component. is key,” said Davis and Pirog. “Product foaming or
breakout can lead to inaccurate fill volumes and
A brewery employee begins the process by remov- carbonation loss. Open-air fillers usually incorpo-
ing the bottles from the pallet, rinsing them and rate some kind of restriction to create a gentle fill
controlling the amount of oxygen that gets into but are susceptible to product temperature.”
them before filling. The bottles are then automat-
ically filled by the machine. Once filled, they run If the product is not cold enough or maintained,
through a capping machine to seal them. The final breakout can easily occur with open-air filling. To
step involves applying labels manually or through measure the fill, brewers can use level sensing,
a labeler before transferring bottles to cartons or time-pressure or a flow meter.
crates for sale in the brewery or for transport to a
distributor. Counter-pressure filling is typically used on rota-
ry-style fillers, but some linear fillers also use this
Small to mid-size breweries generally look for bot- technology. Davis and Pirog said the main differ-
tle filling machines that fill between 700 and 4,000 ence between these machines’ suppliers is how
bottles per hour. For breweries that are mid-size to the product feeds into the pressurized can and the
large, choosing a machine with a 4,000 to 12,000 method for measuring the amount dispensed. For
bottle per hour capacity is recommended. example, some counter-pressure fillers use the
same product feed process used in open-air filling:
There are some important differences between either using the bright tank pressure or a buffer
bottle filling machines. Some bottling systems come tank to push the product up through the filler and
with “dummy bottles” and spray balls for clean- into the container.
ing. Some machines fill kegs in addition to bottles.
Others have canning add-on kits available if the “Counter-pressure filling is typically used for prod-
brewery currently serves beer in both bottles and ucts that are highly carbonated, so gentle filling is
cans or plans to in the future. just as important as pressurizing the container,”
said Davis and Pirog. “PSA incorporates true count-
Brewers should choose filling machines made with er-pressure filling like that used on the highest pro-
high-grade stainless steel and that perhaps come duction beverage packaging lines. The can is pres-
on lockable wheels for easy maneuverability if nec- surized to the equivalent pressure of the filler bowl,
essary. Other features to look for when comparing and the product is allowed to fill the can by gravity.
models include ease of cleaning, a user-friendly By doing so, carbonation levels are controlled, and
control panel, filling cycle speed, remote operation temperature is less of a factor. Similar to open-air
capabilities and easy changeover from bottles to filling, fill measurement can be by level, time-pres-
cans. sure or flow meter, and PSA has standardized on
flow meter filling.”
Modern Can Filling
Technologies and Differences Brewers looking for a new or upgraded canning
line should consider how containers will be sealed.
Davis and Pirog said there are two basic filling Quality seams are critical for package integrity and
technologies within the craft beverage canning product freshness in canning, and there are many
market – open-air and counter pressure – and there seaming machines on the market. Bending and
are variances among suppliers for each technology. folding metal to create a seal may sound simple
enough, but repeatedly creating a high-quality her-
Open-air filling is the primary technology for linear metic seal is more complex than it seems.
fillers in which product carbonation is not that high,
typically less than 2.7 vols. The main differences “Some suppliers use pneumatics or servo actua-
between open-air fillers lie in how the particular tors to perform the seaming operations,” said Davis
equipment purges the can of oxygen, controls and Pirog. “At PSA, our machines are designed for
foaming and measures the amount of product dis- the slower-speed needs of the craft market and use
pensed. the same mechanical cam technology used on our

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