Unit 7: Packaging

Question 1

What is the shelf life of cask beers vs bottled vs keg beers?

Answer 1

Casks: 1-2 months. Max 2-3 months but most brewers chose to do less. Once a cask gets tapped air starts to get in and starts the staling process. Once tapped beer should be consumed within a few days.

Kegs: 3-12 months. (unopened). Once opened should sell withing 2 weeks. Potential microbes on the dispensing line can cause the beer to become contaminated and eventually sour.

Bottles: 9-12 months (but keep it cool and in a dark place)

Question 2

What is the main limiting factor on keg beer shelf life?

Answer 2

The quality of serving system in the bar.

Keep your god damn lines clean

Question 3

What is it called when a beer is infected by bacteria or naturally occurring yeast?

Answer 3

Microbial contamination

Question 4

What 2 ways can beer be preserved going into packaging to prevent microbial contamination?

Answer 4

1) Filter the beer to remove any bacteria or wild yeast.

2) Heat the beer up to kill any bacteria or wild yeast.

Question 5

My man Louis Pasteur found that at which temperature could you heat the beer up to to kill any unwanted bacteria or wild yeast?

Answer 5

60-75 degrees Celsius

Question 6

Name the 2 ways beer can be pasteurized?

Answer 6

1) Flash pasteurizer

2) Tunnel pasteurizer

Question 7

How does Flash pasteurizing work?

Answer 7

Used mostly for kegs but also bottles and cans.

Uses a “plate heat exchanger” just like cooling the wort down.

Beer goes in with a tube and gets heated. beer then goes and gets cooled in the tube and is now pasteurized.

Question 8

How does Tunnel pasteurizing work?

Answer 8

Only used for glass bottles and cans.

Bottles go in a tunnel and get sprayed and heated by hot water.

Question 9

Some brewers feel like heating the beer for pasteurization reduces the beers freshness and they choose not to do it. What form of sterilization do they use?

Answer 9

Sterile filtration

The beer gets past through a filter filled with tiny pores so small that they trap any bacteria.

Only used for clear beers because if your beer is hazy this process will get rid of the haze.

Question 10

Take me on the magical journey of a keg that gets dropped back off at a brewery till it leaves the brewery once again with beer inside.

Answer 10

1) Keg handling: Kegs get transported in stacks on a pallet and get depalletorized onto the line.

2) Keg turner: Kegs get filled upside down doe they get turned to prep for that.

3) External washer: Outside of the kegs get sprayed.

4) Filling: 1) rinse any remaining beer. 2) clean inside keg. 3) sterilization. 4) pressurization with CO2. 5) Fill with beer

5) Cap and Label: Cap is fitted to protect the keg valve. Label is added to provide info on the keg (best before date and what not).

6) Palletisation: Full kegs get stacked on pallets for transport

Question 11

How is keg beer dispensed?

Answer 11

1) Gas supply: CO2 or sometimes CO2 and N are pumped into the keg to push beer out.

2) Dispense head: Fitted to the valve to connect the keg to the pipes that supply the bar and the gas supply to push the beer out.

2) New keg: When the dispense head is fitted the lever gets pushed down to open the new keg. This lets the gas in and the beer can come out.

4) Turn on gas: Do before opening keg to prevent beer flowing back up through the gas line.

5) Keg line prime: Makes sure that when the kegs runs out the pipes to the bar do not empty. When new keg gets put on, gas needs to be vented from the prime line before beer can flow to the bar.

Question 12

Advantages and disadvantaged of keg beer?

Answer 12

Pros: Easy to clean, easy to distribute, little oxygen or light can get to the beer, kegs are reusable.

Cons: costs money to get them to breweries, consumers need to go to places where kegs are available to drink (this ones just stupid), beer lines need to be checked and cleaned regularly.

Question 13

Tell me about plastic kegs?

Answer 13

Pros: Lighter, Cheaper, Some are just single use and need to be returned to get recycled

Cons: More flimsy so they leak more, Single use so not as sustainable, hard to recycle might end up in landfill.

Question 14

What are some differences between casks and kegs?

Answer 14

Kegs: have one opening for beer. Dont contain yeast.

Casks: have 2 ports (one for filling and one for dispensing). Contain yeast so you gotta take care of that shit.

Question 15

How is beer drawn from a cask?

Answer 15

Beer is fed into the cask along with an additive called “ FINIGS” that helps settle the yeast out.

Filled through the “SHive boss”

Sealed with a bung called a shive that used to be made out of wood but are now made out of plastic.

Question 16

Tell the the route a bottle takes when it is returned to a brewery until its dispatched from the brewery?

Answer 16

1) bottles are delivered: loaded onto the line in crates.

2) Bottles enter a washing machine and are washed with hot detergent

3) bottle inspection: check from broken glass

4) bottles are filled and immediately sealed with crown cork

5) bottles are fed into a tunnel pasteurizer

6) label that shit

7) packaging: labeled bottles get placed into crates

8) other bottles get packed into cardboard boxes

FOR RETURNABLE BOTTLES ONLY. for non returnable bottles the washer is not needed and they are not packed into crates but into cardboard or plastic multipacks.

Question 17

Differences between returnable glass bottles and non returnable glass bottles?

Answer 17

Returnable bottles need to be more robust (more glass) therefor are heavier. They also need to have a stronger top (where the crown goes) for sealing over and over again. Also need to be the same size and style so the brewers dont have to worry about sorting

Question 18

Pros and cons of glass bottles?

Answer 18

Pros: easily filled and sealed. Can be reused. Good impermeable material. Robust and will not easily split or damage.

Cons: Heavy. Reuse and recycle means there has to be transport (cost). Seal can become loose over time and let air in (over long periods of time). When broken they shatter.

Question 19

What are plastic beer bottles made of?

Answer 19

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

Question 20

Are plastic bottles reusable?

Answer 20

NOPE

Question 21

Tell me how cans are filled?

Answer 21

1) Empty cans are fed onto a line

2) Rinsing

3) Filling

4) “Seaming”. The ends of the cans are placed on top of the filled cans and are sealed in a process called “seaming”.

5) Fill level or Volume is checked

6) Tunnel pasteurizer

7) Packaging: cans are packed into trays or boxes

Question 22

Pros and cons of canned beers?

Answer 22

Pros: Light. Recyclable. Can have decorative labels. Impermeable to light

Cons: Metal is a finite resource and is costly to process. Cant reuse. Thin metal can be damaged if not handled carefully. Large head space can lead to oxygen getting in during filling.