MBAA District Midwest Spring 2018 Meeting Mad Tree Brewing Co. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Packaging Quality Assurance

Draft Beer Packaging

Steve Bradt

Micro Matic Packaging Division

MBAA District Midwest

Spring 2018 Meeting

Mad Tree Brewing Co.

Cincinnati, OH - 3/10/2018

THE ULTIMATE BEER CAN???

KEY CONTROL AREAS

• New Containers
• Specifications, receiving, preparation
• Keg Washing
• Effective cleaning and sanitation considerations
• Keg Filling
• Fill levels, dissolved oxygen pick-up
• Quality Assurance
• Areas for monitoring and maintenance
• Quality Control
• Dissolved oxygen and microbiological control

ORDERING NEW CONTAINERS

• Order your kegs thoughtfully.
• How are kegs treated and equipped before they come to you
• Ask keg and spear suppliers for their process for passivation of kegs and

spears (These processes are often done separately)

• Request a copy of the results of pressure and drop tests
• Will your kegs include rupture disks?
• Design features of chimes
• Specify neck and valve styles and manufacturers

Threaded Drop-in Ball type Poppet type

RECEIVING NEW KEGS

• When you receive your kegs:
• Brewery examination and treatment of new kegs
• Physical examination for damage or manufacturing flaws
• Dents, weld quality, necks bent, chimes crooked, damaged or

incorrect valves, burrs or sharp edges, etc.

• Did you get what you asked for?
• Passivation and reduction of beer soluble iron.
• Nothing works quite like beer!
• Initial wash, sanitize and pressure test
• Sensory evaluation of beers from new kegs.
• Marking and coding

YOUR KEGS LEAD INTERESTING LIVES!

KEGS RETURNED FROM MARKET

• Isolate all kegs returned from market marked as “Bad”
• If an examination of the exterior does not determine the reason why

the keg is “bad”, the spear should be removed and possibly rebuilt.

• Don’t just run these kegs through the keg washer again.
• Log causes of failure. This will be valuable in spotting trends that could

identify the source of a problem later on.

• Some breweries require a site visit and full reporting before a keg is

accepted for return, allowing the brewery to better identify and log the source of the problems.

EXAMINATION OF KEGS

• All kegs should be examined for damage prior to loading onto keg washer.
• Check for existence of an intact circlip in drop-in style kegs
• Check for loose spears in threaded style kegs
• Bent necks or bent chimes
• Dents which could create cleaning shadows
• Foreign objects in neck well must be removed to avoid damage to the

valve during cleaning.

• Damage to CO2 or beer valves
• Employees who handle and evaluate returning kegs are your first line of
• defense. Provide them with the tools and motivation to do their job well.
• Kegs with damage should be isolated for repair by properly trained

technicians or they may cause damage to wash/fill equipment, injury to brewery personnel, or result in continuing quality issues.

DAMAGE TO KEGS

Over-pressurization, likely from freezing

DAMAGE TO VALVES.2

Early stage, delamination of CO2 Valve Impact damage to CO2 Valve

DAMAGE TO VALVES.3

Impact damage to CO2 Valve. Likely beer leaker and foamer. UV Damage, cracking of rubber due to exposure to sunlight

KEG WASHING – PRE CLEAN

• Decant excess “Ullage”
• Excessive quantities of waste, remnant beer, can overwhelm the

abilities of the keg washer to effectively purge.

• Also makes loading kegs onto line more difficult
• Make sure to leave some pressure in the keg
• Precleaning of keg exterior and valve
• Hand or mechanical scrubbing or high pressure washing of keg

exteriors to remove soils, stickers, etc.

• Hand scrubbing or high pressure wash of the keg valve to insure

removal of soils and foreign objects that can damage valves and damage wash/fill probes on automated machines

• CCP - Avoid high temperatures that may “bake” proteins onto the

interior of the kegs, impeding good internal cleaning.

KEG WASHING - PURGE

• Purge of ullage (old beer) and CO2
• Important to effectively remove both old beer and CO2 which can

decrease the potency of alkaline wash solutions. Duration of purge is dependent on conditions unique to each keg and washer.

• Pre-rinse
• CCP - Kegs should not proceed to the next step unless all waste

beer has been removed from the keg.

• CCP - Incomplete purge will result in premature neutralization of

caustic based cleaning solutions and may also result in invalid readings from conductivity based probes used to monitor wash tank concentrations.

KEG WASHING - ALKALINE

• Caustic Wash
• Breweries may follow with either 1 or 2 caustic washes. If 2 are used,

the 1st typically serves to pre-wash and to neutralize any remaining CO2

• Valve Soak
• “low flow” step for spear cleaning
• Proper balance of flow into and out of the keg to avoid pooling
• CCP – validate strength of caustic and accuracy of conductivity

measurements by titration.

• Fresh water rinse if final wash step.

High Flow Wash No pooling of solution Low Flow Wash Spear cleaning Valve Soak

KEG WASHING - ACID

• Acid Wash
• Breweries may follow a caustic wash with an acid wash cycle or may

use an acid wash with a detergent additive as a sole wash solution or some rotation of alkaline and acid cycles

• Typically nitric acid or a nitric/phosphoric blend
• CCP – validate strength of acid and accuracy of conductivity

measurements by titration.

• Follow with fresh water rinse prior to the sanitation step

KEG WASHING - SANITATION

• Sanitation
• Typically uses one of the following
• Saturated (wet) Steam
• Hot water
• Chemical sanitizers such as PAA or ClO2, often at strengths

considered appropriate for “no rinse” application

• CCP – Assure proper times, temperatures, pressures and

concentration of sanitizing agents.

KEG FILLING

• CCP – It is critical that the system never achieves a negative pressure

during or after the sanitation step, allowing air or contaminants to be pulled into the keg.

• Proper sanitation of and air exclusion from kegs and supply lines
• Are keg wells clean and sanitary prior to connection
• Appropriate counterpressure to assure low foaming and maintain proper

carbonation while filling.

• Slow/Fast/Slow filling on high speed filling lines.
• Manual filling

KEG FILLING

• CCP - How much beer are you putting in your kegs?
• Kegs are designed to have headspace, sometimes as much as 1-2%
• Controlling fill level is important for the preservation of equipment,

quality of beer and your bottom line!

• Watch for evidence of leakage after filling, either beer or bubbles are signs
• f damage or foreign matter in the valve.
• Rinse, sanitize and cap your keg valve
• Properly mark/code kegs for identification and traceability
• If equipped to do, scan kegs to track where they ship to.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

• Instrument Calibration.
• Check calibration on temperature, pressure, conductivity, volume,

weight and wet/dry instrumentation as part of a regular maintenance program.

• Use test kegs to assure that line is operating properly.
• These can be of varying levels of sophistication and cost
• Use whatever is available on a regular basis and log the results
• Ensure that kegs are completely emptied and rinsed (as appropriate)

between each stage of washing and especially prior to the fill step.

• The point of transition from chemical to beer should be considered as

absolutely the highest priority to ensure product quality and consumer safety.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

• Maintenance of wash probes and centering cones
• Wash probes, including manual wash couplers, should be examined

daily for good operating condition. Special attention should be taken to ensuring that probes have not acquired any burrs or sharp edges that can damage CO2 valves.

• Centering cones on automated keg washers should be checked on a

quarterly basis to ensure that they do not exceed tolerances for the inside diameter of the pocket that centers the neck of the keg over the wash probe. Maximum suggested pocket diameter is 64.2 mm

• Neck sealing gaskets in centering cones should be in good condition as

excessive wear may result in “over-stroking” of the CO2 valve, premature wear of the valve springs and leaks which can result in unsafe working conditions.

• Note – for all manual wash or fill applications, it is necessary to use a

specialized wash/fill coupler, designed for higher flow rates and not equipped with a pressure relief valve.

Centering Cone

Diameter new 63.8 mm ±0.1 Replace when > 64.2 mm

Wash/fill Probe

8 mm stroke for beer valve 5-6 mm stroke for CO2 valve

QUALITY ASSURANCE

• Keg Valves and Spears
• Valves are one of the most vulnerable parts of the keg and damage can

result in problems both in the brewery and in the market.

• Wash probes should be designed to depress or “stroke” the beer valve

8 mm and the CO2 valve 5-6 mm.

• Over-stroking the valves results in premature wear to valve springs

and potential loss of proper flow and wash patterns.

• Insufficient stroke results in poor flow and wash performance.
• Do your cleaning and sanitation practices fall within the warranty

guidelines for your kegs & spears. (times, temperature, concentrations)

• Valves should be rebuilt or replaced as part of a preventative

maintenance program, typically every 6-8 years under normal

• perating conditions.
• Proper spear length is critical to proper filling and cleaning. Spears

function as the wash wand inside of the keg and improper sizing can result in cleaning shadows and create problems in the market.

SPEAR LENGTH VITAL TO PROPER CLEANING

too long too short Correct length

QUALITY CONTROL

• A robust Quality Control program ensures that all of your QA and best

practices have achieved the desired end and provide further documentation

• f the quality of your products. Common sampling points include:
• Beer from bright tanks prior to fill
• Beer entering filler at the beginning of a run.
• First keg(s) off of the line at the beginning of a run.
• DO, Sensory, Micro. Hold until expiration.
• Periodic sampling to validate shelf life
• Periodic sampling during packaging run and at change of variety
• Establish accepted standards for acceptable quality, e.g. DO < 50 ppb,

and hold to those standards

QUALITY CONTROL

• Validation of Proper Cleaning
• Random samples of clean, empty kegs should be examined to ensure

that your cleaning program is doing what it is supposed to do.

• Remove spears and visually examine interior of kegs and all areas of

the spear/valve assembly for evidence of beer stone or other soils which may indicate a failure of the cleaning system. If it isn’t clean, it cannot be properly sanitized!

• Spears should only be removed, serviced or installed by properly trained

personnel, equipped with the proper tools and OEM parts.

• You Tube should NOT be your training video!!!

Spear Service Tools

Drop-in neck Spear assembly/disassembly Threaded neck

Body CO2 Valve O-ring Beer Valve (Ball or Poppet) CO2 Spring Beer Spring Retainer Disc Down Tube

IDENTIFICATION OF SPEAR PARTS

MICRO MATIC PRODUCT WARRANTY CONDITIONS

• Maximum steam temperature, 135°C (275°F), max 2

minutes*

• Maximum acid temperature 80°C (176°F), max 10

minutes; valid for =/<3% solution of Phosphoric, Nitric/Phos blend, Citric acids*

• Maximum alkali temperature 80°C (176°F), max 10

minutes for =/<3% solution*

*Note that these are maximum conditions, not recommended conditions. You should work with your chemical and equipment suppliers to optimize your levels and you should realize that running consistently at maximum levels means you run a greater risk of periodically exceeding the limits.

Thank you!

• For further information or details,

please contact: Steve Bradt Micro Matic Packaging sbradt@micro-matic.com Now – Go enjoy some great draft beer! * *Through a well designed, balanced, CLEAN draft beer dispense system – But that’s a topic for another day!