64 BREWING & BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS The most important factor when considering the best solution for the transportation and storage of finished beer products must be to choose the one which is going to have the least negative impact on the quality of that product All other factors such as cost, ease of use etc. must take a back seat when compared to getting the product to the customer in as near as possible the way in which it is intended. No doubt there have been many happy accidents over the centuries where the unintended consequences of some factor of production or transportation has led to an improvement in the desirability of the end product, take cheese or Worcester sauce as two, however, this possibility is not a good or reliable basis on which to hang your hat. When care, time, effort and probably sleepless nights have gone into achieving a brew that meets the aims of its maker, the trick is to get it to the customer in as near to the same condition as is possible. The main factors that are going to affect that at this stage are the introduction of contaminants through poor hygiene or the introduction of dissolved oxygen (dO₂) through poor handling practices. In a market that has seen massive growth in producers and where small pack products, bottles and cans, represents a strong and sizable proportion of production, competition is fierce. Many brewers, therefore have the added headache of having to get their baby to their chosen packaging supplier in tip-top condition. Bag-in-box style IBC’s are able to overcome all of these problems; firstly the use of a new liner for each fill (costing much less than the chemicals, energy and labour involved in the cleaning of a rigid IBC), removes the possibility and risk of filling into a contaminated environment. Each liner has both fill and empty ports and valves integrated into it, again single use and guaranteed clean. Secondly, as the system is filled from empty, that is to say, instead of filling into a void the product is filling into a sealed air-free environment inside the liner bag and assuming that the connecting pipework is properly sealed and purged of air prior to the fill, then the entire process can be carried out in a completely isolated environment free from air and all other external contaminants. Similarly, discharging the product does not involve having to vent the system, so again no external contaminants are drawn into the system. Once filled, the liner forms a barrier between the product and any remaining headspace, preventing any O₂ pick-up, this has the added advantage of allowing partial loads below 1000ltrs to be carried without any dO₂ penalty. Most bag-in-box systems use a collapsible outer box, this provides for a smaller empty storage and transport footprint. Boxes are usually of rugged plastic or metal construction both of which remove any UV interference, however plastic outer boxes are lighter to handle when empty, but also have cavity walls giving the advantage of providing better thermal protection to the product whilst in transit. Removal of hygiene, O₂ and UV factors play an important part in reducing the risk of developing unwanted taints, odours and flavours within the beer and also increases the shelf life of the packed product. So, as with the brewers themselves, packaging companies pride themselves and are judged by the quality of their product. This has led to many of the growing number of quality bottling and canning companies either recommending the use of bag-in-box units or providing them as an integrated part of their own service, after all the quality of the packaged product is intrinsically affected by the quality of the product inside it. Whilst the cost of the b-i-b units is higher than that of the bottle and cage units, most suppliers of b-i-b units provide very inexpensive long and short term hire terms, and whilst the cost of liners can vary depending on the liner spec and the supplier, they are inevitably cheaper than the cost involved in properly sanitising a rigid bottle for use. In any event, as the title of this piece suggests, surely quality must be the single factor to determine what type of transport container to use. Surely quality must be the driving principle? says Nick Jones of Arlington Packaging Showcase BULK TRANSPORTATION Previously in the water engineering sector, Nick Jones has been with Arlington for about 10 years working across the industrial, water and beverage sectors as a technical sales specialist. During this time has advised on handling products from methadone to mayonnaise and just about everything in between. 64_Layout 1 16/05/2017 15:21 Page 1