ACI In-line dryers supplied to Russian Brewery

Application: Drying beer bottle prior to labelling

The Kaluga Brewing Company (KBC), based in the Kaluga Oblast region of Central Russia, represents a $100 million investment by South African Breweries (SAB). Recent activity has seen a technological overhaul with the removal of the soft-drink production machinery and 75% of its original brewing facilities. The company have recently launched the Zolataya Boschka (Golden Barrel) label from the Kaluga site principally for the home market but also brews under licence, Holsten, Miller & the Czech Staropramen beer.

In fact, the Kaluga Brewery was the first Eastern European brewery to bottle cold-filtered Miller. However, new processes can impact on the technology employed as Nikolay Zlatev, Maintenance Manager for KBC discovered. 'We developed a rusty crown cork issue on our Miller Beer filling lines. The compressed air nozzle system was unable to eliminate the rusting.' stated Zlatev.

Zlatev investigated alternative methods to eliminate this problem and after reading about the success of such systems on ACIs website, he was convinced that ACI Airknives could be the solution to Kaluga's drying problems.

The ACI Drying System is a complete stand-alone unit that is designed to be integrated into existing lines with minimal disruption - units simply straddle the line without any modifications to the production line. Predominantly used in the bottling and canning industries, there are several variations of unit that form ACI’s DRI-Line Series.

Initially ordering a single system, the 'overnight' success in drying the sides, caps, and neck areas of Miller bottles, has resulted in further systems being installed. With production 60% up on previous years and with Russian beer drinkers reportedly consuming 30 litres of beer per head a year, a completed third production line will boost productivity at Kaluga Brewing.