Brewery

Improve beer stability and quality with Flexitherm Mini - Jackie O's Pub & Brewery case story

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2022.10.27. alfa laval, barley wine, barrel ageing beer, barrel ageing programme, beer, beer and beverage concentration, beer brewing, beer brewing equipment, beer pasteurization, beer production, brewery, brewerycase, brewery case story, brewery solutions, craft beer, customer stories, flexitherm, flexitherm mini, imperial stout, improve beer quality, improve beer stability, jackieos, production brewery

The stability and quality of beer is at the top of the agenda for brewers. According to Art Oestrike, president at Jackie O's, "Barrel ageing beers is a fickle business. […] A year and a half after packaging [the beers], they start to turn sour. They don't taste good."


This is where Flexitherm™ comes into play to "flip the barrel ageing programme on its head", in the words of Oestrike. Flexitherm is an automatic pasteurization machine for beer pasteurization. It uses a pasteurization method that eliminates microbiological spoilage, achieves the right pasteurization temperature and preserves the quality and shelf life of beer and other carbonated drinks over a variable flow range. 


Read more about Flexitherm™ on our website https://www.alfalaval.com/products/process-solutions/thermal-solutions/heat-treatment-modules/flexitherm


Jackie O's was started in late 2005 as a small brewpub in Athens, Ohio. They've grown into a production brewery, and today you can find their products in Europe and all over the USA. 

#alfalaval #brewerysolutions #jackieos #brewerycase #flexithermmini

View transcript

My name is Art Oestrike I'm the president here at Jackie O's in Athens, Ohio. I'm Brian Cornelius. I'm the Facilities Manager. Jackie O's was started in late 2005 as a small brewpub in Athens, Ohio. We've grown to a production brewery. You can find our products in Europe, you can find our products all over the U.S. Barrel aging beers is a fickle (tricky) business. You take this big, beautiful imperial stout or barley wine and throw it into a freshly dumped bourbon barrel and let it sit in our warehouse for, I don't know, 10 months, 24 months, 36 months. A year and a half after packaging it, they start to turn (sour). They don't taste good. They become sour when they're not supposed to be. It's disheartening. It's difficult. We ran a programme to recall, I think, 12 different products, The Flexitherm Mini flipped our barrel aging programme on its head. We don't have issues anymore. I really wish we had purchased it three or four years before, it would have alleviated some of those headaches that we found along the way. Through the flash pasteurization process, we are able to utilize new adjuncts (ingredients) within our products that significantly impact those products and those profiles and how the universe feels about those products. We've come to stand behind those products. When we send products through the Flexitherm, we know they're going to be good for years to come. We've seen zero negative consequences. I don't want to have any more sleepless nights wondering whether these products are going to turn, if they're going to turn, how they're going to turn. One of the surprising things is that we found some wild yeast in a 40 BBL fermenter, ran it through the Flexitherm, and it came out clean on the other side and we're able to package it rather than dump it. So that was pretty cool. We really value our energy consumption. When we look at the energy usage of the Flexitherm, we went in that direction because it aligns with how we feel about sustainability and environmental stewardship. The Flexitherm has proved to be pretty tried and true (tested and verified) in that it operates as it should, and that's really helped keep the maintenance costs down. It's a very harmonious machine, It seems like. The Flexitherm Mini has really helped stabilize our barrel aging programme. We looked to the most innovative leaders in the industry in terms of what they're doing to help breweries along the way. When we saw the technology in the way the Flexitherm works, it was kind of a no brainer. In the end, the Flexitherm has given us the ability to feel more comfortable playing around with our barrel aged products. And have that much more confidence at the end of the day that those products are going to be shelf stable and delicious.