PET-Packed Beer Gets Longer Life

Shelf life of the beer packaged in these bottles and closures is guaranteed for six months, but up to eight months is considered probable.

29/08/08 The new packaging system is designed to allow significant packaging weight and freight cost reductions, while enhancing brand imagery and bottle-opening convenience. The sleek new containers yield more than 20% material savings in the threaded bottle finish weight. And the lightweight, two-piece, 28mm, compression-molded polypropylene closures with an easy-grip knurl pattern incorporate an oxygen scavenger liner to maximize product freshness. Labels for this line of beers are provided by multiple, undisclosed suppliers.

The monolayer PET bottle preform supplier is ViaPlast GmbH (www.viaplast.de). Frankfurter Brauhaus injection-molds the preforms into half-liter bottles in-house, using the ACTIS system from Sidel, Inc. (www.sidel.com). The ACTIS system features a special inner-barrier coating process to deter ingress of oxygen and hamper escape of carbon dioxide. Shelf life of the beer packaged in these bottles and closures is guaranteed for six months, but up to eight months is considered probable.

The MB-Lok mini capping system was easily integrated into Frankfurter Brauhaus’ packaging operations in early 2008, and has been running on high-speed bottling lines (950 bpm). The brewer uses the MB-Lok mini system both for standard cold-filled and pasteurized beverages.