14/03/2018
Hygiene and sanitation in the brewery
We know that the non-pasteurized, non-filtered and with a low alcoholic grade craft beer represent a product that risks the bacterial contamination. This is a risk that entrepreneurs and brewers cannot run.
What are the main attentions in order to grant a perfect cleaning and sanitation of the brewery?
Cleaning and sanitation are the result of an accuracy system, not of a lonely factor.
The CIP (Cleaning-in-place) certainly represents the part of the plant with a key-role in the process. The CIP is not an accessory to be evaluated at the end of the investment, just as an option and hoping to save money. Not at all! The risks that come from a non-efficient CIP can take to bigger expenses compared to the possible spared sum in the acquisition of a cheaper solution.
Also every element of the piping must be carefully controlled, because serious problems can arise from small imperfections in terms of bacterial presence.
At the end it is important not to forget that the first way for a bacterial contamination in a brewery are the people. It is easy to forget this. A plant with an excellent hygiene and sanitation needs to be installed in a adequate ambience and kept cleaned.
Dirk Naudts, the famous “beer architect” (De Proef Brouwerij) is our customer since many years. In the entrance of its brewery he put a hygienical station for the shoes of everybody who goes in.
Nothing comes random.
