To ensure the quality of its beers, Günzburger Radbrauerei in Germany added a chlorine dioxide solution to the water from which the beer is brewed.
The Günzburger Radbrauerei is a family-run traditional company. Now in the seventh generation, five wheat beer specialties as well as the Märzen and Helles varieties are brewed here. With high demands on the freshness of the beers, the wheat beer specialist sells its products within a 50-kilometer radius, primarily to food retailers and wholesalers.
The only remaining brewery in Günzburg moved into a new building in Donauried in three construction phases from 1984 to 1997, after the company premises in the heart of the old town had reached its limits.
The brewery obtains its process water from the nearby city waterworks. The water is filtered in the brewery and then softened.
After several renovations and expansions, the brewery’s pipeline network has branched out – one reason for the responsible master brewer Ralf Sittig to think about the use of chlorine dioxide.
Chlorine dioxide is often used as a preventative measure to protect against contamination. Its depot effect is a valued property; in addition, chlorine dioxide is tasteless: it does not react with amino compounds and does not form any odor-intensive chlorophenols.
The solution
After exchanging experiences with colleagues, the practical test was ultimately decisive: Mr. Sittig added chlorine dioxide to the process water – the beer brewed with it remained tasteless.
So those responsible decided in favor of a Wallace & Tiernan® chlorine dioxide preparation system DIOX-A 100 from Evoqua Water Technologies.
The decisive factor was the combination of the preparation system with a pressure-resistant chlorine dioxide measurement with an SFC device. The measurement has the advantage that the measuring water used – 33 liters per hour – is not discarded, but fed back into the main line.
The chlorine dioxide batch system doses the chlorine dioxide solution prepared from dilute hydrochloric acid and dilute sodium chlorite solution into a storage container (up to 80 grams per hour). From there, the solution has been dosed into the main water flow since January of this year, depending on the flow.
The subsequent measurement shows the chlorine dioxide content (on average 0.05 mg / l). Separate dosing into the bottle washing machine is provided. The associated injection point in the feed line of the penultimate wash cycle is already installed and will be put into operation shortly.
