BEVERAGE PROCESSING

Continental offers world-class industrial hoses to Aussie beverage market

Continental, through ContiTech Australia, has a range of industrial hoses that are suited to all sectors of beverage manufacturing. Adam McCleery writes.

Continetal and ContiTech supply industrial hoses are suited to the Australian beverage industry.

ContiTech industrial hoses are flexible and resilient, adapting to any sized space.

Continental ContiTech Australia, a specialist in rubber and plastics technology, is stepping up its presence in the Australian beverage sector with its range of industrial hoses.

Continental beverage hoses have already been employed by beverage manufacturers across the global market, particularly in the USA, Europe, and the rest of the Asia Pacific.

Brewing, among others, has proven fertile ground for the Continental hoses.

Breweries rely on robust and high-quality industrial hoses to mitigate the risks of process failures, to ensure product purity at all stages of production, and to ensure hygienic and reliable transportation of fluids.

The hose range is designed for wine, beer, strong alcoholic beverage, as well as fruit juice processing.

They feature a completely smooth, plasticiser-free lining that doesn’t leave any odour or taste in the product and are suitable for all common connecting systems.

Importantly, the hoses are resistant to clean-in-place (CIP) procedures and all harsh cleaning processes in the beverage industry.

While Continental hoses can be applied to all the aforementioned beverages, the art of brewing is an example of the product’s capabilities.

This is because breweries rely on robust and high-quality hose solutions to reduce failures, ensure product purity at all stages of production and ensure hygienic and reliable transportation to the market.

Continental ContiTech national sales manager, Scott Weston, and area sales manager Clayton Brown sat down with Food & Beverage Industry News to give some insight on what the company’s industrial hoses offer the Australian market.

“We have a long list of beverage hoses, too many to list here, but ExtremeFlex Beverage, Purple Snake, Vintner Reserve and Fortress washdown hoses have proven to be a great fit for brewing,” said Weston.

“Everyone has their own takes on sustainability but for us, being a rubber manufacturing company, we want to ensure the products last a long time and protect people’s investments,” said Weston.

“Being recognised in society as a benchmark in quality and offering long-term value creation, to us, those are key points around sustainability.”

The ExtremeFlex Beverage hose is suitable for beer production because it features a non-porous and high-performing microberesistant chlorobutyl tube, which is what prevents any odour or taste contamination during the brewing process.

The hoses are also flexible and resilient, which means they are applicable to any brewer, from the smallest spaces to the largest.

“We can make any product with any compounding, structure, reinforcement to meet any application. If there is a unique issue that a customer has, we can go in there, recognise improvements and help them and increase efficiencies by providing a solution,” said Weston.

Brown echoed Weston’s sentiments.

“Brewers find themselves having to change out hoses more frequently but with Continental’s high-quality products, which are higher in value but change outs are far less frequent, loss of production time is reduced and risk to product quality is diminished. This is how we protect our customers investment’s” he said.

“The ExtremeFlex Beverage hose is highly flexible and light weight,

which is perfect for micro-breweries where space can be an issue. It creates extra value for the brewer.”

Some other features of the ExtremeFlex include high working pressure, a rating for full suction, better bend radius, it’s phthalates free and has a corrugated EZ clean cover that gives it added abrasion resistance.

Weston said Continental’s outright goal for clients was to protect their investments by ensuring contamination risk was reduced to ensure absolute quality of product is maintained.

Brown said the flexibility of Continental’s product offerings meant they could be applied to brewers of all sizes, no matter how small the production space.

“The products that we offer, for example ExtremeFlex beverage hose, is highly flexible and light weight, which is perfect for micro-breweries where space is an issue. It creates extra value for the brewer,” said Brown.

ExtremeFlex beverage hoses also feature an easy to clean cover, which is great during washdowns, and can withstand all CIP processes currently employed in the food and beverage industry. But, more importantly, the EZ Clean cover makes it easy to remove contaminants and grime, maintaining the cleanliness standards expected in the industry

The use of correct industrial hoses also mitigates the risk of process failures, which in turn force shutdowns, resulting in product and monetary losses.

“If a product fails through that cycle, you can’t move the fluid, which means you aren’t brewing,” said Weston.

“Straight away you are suffering not just from a replacement cost, which is minimal in the overall production process, but you’re actually stopping the brewing process and you’re probably scrapping all of that product, which is where the real value is lost.”

Weston said Continental’s products are designed to mitigate those risks.

“Essentially, the products we produce are very high-quality, from the material compounding, to development, and testing,” said Weston.

“The quality and life cycle of our products are also appealing for our clients. Other Poor compounding technology and testing regimes can lead to bacteria build up inside over time. This was something we at Conti avoid at all costs by applying 150 years of experience in compound development and product testing.

“The beauty of our products is that they offer some key features and benefits to the end users, to lower those risks.”

The hose applications also extend to the OHS realm. With one example being Continental’s work with the Rochester Mills Production Brewery in the United States, where a possible OHS, incident was avoided.

An industrial hose that transferred boiling water almost failed to the point of breaking, which could have seriously scolded surrounding workers, demonstrating the importance of using industrial hoses that are up to the task assigned.

Be sure to consider the Continental Washdown hose range which is suitable for hot water and also incorporates Microban AntiMicrobial technology.

Because Continental’s industrial hoses meet United States and European food and beverage production standards they are already in line with Australia’s.

Weston said Australia was already starting to employ similar standards to those used in countries like Germany, which has some of the most stringent production regulations.

“Because of Australia’s move towards those trends, Continental is well positioned to help, because of our product offerings,” said Weston. F

"Everyone has their own takes on sustainability but for us, being a rubber manufacturing company, we want to ensure the products last a long time and protect people’s investments. Being recognised in society as a benchmark in quality and offering long-term value creation, to us, those are key points around sustainability."

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