AirKnives blow microbrewery label problems away

Most of the ACI bottle and can drying machines are supplied to high throughput, internationally known brewers and bottlers, drying solutions for smaller operations like microbreweries are available

One example of such an installation is at the O'Hanlon microbrewery.

Faced with increasing demand - from home and overseas - the award winning microbrewery, O'Hanlon's Brewery of Devon, needed to increase output.

Production of their beers, ales and stouts was not a problem but getting the product out of the door was.

The inhibiting factor was the O'Hanlon bottling/labelling operation.

As for most breweries, dealing with condensation is a headache.

For O'Hanlon, it caused delays in the labelling of filled bottles because frequently they had to be left to dry before labels could be applied in order to avoid blemishes to the labels and to ensure effective adhesion, avoiding label displacement.

The holdup caused by this waiting limited production of the company's bottled beers significantly, restricting output to around 2700 bottles/day.

Another issue arising from condensation and exacerbating time delays was double handling.

Bottles once filled were sometimes removed from the filling/labelling line and then reintroduced when dry to proceed through the labelling machine.

However, the problems caused by condensation are no longer an issue for O'Hanlon's Brewery.

They have been eliminated following the installation of a pair of 'AirKnives' supplied by Air Control Industries of Chard.

ACI's blower-powered AirKnives are located adjacent to each other on opposite sides of the conveyor that feeds the labelling machine.

Pitched at the appropriate angle for the bottles to be dried (O'Hanlon's use both 500 ml and 270 ml bottles), they drive any moisture downwards and off the bottles.

Since their installation, O'Hanlon's Brewery has reached output levels double that achieved previously.

"ACI AirKnives do exactly what it says on the tin - they dry the bottles"! commented Liz O'Hanlon, Director: "They are easy to install, easy to operate and simple to maintain, which is important for a small brewery like ours".

This is particularly true if O'Hanlon's is to keep supplies flowing to its customers, who include UK supermarkets and outlets in countries as far afield as USA, Russia, Chile, Japan and New Zealand.

The O'Hanlon's Brewery products include Double Champion Wheat Beer, Dry Stout, Firefly Bitter, Original Port Stout, Thomas Hardy's Ale and Yellow Hammer Bitter.

Back to top