Background

• Bitburger beer is distributed in 43,000 locations throughout the country. The portfolio contains several beer specialties as well as beer mix beverages and soft drinks.
• As part of the overall brewing process, a disinfection step takes place that requires dosing chlorine dioxide.
• Bitburger requires a solution to sanitize operation water without impacting the end quality or taste of their beer.

Customer Profile

The Bitburger brewery, founded in 1817, is one of the leading premium breweries in Germany. It is ranked as the number one draft beer in Germany Fassbiermarke Nummer eins“.

Challenge

A strong brand and innovative technology: during the brewing process 400 liters of fresh water is needed to produce 100 liters of beer. As a main ingredient, the water quality is strictly controlled daily.

While chlorine dioxide is not used for the brewing water, a disinfection step is added to sanitize operation water – used for cleaning and rinsing. Therefore, it is requested that the system fits to the high standards set by the brewmasters. The disinfection procedure must be of the highest quality and reliability. It is used in brewing as a „no-rinse“ sanitizer that does not import any taste on the product being bottled.

Solution

With the continuous dosing of chlorine dioxide contaminations can be avoided safely. Depending on the application within the process, typical levels for dosing of 1 mg/l chlorine dioxide is enough. In the beginning, the brewery in Bitburg started with a single chlorine dioxide generator, now seven generators are installed in different applications.

Results

One chlorine dioxide system generates 250 g/h chlorine dioxide, the other six units up to 170 g/h. Precursors are diluted solutions of 9% hydrochloric acid and 7.5% sodium chlorite. The concentration of the prepared chlorine dioxide solution is controlled by the generators, and measured exactly in the inhouse laboratory. The results confirm the reliability of the generation process.