Beer & Craft Beverage — Line Configuration Options and Investment Levels

1. The three routes

Beer packaging runs three routes: glass bottles (crown or roll-on closure), cans (seamed lid) and kegs (pressurised returnable containers). Each route is a configuration — different infeed, discharge and downstream — and most breweries run two or three. The common thread is the isobaric counter-pressure filler, because beer is carbonated and must fill under pressure.

Start with the route that matches the brand's first market; add the others as the brewery grows.

2. Glass route

The glass route: depalletising, bottle rinsing, isobaric filling, capping (crown or roll-on), pasteurising or micro-filtration, labelling and packing. Glass protects the beer from light (in coloured bottles) and carries the classic brand image — at higher weight and cost per unit. Craft breweries often start here with a compact mono-filler.

Glass handling is gentle by design: heavy, brittle bottles need soft infeed and transfers, and the line is specified around the bottle.

3. Can route

The can route: can rinsing or air purge, isobaric filling, seaming, and often a nitrogen doser for rigidity — then pasteurising or micro-filtration, tray and wrap packing. Cans are light-proof, cheap to pack and the growth format in most markets. A canning line counts in cans per hour and is a distinct configuration from bottling.

Seam quality is the can line's quality: a poor seam is a leak, a flat beer and a recall risk. The seamer is specified and monitored, not assumed.

4. Keg route

The keg route is a short, dedicated line: keg washing, counter-pressure filling, sealing and weighing. Kegs are returnable, so the washing station is the front end, and the filling runs under counter-pressure like bottles. The route suits breweries serving draught — and it is a separate configuration, not a bottle line accessory.

Keg washing is a hygiene station: the wash cycle, the inspection and the record-keeping are part of the route's spec.

5. The filler tier

Within each route, the filler tier sets consistency: mechanical isobaric valves are the proven norm, and higher-speed or tighter-tolerance lines add electronic timing or flow metering. Load-cell weighing is not used for beer — the fill is volume and pressure based. The tier follows the speed and the fill tolerance, not fashion.

Oxygen pickup is the tier's hidden spec — purge points, sealed paths and gas handling are what separate a beer line from a CSD line.

6. Preservation option

Beer is preserved by pasteurising (tunnel or flash) or by micro-filtration, set by the beer, the pack and the market. Tunnel pasteurising is standard at scale; micro-filtration suits beers that must not be heat-treated. The option is a process decision made with the brewery — and it is a line station, budgeted as one.

For unpasteurised beers, the micro-filtration and hygiene regime replace the pasteuriser — the configuration changes, the shelf-life target does not.

7. Matching to brewery

Match the configuration to the brewery's first market: a craft brand launching bottles starts with a compact glass route and adds cans for events and growth; a regional brand with draught accounts adds kegs; an industrial brewery runs dedicated glass, can and keg lines. The hall is planned for the routes to come — the second line is an addition, not a rebuild.

Разливочная машина CSD technology is the parent of the beer filler; the beer-specific part is oxygen control and the preservation option.

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