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    New canning line for beer bottling centre to fill smaller batches

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    15. March 2023
    3:00 min.
    A new canning line will take the Rittmayer Brewery’s filling centre for beer to the next level.
    • The Rittmayer Hallerndorf Brewery is headquartered right in the heart of the beer-brewing county of Upper Franconia. Over 20 years ago, it expanded its business to include a cutting-edge contract-filling operation. Image credits:

      Brauerei Rittmayer

    The Rittmayer Brewery located in the Upper Franconian community of Hallerndorf is growing its contract-filling operation with a low-output canning line featuring the Craftmate C filler from Krones.

    The Rittmayer Hallerndorf Brewery, one of Germany’s oldest family-owned breweries, celebrated its 600th anniversary in the autumn of 2022. The company not only brews roughly 30,000 hectolitres of beer per year in the finest of craft traditions. It also operates as a co-packer for both smaller and larger breweries with its state-of-the-art filling centre. For a good 20 years now, Rittmayer has filled a vast array of highly disparate beers (up to 100,000 hectolitres a year) into a total of nine different bottle shapes. That has made it one of the largest contract bottlers for beer in its home region Upper Franconia. The centre serves mostly (but not exclusively) the many small privately owned breweries which are the hallmark of the beer-brewing stronghold Upper Franconia. There are roughly 200 breweries here for a mere 1.1 million inhabitants.

    The can offers many advantages

    The filling centre is now being substantially expanded to also include beverage cans in its portfolio, a first for the brewery. This is managing director Georg Rittmayer’s way of responding to the trend towards cans which has for some years been observed in the beer sector as well. He explains: “We take great care in ensuring sustainability in our company. The can doesn’t weigh much, it boasts a high recycling rate and does not entail any losses in quality.”

    1422, the year of establishment in the brewery’s coat of arms, testifies to 600 years of family tradition. Image credits:

    Brauerei Rittmayer

    What’s more, the canning line has been configured for small batches. The brewery will thus be able to fill volumes as low as 15 hectolitres per beer type, which especially benefits the small, private brewers in this region as well as breweries offering many specialty beers. Since Georg Rittmayer is the president of the Private Breweries of Bavaria association, he pays particular attention to their specific needs.

    The company opted for the Craftmate C filler from Krones, which features cutting-edge filling technology. The machine boasts an extremely compact layout, offers field-proven Krones technology at a fair price and specifically addresses quality-conscious plants operating in the low output range. The Rittmayer Brewery knows Krones technology from its bottling line, which features a Krones bottle washer, filling system and labeller. Besides quality and optimum use of the limited space available, short change-over times are of paramount importance for Rittmayer because the company processes small batches, a vast array of different beers and many different can formats. “Krones is a reliable, innovative and flexible partner for us,” says Georg Rittmayer. “It’s true that Krones is well-known for its high-speed kit. So we’re all the more pleased they offer top-quality equipment for the lower output range as well.”

    It’s true that Krones is well-known for its high-speed kit. So we’re all the more pleased they offer top-quality equipment for the lower output range as well. Georg RittmayerManaging director

    Project: Can filler
    Customer: Brauerei Rittmayer Hallerndorf GmbH
    Location: Hallerndorf, Germany
    Commissioning: Spring 2023
    Scope:

    Can filling system

    • Craftmate C can filler configured to handle 4,000 to 12,000 containers per hour
    • Can formats ranging from 0.33 to 1.0 litre
    • Checkmat inspector monitoring the fill level using gamma-rays

    Precise timing was yet another important consideration for this order because the customer wanted the filling system to be brought online directly after the new hall was built. “Krones really went all out,” says Georg Rittmayer. “The filling system was even ready well ahead of schedule.” It will handle the following can sizes: 0.33, 0.44, 0.5, 0.9 and one litre.

    Image 34547
    With the Craftmate C, Rittmayer can fill 4,000 to 12,000 containers per hour, starting at a minimum quantity of 15 hectolitres per beer type.
    15. March 2023
    3:00 min.

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