Sustainability Session
Troels Prahl, White Labs Inc., San Diego, CA, USA
ABSTRACT: Flexible polymer based vessels are leading the
market when it comes to food packaging. However, the brewing industry
has only embraced these technologies in a very limited range of
applications, mainly in dispense systems such as one-way kegs or film
lined serving tanks. This study outlines the use of disposable flexible
vessels in various steps of the brewing process, such as fermentation,
maturation, yeast handling and propagation, and sampling, as well as
beer packaging. Upfront challenges such as CO2 permeability
and off-flavor contribution from the plastics are overcome in modern
film production and the increased consumer demand for sustainability and
low environmental footprint is forcing the brewing industry to consider
alternative technologies. Apart from reviewing existing solutions
available in the marketplace this study reveals novel patent pending
methodologies for incorporating flexible vessels in brewing operations
of all sizes. Lab, pilot, and production scale trials showed great
benefits of flexible vessels in critical operations such as yeast
propagation and aseptic sampling. Furthermore microbrewery size batch
fermentations were conducted with great results in terms of product
quality, easy handling, and savings related to reduced tank costs, as
well as reduction or even elimination of CIP chemicals. Film
manufacturing trials led to optimization of material compositions and
design but also showed important limitations to the technology when
vessel volumes exceeded 50 hL. The latter limitation excludes the use of
flexible vessels in large scale fermentations. However, it was shown
that breweries of any size still can benefit from flex-vessel technology
in processes such as yeast handling, sampling, research and
development, and packaging/serving.
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EW PRESENTATION 210
