Beck opens new facility

After nearly two years of construction work, Beck & Co's new filtration cellar in Bremen, Germany, has been officially put into operation.

The opening ceremony for the new facility "Am Deich" was presided over by chief technology officer Dr Horst-Gevert Bellmer.

"This cutting-edge filtration plant will secure the sustained quality of our beers. At the same time, it will help guarantee output and ensure that we can meet our national and international delivery requirements. The plant therefore establishes the basis for future tasks - as a member of the Interbrew family - which may be required of our production site here in Bremen,"​ commented Dr Bellmer.

The plant's foundation stone was laid on 13 September 2000 and Brauerei Beck & Co have so far invested almost €35 million in the new facility.

The new cellar raises Beck & Co's filtration capacity from 5.2 million to 6 million hectolitres. Four new filtration lines have been installed on the brewery's traditional site. Each line filters up to 600 hectolitres of beer per hour until it is clear and sparkling. This corresponds to around 32,000 hectolitres or around ten million 0.33-litre bottles of beer per day.

The use of innovative technologies also helps to conserve natural resources: a secondary water network enables the plant to use process water several times and thus reduce fresh water requirements by an expected 5,000 cubic metres per year.

Dr Bellmer also emphasised a number of new opportunities that would result from the company's integration within the Interbrew Group. "Our entry into additional markets will result in new tasks for production staff. We therefore expect that master brewers at Beck & Co will continue to have their hands full in the foreseeable future,"​ he said.

For Beck & Co's site in Bremen, this means that staffing levels will remain stable despite further gains in productivity brought about by the new technology.