The keg offensive

Premium beer products traded by the company include Asahi Super Dry and Kingfisher Lager, the latter brewed under license. In NZ Pure APB even has a brand beer from New Zealand. Asahi Premium Beverages recently also bought up the special beer brand Cricketer’s Arms. It soon  extended the Cricketer range by introducing three more variations of it. The new styles are a mid-strength pale ale, a light lager and an India pale ale. Since September 2012 APB has contract filled premium Carlsberg cider and Somersby apple and pear ciders. The company is clocking up excellent sales with Somersby, with the brand already on its way to becoming number one on the cider market in Australia. Anna Reid explains: “Cider is an In beverage in Australia. ­Somersby as a premium brand profits enormously from this.”

• Flexible: the line flexibly processes up to 90 kegs per hour holding 10 to 58 liters (current sizes:25 and 50-liter kegs)
• Resource efficient: excellent washing of interior and exterior keg surfaces with efficient water, wastewater and energy systems.
•  Reliable:  the heart of the line is an ­Innokeg Transomat 5/1 with five active washing and sterilizing stations and one racking station. Before the kegs run through the first interior washing station, the system checks them for leaks. A check like this is made before every subsequent interior wash and prior to racking. Each keg must pass the leak test. This ensures that it is correctly positioned on the relevant treatment head. If the keg fails the test, it travels through all the other stations but is not processed. The system then checks accepted kegs for leaks by pumping sterile air into the head space of the washing or filling head. If the pressure does not drop, the test has been passed.
• Hygienic:the keg also remains hygienically clean during closure and when the fitting is automatically disconnected from the final washing station.
• Resource saving: the DFC (Direct Flow Control) filling system with volumetric flow control saves up to 40% carbon dioxide compared to standard control systems, avoids product loss, underfilling and overfilling and has exceptionally low oxygen pickup.
• Line efficiency: with its intelligent controller the Innopal RK6 robot flexibly adapts itself to the current line situation, independently prioritizes tasks and ensures a high line availability (85% straight off during test operation). One operator is sufficient. Says Anna Reid, “We’re very satisfied with the great precision of this robot system.”