36 BREWING & BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS Companies that will install your equipment and work with you in commissioning and initial production. HYGIENE & RESOURCES Showcase The UK brewing industry is currently going through a mini revolution with craft brewing and micro breweries on the rise, with around 200 microbreweries opening every year and medium and large breweries also seeing growth. No matter what changes are taking place in the industr, brewery hygiene is still the most important thing to brewers. Maintaining a clean brewery so that it can produce a consistent, top quality product is at the heart of the business, no matter what the size of the concern. From small microbreweries to the larger companies producing thousands of barrels a week, there are on-going hygiene, regulatory and business challenges that they all face. It is vital that brewers and the hygiene solutions supplier work hand in hand to ensure that a 360° approach is used. From supplying the correct cleaning and sanitising chemicals, backed up with regular visits by a dedicated team to deliver the required advice and support to help achieve the highest level of plant hygiene. Included within this should be cleaning methodology audits and Cleaning In Place (CIP) audits as well as a requirement to shorten the whole cleaning process and ensure the site is as efficient as possible. Consistency is key and brewers need to ensure that the product they are delivering is in top condition, and meets the customers’ requirements. The pressure is high to ensure that this is maintained because if the end customer isn’t satisfied, then they will simply buy another product, and the repercussions will be clearly felt in the sales figures. Contaminants in small numbers can become a bigger problem during the production process, and cleaning and disinfecting thoroughly will help deliver a high quality beer, delivering customer satisfaction and avoiding the potential for loss of revenue. There are a relatively small number of micro-organisms which can spoil the quality of the beer, but the relatively small numbers have the potential to have a devastating effect on the end product, severely altering flavour and taste or causing the beer to go cloudy. It’s key to remember that there is no one solution to cleaning and hygiene and it can’t be bought ‘off the peg’. The different stages of the brewing process require different cleaning regimes. In the brewhouse there can be heavy soiling from caramelised sugars, hop deposits and organic soils that are best cleaned using hot caustic based detergents. Similarly fermenting vessels can have heavy soiling from yeast as well as hops and extracts. Soiling can be exacerbated by beerstone and in areas of hard water, mineral scale depositing on vessel surfaces. If the correct formulated detergents are used, scales will not deposit but if they have been allowed to build up, they need to be removed to give the smooth surface back to allow effective cleaning. Maturation vessels will have lighter soiling but need to be cleaned with the correct detergents to prevent beerstone and mineral scale depositing. “Containers being returned from trade can be contaminated with moulds, spoiled beer and yeast and must be appropriately cleaned and sanitised before being refilled.“ Hygiene remains the top priority says Peter Thorman, UK Sales Manager Brewery & Beverage, Holchem www.holchem.co.uk For more information visit: Peter Thorman is UK Sales Manager Brewery & Beverage at Holchem -  Peter is a Master Brewer and he started his life-long passion for brewing with a home-brew kit. He went on to gain a BSC Brewing and Microbiology from Heriot Watt University and worked in the brewing industry for 14 years in a number of technical and managerial roles including managing projects here in the UK and with international brewing groups. He is also a trained auditor in Quality and Systems and Environmental. A leading UK cleaning and detergent manufacturer, RP Adam Ltd (Arpal Group), has unveiled ambitious plans to increase annual production by 50 per cent. The company is planning to invest more than £2.75 million in its global operations across the UK and the Middle East in a two year bid to reach production targets of 12 million litres of liquid and 650,000kgs of powder product to satisfy increased customer demand. The UK’s restaurant, food-led pub and retail catering sectors are key growth areas for the Arpal Group, with current annual sales in this sector reaching £4 million, representing 40 per cent of total UK sales. This next phase investment will focus on factory and warehouse expansion, filling equipment, customer support systems and extra manpower geared to expanding market share in these vibrant fast growing sectors. This investment phase is final phase of Arpal Group’s five-year ‘20/20’ investment programme. Detergent manufacturer targets UK growth www.rpadam.co.uk For more information visit: 36_Layout 1 10/11/2017 11:46 Page 1