Packaging Line

The beer is made. Now we have to get it into a package without ruining it — and that's harder than it sounds.

Enemy number one is oxygen. Just a few milligrams dissolved in a bottle will turn fresh hop aroma into the taste of wet cardboard within weeks. So the filler first purges each bottle, can or keg with carbon dioxide to push out the air, then fills under counter-pressure — no foaming, no contact with air.

Enemy number two is light. UV breaks down hop compounds into a molecule that smells identical to skunk spray — hence 'skunked beer'. That's why beer lives in brown bottles, cans or kegs, and never in clear glass if it can be helped.

And finally: every pipe, valve and seal on this line is cleaned after each run by a CIP cycle — hot caustic, acid, rinse. A brewery spends more hours cleaning than brewing.