Article | REF: AG6526 V1

Wash and disinfection of the Trunk says of brewery

Author: Pierre MILLET

Publication date: January 10, 2017

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


Overview

Français

ABSTRACT

The washing and disinfection of beer kegs, in particular those of cylindrical shape equipped with a fitted spear tube is a very delicate case of container cleaning. It is through the spear tube that all the conditioning operations are performed, without this organ ever being separated from the keg. The CO2 pressurization of the keg at the brewery creates anaerobic conditions friendly to the contaminants in the beer, while washing by streaming remains very unpredictable, considering the geometry of the keg and its positioning during the cleaning. Ideally, after using hot detergents followed by multiple rinsing, an intense heat treatment with steam at 2 bars is applied, and the filling is done straight afterwards with no preliminary cooling

Read this article from a comprehensive knowledge base, updated and supplemented with articles reviewed by scientific committees.

Read the article

AUTHOR

  • Pierre MILLET: Engineer ENSAIA EBN – École nationale supérieure d'agronomie et des industries alimentaires de Nancy - Former technical director of an industrial brewery - Associate professor at ENSAIA in the brewing and beverages department

 INTRODUCTION

The brewery keg is a refillable primary packaging whose main characteristic is its ability to withstand high internal pressures. Before being made of stainless steel, they were first made of wood, then of metal with a protective coating and the barrel's characteristic biconical profile.

Today, the brewery keg has opted for a stainless steel cylindrical shape, which has facilitated the mechanization of handling operations (transfers to packaging machines, palletization). The widespread use of stainless steel in the manufacture of the keg has opened up other uses outside the brewery, whether with flat liquids such as wine, or carbonated liquids such as lemonades and soft drinks.

In practice, at the same time as the cylindrical shape, brewery kegs have come into general use with the incorporated plunger permanently placed on the container and through which all the various packaging operations are carried out:

  • wash ;

  • sterilization ;

  • filling ;

  • debit at the cafetier.

This type of keg was introduced to breweries in France in the early 1960s, having originated in England. For the French brewer, it offered the hope of putting an end once and for all to the quarrel over the quality of the draught beer that had always existed between the brewer and the cafetier who draughted his beer.

In fact, with kegs with built-in plunger, the beer returns to the brewery under carbon dioxide pressure and in a hermetically sealed vessel, which should enable the brewer to verify the validity of the claim. It soon became apparent that this apparent advantage was not a real one, given the increasing number of kegs being returned when this packaging was first introduced, as the very structure of the keg made perfect cleaning impossible. However, as the packaging also offered other advantages, especially in terms of handling, palletization and machine processing, the brewer persevered, and today uses a cleaning technique that may be imperfect, but which is made effective by thermal blasting.

However, major improvements have been made both to the construction, by reducing the number of welds, a source of dirt trapping on the inner wall, and to washing techniques and detergent selection. Today, two types of diver are used:

  • with tray ;

  • with bowls.

In order to be used by the coffee maker, they require easy-to-use components (flow heads) specific to each type and manufacturer. The various functions involved in the filling and packaging of plunger-incorporated...

You do not have access to this resource.

Exclusive to subscribers. 97% yet to be discovered!

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference

A Comprehensive Knowledge Base, with over 1,200 authors and 100 scientific advisors
+ More than 10,000 articles and 1,000 how-to sheets, over 800 new or updated articles every year
From design to prototyping, right through to industrialization, the reference for securing the development of your industrial projects

KEYWORDS

disinfection   |   packing   |   food liquid   |   detergency   |   cleaning   |   hygiene


This article is included in

Food industry

This offer includes:

Knowledge Base

Updated and enriched with articles validated by our scientific committees

Services

A set of exclusive tools to complement the resources

Practical Path

Operational and didactic, to guarantee the acquisition of transversal skills

Doc & Quiz

Interactive articles with quizzes, for constructive reading

Subscribe now!

Ongoing reading
Washing and disinfecting the "brewery" keg