The demand for novel beverages is growing but the competition is fierce. For manufacturers, a quality approach to fermentation and filtration will pay dividends. Sartorius products and know-how get you up and running – quickly, cost-effectively, and always with the quality of your product in focus. 

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In recent years, there has been a significant rise globally in the sale of new kinds of drinks, such as non-alcoholic wine and beer, kefir and kombucha beverages, and functional water. The demand for these novel beverages is only increasing as younger consumers, and especially women, are increasingly keen to drink healthy products.  

It’s clearly an exciting space for many brands and manufacturers looking to tap into this growing demand. But the race is on to be first to market, all while maintaining the consistent quality of beverages a must for this more health- and quality-conscious audience.  

Here, we take a look at the challenges manufacturers need to overcome as well as how Sartorius can help them turn these challenges into market-leading opportunities with the right products, services, and expert support. 

Quality From Start to Finish 

Securing the quality of the end product is critical to maximizing its appeal to the market, as well as giving you confidence in the reliability and effectiveness of your production process. Clearly, this requires a focus on quality at every stage and engineering experience to design and implement the overall process. Before you investigate the different stages, bear in mind that Sartorius experts are here to help and can support you in the design phase thanks to decades of experience working with customers around the world.   

Be First to Market – And Stay There    

With fast-growing demand and fierce competition, speedy development of your novel beverage is key. Here, developing the right fermentation conditions with the right equipment makes all the difference: 

• Spent media analysis services: Spent media analysis gives you a better understanding of your novel beverage composition. These insights help you select the right cell culture medium and feed combination as well as develop suitable feeding strategies. Sartorius offers spent media analysis in four service tiers, ranging from basic insights all the way to full process understanding.  
• Ambr^® 250 mL multi-parallel bioreactors: For scalable and efficient cell line selection and process development, these small-scale bioreactors can quickly put you on the right track. Helping you assess different clones or cell lines, as well as the effects of pH, temperature, feeding, media, gassing rates, and inoculation densities.  
• MODDE^® design of experiments (DOE) software: Our DOE software can speed up development and time to market, as well as increasing productivity and reducing costs. MODDE^® has built-in guidance and quality measures to help you make the best experimental choices and get the most relevant and effective outcomes – right from the start.  
• Biostat^® B universal benchtop controller: As a universal benchtop controller for stirred and rocking motion systems, this control tower is flexible to your needs even as they change. Use in a single or twin configuration and choose from conventional or single-use vessels for your cultivation chamber.  

Filter for Quality and a Longer Shelf-Life 

Non-alcohol and low-alcohol beverages are more sensitive to deviations in quality, so filtration is key to maintaining the initial taste of the beverage as well as its security, stability, and a longer shelf life.  As a result, good manufacturing practices should include filter cartridges and filtration skids in the production process: 

• Sartorius filter cartridge portfolio: From pre- to final filtration, our filter cartridge range removes beverage-specific micro-organisms and other contaminants by microfiltration. The Sartorius technical team can also support you by performing trials on filterability of the novel beverage to size the industrial scale.  
• Sartorius custom-engineered filtration skid systems: With a choice of manual, semi-automated and fully automated, a custom-engineered filtration skid system helps you optimize your process for safe, repeatable, efficient and cost-effective production. Based on your production capacity, Sartorius engineering can design and manufacture the appropriate filtration skids and/or cleaning-in-place (CIP) systems to get a perfect integration of the new devices.

Take the Next Step With Us 

For manufacturers looking to succeed in the novel beverage market, speedy development and quality-assured production are essential to reach eager yet discriminating consumers. Best-practice fermentation and filtration will be at the heart of this and can define the success or failure of your new drink. At the same time, you need cost-effective and scalable solutions that meet your requirements as they change and as you increase capacity.  

However, by taking advantage of Sartorius’ range of equipment and expert support, these challenges can be more easily overcome. So please explore our solutions in more detail and feel free to contact us for advice about getting started. We’re here to help.

With consumers increasingly preferring quality to quantity, the demand for tasty, unique craft beers is on the rise. This creates not only new opportunities but also new challenges in scaling up and maintaining flexibility, even at lower production volumes. The right filtration can be a vital solution.

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In the past couple of years, the global craft beer industry has grown significantly, with the estimated market now in excess of USD 100 billion. That growth only shows signs of accelerating, with the market projected to grow to USD 300 billion over the next decade.  

What’s behind that growing market? Consumers, including more and more women, want new and unique tastes and local products. There is also a preference for quality over quantity where consumers are limiting their consumption and even turning to non-alcoholic options but, when they do drink, they look for better-quality beer. 

These trends and changing demands lead to a thirst for craft beers, defined by organizations like The Brewers Association as beer from brewers who produce fewer than 6 million barrels annually.

The Pressure Is On  

But with a rapidly growing and increasingly competitive market, the pressure is on craft brewers to keep and even increase their market share. This translates into several different challenges for their business and their production, with craft beer producers looking to:  

1. Maintain and even increase product taste and quality 
2. Increase production of clear beer 
3. Increase product stability and shelf life 
4. Increase production capacity and save time 
5. Increase flexibility to produce multiple beer styles, e.g., IPA, pilsner, light, and dark 
6. Reduce total cost 
7. Demonstrate sustainability   

Flexible and scalable filtration can provide the solution to meet these challenges, securing the taste and quality of craft beers even at lower volumes, as well as meeting the need for filtration in the hotel, retail, and catering channels. 

Flexible, Scalable, and Cost-Effective Filtration 

With the right filtration system as part of your craft beer process, you are well-equipped to maintain the taste, quality, and stability of your product, successfully scale up production, and | or introduce new beers.

Save Time and Increase Production Capacity 

Equipment with high filtration area and regeneration efficiency delivers many production benefits: 

• Microbreweries and small craft beer producers can process at least 10 to 40 hL per day (85-341 bbl) 
• For larger producers, uninterrupted filtration of 100 hL or more at flow rates of 25–40 hL/hour (212-341 bbl) for lager  
• Clogging problems that stop production are eliminated 
• Up to 50% reduction in stabilization time, one of the most time-consuming steps

Add Flexibility for Multiple Craft Beer Types   

Different products require different separation technologies for clarification, such as decantation over time, centrifugation, Kieselguhr filters, sheet filters, and filter cartridges. 

The cost of separate equipment isn’t feasible for smaller craft beer producers. However, flexible filtration products with multiple filter types can help you improve efficiency and scale up production.

Lower Total Production Costs 

The right filtration technology helps increase throughput and reliability while reducing downtime from issues like filter sheet clogging, breaking, and oxidation. Robust cartridge structures and wide chemical compatibility for all materials lead to higher efficiency and lower total costs per batch, even after multiple chemical regeneration and back-flushing cycles. Plus, the right filtration solution can replace Kieselguhr equipment to significantly lower total costs and simplify the filtration.

Increase Product Stability and Quality 

As production volumes increase, it can be hard to control issues like microbiological contamination, hop creep (refermentation), oxidation, and alterations from pasteurization or preservatives. These can all affect the taste, aroma, appearance, and quality of your craft beer, and the stability and reliability of your production. But with the proper prefilter and final membrane filters, you can ensure that beer is free of yeast cells and even bacterial populations, extending shelf life and your geographic reach to supply new consumers.

Maintain the Taste Difference 

The right filtration process will not interfere with the taste or quality of your beer, thanks to inert materials like stainless steel filtration systems and all-polypropylene filter media. A closed filtration system also allows for CO2 oversaturation to prevent oxidation risk, and reduced maturation time avoids hop creep and refermentation.

Create a Sustainable Production Process 

The environmental impact of beer is increasingly important to consumers. With the proper filtration setup, you can reduce the impact via a feed pump with inverter and calorie recovery through heat exchangers on the clean-in-place (CIP) system, reduce water consumption for efficient cleaning and regeneration using back-flushing with pulsation, and lower energy consumption and noise levels.

The Solution? Jumbo Star Filtration 

Meeting the unique filtration needs of microbreweries and craft beer producers, Sartorius offers the Jumbo Star solution, with many pore sizes available to comply with your different beer types. 

The Jumbo Star Filtration System is a closed system to replace sheet filters, Kieselguhr filters, and (optionally) centrifugation. The disadvantages of sheet filters are that, being open systems, they are sensitive to oxidation and loss of liquid, and require recycling of the first filtration volume.  

The main disadvantages of Kieselguhr filters are the complexity of use, the human health risk associated with the manipulation of powders, and the environmental question of what to do with the filter material after use.  

The disadvantages of the centrifuge are the high investment cost, high energy cost, high noise, and the variability of the final beer clarity, which depends on the inlet turbidity of the beer. These difficulties are overcome using Jumbo Star cartridges.  

The Jumbo Star Technology provides an affordable, flexible, and scalable filtration solution to help you scale up production to meet new and higher demands, as well as improve efficiency and lower costs in your existing process. All while maintaining the unique taste, color, and quality of your craft beer: 

• Flexible solutions: large retention rate portfolio (from 20 µm to 0.45 µm) 
• Scalable filtration surface: from 7 m² to 28 m² 
• Scalable | number of filtration stages: from 1 to 3 stages 
• Low investment compared to a centrifugation and pasteurization process 
• Limited energy consumption  
• Optimization of the stabilization time allows a higher number of runs, resulting in a higher annual production capacity, which is particularly important during the high season | summertime. 
• Adjustment of the brightness of the craft beer upon request retention rates (either 8, 5, or 3 µm) 
• The clarification step impacts the lifetime because all contaminants are removed, creating a more stable final craft beer after bottling, meaning a longer shelf life 
• Clarification does not impact the original taste of the craft beer 

“It’s very simple using a filter cartridge — compared to the Kieselguhr filter, it felt like leaving the Middle Ages! The Jumbo Star is easier to maintain and filtrate, with very good results: good filtration quality and little beer loss.” 

Cédric Mouly, Master Brewer, La Brasserie des Monts d’Auvergne 

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Contact us — and get a real-life demo  

To find out more about how Jumbo Star systems for craft beer filtration can help you meet consumer demand and your production needs, do not hesitate to contact our Field Application Specialists.  

You can also request a demo session at your brewery to see Jumbo Star equipment in action and witness how the optimal filtration sequence can improve your production process and capabilities.

The global market for bottled water is big and still growing rapidly. In the hunt for fancy new flavors or unique health benefits, manufacturers might be missing the biggest opportunity — ensuring consumers get the full value of their product thanks to high-quality bottled water filtration and quality control (QC) testing.

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With bottled drinking water being a massive market across the globe and only showing signs of growing further, the race is on for manufacturers to take, maintain and even increase their share. Especially in the fast-growing category of premium waters that provide higher value and greater profit.

That was certainly the standout message from the 19th Global Water Drinks Congress that took place in November 2022 in Evian, France: how players will capitalize on the opportunities will differ from region to region, brand to brand, and where their focus lies. Some will focus on purity, others will look to go for classic taste, new distinctive flavors, energy, or health benefits.

But no matter where manufacturers position themselves and their products to serve this global market, one thing unites them all: the need for reliable, effective filtration processes to ensure a consistent quality of water during production, and quality control methods verifying the process and finished bottled water is within compliance, as well as meeting the needs of their customers.

Supplying a high-quality, consistent, clear, and enjoyable end-product with a long shelf-life can be a challenge. Many factors come into play such as the inconsistency of water as a raw material depending on the source and season, how you transport water to the production site, the risk of contamination during production, compliance with regulations and being as sustainable as possible.  

In this blog post, we’ll break down the challenge into its different parts — and give you some pointers to where and how you can make improvements that will help you deliver the full value of your products to a market thirsting for more.

Inconsistency of water as a raw material

Filtration steps are needed to remove the undesirables from spring or municipality source water. Whether these are biological undesirables or chemical elements like ammonium, arsenic, boron, bromide, fluoride, iron, manganese, nitrate, organic matter, volatile organic compounds, and pesticides.

These undesirables will vary season to season, and year to year. Although routine testing may be conducted, having in-house testing helps to ensure that any variations will be detected. For microbiology testing, use the Microsart^® manifold, Biosart^® Funnels and Nutrient Pad Sets. This combination will be able to detect the microbial contamination that you are concerned about. In addition to microbiology testing, analytical testing using wet chemistry techniques, HPLC and even IR can be conducted. Having the appropriate Minisart^® Syringe filter and an Arium^® Lab Water system ensures accurate analytical tests. All of this data can be combined to help determine the prefilters and filters needed to achieve high-quality drinking water.

Prefilters with a range of pore sizes can be used to remove the undesired particles with varying degrees of densities. Such as the Jumbo Star system or standard filter cartridges like Sartopure^® IND. While another solution is to use membrane filter cartridges designed for finer filtration such as Aquasart^® PS product range.

Not only is filtration important to keep track of and optimize production, but the filtration cartridges themselves are easy to set up and maintain. And, most importantly, filtration is neutral for water with migration tests performed to ensure no introduction of particles like plastics, taste or odor.

Transportation of water to production site

Water is transported on site by piping or in a tanker car. But either way, taking water from one location to another can pose a challenge for bottlers.

Pipes made from cast iron, galvanized steel, clay, and PVC can shed these inferior materials into the water as well as being a breeding ground of bacteria in the form of a biofilm, especially as they age. Instead, pipes within a bottling plant should be constructed of high-quality stainless steel to minimize that risk. Bottling plants also need to minimize the introduction of particles to the water during pumping, tank storage and on-loading or off-loading.  

Prefiltration filters such as Sartopure^® IND and Jumbo Star Technologies can help here as they are able to remove particles of various sizes. While the ability to backwash these polypropylene materials with clean water or soda water to regenerate the filters means 6-12 months between change outs and lower operating costs.

Preventing contamination during water production

When the water environment changes from the well or spring source to dedicated storage tanks, exposure to the air can lead to microbiological contamination. The best way to monitor the air is using the Airport MD8 air sampler with either BACTair™ Culture Media plates or Gelatine filter plates.  These plates or filters can then be analyzed for any microbiological contamination.

In addition to air monitoring, highly hydrophobic filters can help to provide clean sterile air from compressed air or outside air using Aerosart^® filters. Sartorius has a complete portfolio of venting filters to support you in sizing the right filter solutions.

Production equipment itself also needs to be steam sanitized. However, steam generators used within a facility should be equipped with downstream filtration to ensure particle-free contents. A sintered stainless-steel filter, Sartosteel is designed for this very purpose.

In addition, proper venting of the storage tanks and filter housing should occur using sterile hydrophobic filters such as Aerosart. The Jumbo Star Sartopure^® GA cartridge is designed for special reservoirs and storage tanks with a high air flow and particle capacity.

The below charts show an example of how your bottled water manufacturing plant process workflow may look like, and examples of applications and products.  

_{Figure 1. Process Flow Chart for Your Water Process. The workflow may not exaxctly represent your workflow in your bottled water manufacturing, however it generalizes the QC checkpoints.}

_{Figure 2. Water Production Process – Applications & Products}

Compliance with water quality regulations

Around the world, there are different regulations to observe in bottled water filtration and QC testing. These safety and quality standards often go beyond the usual levels for most other foods. For example, bottled water is one of the few foods where the FDA has developed specific cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) regulations (21 CFR part 129) and with a very detailed quality standard (21 CFR §165.110[b]). These are in addition to the cGMP regulations (21 CFR part 110) for foods in general which also apply to bottled water.    

The key is to use suppliers who are experienced and follow the regulations as a priority. All Sartorius filter cartridges are designed and manufactured according to an ISO 9001-certified quality management system. All raw materials which are used to produce the cartridges are in accordance with EU regulation 1935/2004/EC or are listed in the Regulations (EU) No. 10/2011 relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food.

With all used materials meeting FDA requirements, Sartorius raw materials comply with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 174 – 182; specifically, CFR 177.1520, CFR 177.2440, 1CFR 77.2600, and CFR 178.3297

Last but not least: Sustainability through smart water management

Taking responsibility for the planet and water as a precious resource, manufacturers can take important steps to reduce the impact on the environment. One way is to limit the loss of water by recycling and re-using as service water in the production plant. Each liter that is not bottled can be used as service water after filtration. Similarly, water used for rinsing the bottles can be reused online after filtration to rinse another set of bottles during the day.

Another concern is where the water comes from, and it is important to ensure there is no adverse social and environmental impact harvesting water from a particular region or community. As for the filtration products themselves, 100% polypropylene filter cartridges can be recycled and transformed into bags or energy depending on local regulations. For further reading into how manufacturers can make their processes more stable and environmentally conscious overall, our Sustainability white paper can offer valuable insights.

In summary, the bottled water market shows a clear trend upwards and will continue to provide manufacturers and their brands many exciting opportunities. But taking and making the most of those opportunities demands security and confidence in the quality and shelf-life of the end-product — and that starts with consistent water quality throughout production. Good manufacturing and laboratory practices using reliable, cost-effective, compliant, and sustainable filtration technologies are therefore key to delivering full value to your consumers at the same time as preserving valuable water resources.
 

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The craft beer business is booming, thousands of craft beer producers are looking on how to increase the quality and the profitability of their products. According to the Brewers Association, overall beer production in the U.S. only increased 1% in 2021, but craft beer sales growth was close to 8%. Small and independent craft brewers now make up 13.1% of the total U.S. beer market production volume, and almost 27% of the total retail dollar sales ($26.7 billion). Similar trends in craft beer demand and production are also happening in countries throughout the world.

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Producers new to the craft beer game, or those looking to expand from microbrewing to a higher and more consistent production volume to keep up with the growing demands, face challenges to:  

• Increase production capacity and save time
• Reduce total costs
• Increase product stability  
• Maintain and even increase product quality
• Increase flexibility to produce multiple beer styles (IPA, pilsner, light, and dark)
• Demonstrate sustainability  

As consumer demand increases for high-quality craft beer, the right filtration system provides significant benefits to established and growing businesses.  

What Makes Craft Beer Production Unique (and Challenging)

Craft beer production is a unique industry. Many people who own craft beer brands come from various backgrounds outside of beverage manufacturing. Expertise comes over time with continual learning. They begin by making their own craft beer as a hobby or small side project, then watch it grow into a full-scale business.  

When the business is small, a simple production facility with basic equipment is enough. But as demand increases, the challenge of maintaining product consistency, stability, and quality while achieving cost targets gets harder without a foundational knowledge in large-scale beverage production, and advanced filtration equipment to achieve production targets.

The Benefits of Filtration for Craft Beer Production

Finding the right filtration system as you scale up production is essential to maintain quality and avoid costly errors.  

Save time and increase production capacity

Equipment with high filtration area and regeneration efficiency allows microbreweries and small craft beer producers to process at least 10 to 40 hL per day and eliminates clogging problems that bring production to a halt. It also allows uninterrupted filtration of 100 hl or more at flow rates of 25–40 hL/hour for bigger craft beer producers. Finally, it reduces stabilization time by as much as 50%, which is one of the most time-consuming steps in craft beer production.  

Add flexibility for multiple craft beer types  

Different products also require different separation technologies for clarification, including:  

• Decantation over time
• Centrifugation
• Kieselguhr filters
• Sheet filters
• Cartridges filters

For smaller craft beer producers, the cost of separate equipment to make multiple beer products isn’t feasible. Filtration products that support flexibility with multiple filter types are essential in scaling up production for small and medium-size craft brewers or improving efficiency in an existing local or regional production facility.

Lower total production costs

With the right filtration technology, producers can materially increase throughput and operational reliability and reduce downtime from common issues like filter sheet clogging and oxidation. Robust cartridge structures and wide chemical compatibility for all materials leads to higher efficiency and lower total costs per batch, even after multiple chemical regeneration and back-flushing cycles.  Plus, the right filtration solution can replace the Kieselguhr equipment to significantly lower total costs.  

Increase product stability and quality

Multiple factors in the production process can affect the taste, quality, aroma, and appearance of craft beer:  

• Microbiological contamination
• Hop-creep (refermentation)
• Oxidation
• Alterations from pasteurization or preservatives  

These factors are harder to control as production volume increases, making it difficult to manufacture a stable and reproducible product. With the proper prefilter and final membrane filters, producers can ensure that beer is free of yeast cells and even bacterial population. This increases shelf life and makes it possible to expand the geographic reach of craft beer producers to find new customers.  

At the same time, it’s essential that the filtration process does not interfere with the taste or quality of the beer. Completely inert materials like stainless steel filtration systems and all-polypropylene cartridges will not impact product quality. A closed filtration system also allows for CO2 oversaturation to prevent oxidation risk, and reduced maturation time avoids hop-creep and refermentation.

Create a sustainable production process

The environmental impact of craft beers can be as important to your consumers as the taste, aroma, and color. A proper filtration setup can:  

• Reduce the environmental impact via a feed pump with inverter and calorie recovery through heat exchangers on the CIP System
• Reduce water consumption for an efficient cleaning and regeneration using backflushing with pulsation, combined with an adequately dimensioned washing pump
• Lower energy consumption and low noise levels with enhanced technology

Discover More Benefits of Filtration for Craft Beer Production  

Sartorius offers the Jumbo Star solution and a range of products to meet the unique filtration requirements for microbreweries and craft beer producers. Whether you are scaling up production in response to higher demand or want to improve efficiency and lower costs in your existing production process, our Field Application Specialists can help. Contact us to learn more about our craft beer expertise.