Transporting beer for off site packaging

[jbs]

I am looking for advice on the pros and cons of trucking filtered beer to an offsite location for packaging. We are very limited on space in our existing location.
Does anyone do it?
Is a tanker truck the best way?
Has anyone ever sterile filtered directly out of a tanker truck into a bottling line?
Are we crazy for thinking about this?
Thanks for any feedback,
Jason

[beauxman]

Would be interested to see if anyone here (states) has done it. If I am not mistaken, this was a common practice in the English motherland via tanker trucks. I understand that this is the original purpose of the grundy pub tanks, to receive bulk shipments of beer from the brewery. So it has been done and the idea is not that crazy. I would imagine the reality comes down to logistics and costs. My concern would be ensuring your integrity of product, you are adding another transfer point, incurring more cost and potential for mishandling. I am just as curious as you and would expect that our friends in GB could chime in on this thread with great advice.
Cheers, Beaux

[Michael Murphy]

I have seen the oposite, In italy I have seen it where a moble bottling line comes to a winerey and fills your wine into bottles.

I understand that lots of breweries contract bottle in Germany as well. I guess it could save you some investment, but you would lose control of your product for a while there.

[Iso-Alpha]

I am looking for advice on the pros and cons of trucking filtered beer to an offsite location for packaging. We are very limited on space in our existing location.
Does anyone do it?
Is a tanker truck the best way?
Has anyone ever sterile filtered directly out of a tanker truck into a bottling line?
Are we crazy for thinking about this?
Thanks for any feedback,
Jason

Jason-

I have seen this first hand. I worked for a micro that brought in some rolling rock in a tanker truck. We were doing PET bottles and RR wanted to test thier beer in it. They delivered several trucks in a course of a year or two. We hook co2 to the top of the truck and with a pump we transfered into a 500bbl tank. We made sure the carb was good and then bottled. They didn't want any sterile filtration. The trucker says they do it alot and the CIP regiment on the truck is pretty intense. I don't remember the trucking name. You could contact Carolina beer and beverage they may still have the info your looking for. Personally I wish the truck had sprung a leak before it got to or brite tanks..

[BigWilley]

Talk to Dan Burrick the Brewmaster at Salt lake Brewer's Co-op. I know they did this when they initially started offering bottles (before they bought a Krones) Dan is a good guy and very knowledgable about all things beer.
801-466-8855

[Øl-sheik]

Michael is right, in Germany it is a very common practice to have somebody else bottled or canned or kegged your beer. In all cases a mobile tank is used, this tank normally belongs to you and you are in charge for maintaining and cleaning, all the contracted bottling hall provides is a place to connect the tank and they take it from there.


You do certainly not want to steril filter between tank and bottling line. Steril filtration needs a constant and equal flow so that the filter shows adhesive properties and since a bottling linie stopes now and then, you won´t have that. You could indeed steril filter from your BBT into the mobile tank. A steril sample taken and analyzed by a lab will inform you about the microb. condition of your brew. And ensure that if the beer is infected after bottling it is not your fault. Anyway I would choose a contract bottling hall/brewery with flash pasteurizer or pasteurizer, if of course that suites your philosophy.

So go for it, it is a great idea!!

The brewery I work for right now, is asked by a couple of others to bottle the beer for them, they supply the mobile tank, filled of course and the etiketts and all the rest is in our responsibility. It is indeed a nice side business allowing us to reach our bottling capacity.

[liammckenna]

Done it many time with raw beer (unfiltered). Never tried with filtered.

Cleanliness of tanker and susceptibility to oxidation would be obvious concerns. Prepurging tanker would help, I suppose. Is the beer to be fully carbonated prior to shipment? Foaming during filling and transport would be another concern. Collapsed foam (foam skins) would need to be filtered out at the bottling end (could be achieved via sterile filters).

In regards to sterile filtration while bottle filling - I have done this many times with countless micro evaluations relating to start/stop and have found no issues with this practice. Perhaps it depends on the cartridges/membrane/filter materials that you utilize.

Pax.

Liam

[jbs]

Thanks everyone for the info.
On a related note of expanding beyond our walls;
Is there any temp. issues with placing fermenters outside in an extreme climate (50F during day, 10F at night)?
Thanks again,
Jason

[liammckenna]

10F is pretty cold. I would suggest a two stage sensor relay and twin jackets, one for cooling (glycol mix) and one for heating (warm water) on each fermentor. I imagine most beers would be quite slushy with ice at 10F.

Security of outdoor tanks is always an issue and depending on your location, venting may also be a local issue.

Pax.


Liam