Traditional brewery opts for modern washing and racking

Hell Brauerei, a German beer brewery founded in 1890, still racks beer into wooden barrels that are expertly pitched every two years. This is an ancient craft the small family business claims it is one of the last to practise. However, for the brewing process itself state-of-the-art technology is now increasingly being used, with the brewery gradually having renewed its equipment over a prolonged period, starting with the fermentation cellar, then moving on to the bright beer tank cellar and finally the piping and filling.

International manufacturer of filling and packaging equipment KHS has been working with the brewery to modernise processes. Georg Hell, who now runs the brewery in its fifth generation, recently invested in a second-hand machine for glass filling as his output is still too low for a new one. However, with the Innokeg X the systems provider has now developed a system for barrels and kegs that is perfectly tailored to the requirements of craft beer producers and small and medium-sized companies such as the brewery.

Traditional brewery attaches great importance to product quality

“As a traditional family business, we attach great importance to product quality in all of our processes,” Hell said. The brewery uses regional ingredients, such as hops from the Hallertau, the largest area of hop cultivation in the world, Bavarian barley malt and deep spring water from Altötting. Its eight beer styles — including seasonal beers such as Altöttinger Dult Märzen and various other festival beers — are brewed from old family recipes. At the moment, the company fills 80% of its produce into glass bottles and 20% into barrels; until recently, it had a deficit with the latter.

“We had to have the barrels washed in a neighbouring brewery before we then racked them by hand. This took a lot of time; it was also difficult to handle the tap head properly. In summer especially, when demand is particularly high, we need to use modern technology,” Hell said.

Using the new system, the amount of compressed air used has been reduced by 32%, with sterile air consumption down by 5%, caustic by 45% and hot water by 8%.

Less time and wear

The system can process up to 25 returnable kegs or barrels an hour holding up to 58 L. The system hosts a multiple processing head that washes and racks containers in a single step. The simplified handling makes for much more efficient operations.

“You pick up the barrel and place it on the machine that then presses it against the valve. This process starts fully automatically; all steps in the process from emptying to prewashing to washing with hot caustic and racking are perfectly coordinated with one another.

“At the end of the process you have a ready-to-sell barrel that can be distributed immediately,” Hell said.

Easy connection to other components

Following ingress, the new kegging system was easily piped and connected up to other components, such as the hot and cold water, compressed air, CO₂ and steam supplies. Installation was completed in two days at Hell Brauerei — to Hell’s utmost satisfaction.

With an eye to hygienic design, all previously horizontal surfaces have now been slightly sloped to facilitate the runoff of liquids. The media valves have also been positioned so that they are readily accessible from all sides. The machine also features smart technology: including a touchscreen display for operators at eye level and the machine is equipped with sensors and actuators for measuring pressure, for example. At the same time, the cost of investment is lower than that for larger or specialised modules and less maintenance and fewer spare parts are required.

Touchscreen display with an HMI panel. Image credit: Frank Reinhold.

If breweries need to adjust their capacities as demand increases, they can subsequently expand the Innokeg X to up to four stations so that it can fill up to 100 returnable kegs an hour holding a maximum of 58 L. These can all be easily managed by a single operator.

Find out more about this case study here.

Top image caption: Innokeg X. Image credit: Frank Reinhold.