BBI members were recently given the opportunity to visit the Brewery and new Bottling Hall of Greene King at Bury St. Edmunds and this proved to be a very popular visit with 25 members attending, the visit being well oversubscribed.
The visit was hosted by John Bexon, Head Brewer and Paul Marston, Packaging Manager.

The Brewery tour, conducted by John Bexon, gave us a fascinating insight into how Greene King beers are brewed.
The brewing process based on the use of gravity starts at the demineralised water tank area (demineralisation is by reverse osmosis) ,sited at the top of the Brewhouse Tower giving visitors a panoramic view of the ancient town of Bury St. Edmunds and the Suffolk countryside.
As we followed the process by gravity (via stairways!) viewing the Rotary Screens and Malt Mill, John paused to give us a demonstration by taste of the different malts and their flavours which are used in the Greene King brewing process.
You could see how Greene King, by the use of traditional brewing methods, and, by the quality control of raw materials are attaining high quality and consistency of taste throughout their brands.
Brewing takes place by mixing in traditional Mash Tuns and boiling in three Coppers after adding hops of the highest quality. The next stage of fermentation and filtering is again very traditional and the finished product is then filled in casks or kegs or transported for bottling.
John explained that the increase in demand of their beers has resulted in the recent installation of 6 large new fermentation vessels at a cost of £1.5m to improve Brewery capacity.

Our visit to the Bottling hall which is located on the outskirts of Bury St. Edmunds commenced with a presentation on the facility by Paul Marston. Paul explained that Greene King has invested over £8m in the new bottling hall, and the production line went into full production on 1 May, 2006, being rated at 25,000 bottles of beer an hour.
The decision to invest was made on the back of a surge in sales of Greene King bottled beers. Over the past five years there has been an increase in their share of the beer market, both in terms of volume and value, as well as an expanding export business.
Beer is tankered from the Brewery in the centre of town and stored in four tanks on site.
Facilities are in place for flash pasteurisation and sterile filtering prior to being fed to the filler.
The new plant has been con¬structed around SIG's Eurotronica PN70/80/15 Rinser, Filler and Crowner. After the Simmonazzi Bulk Glass Depalletiser bottles enter the filler in single file, they are rinsed, then air is evacuated under vacuum and the bottles purged with carbon dioxide. The process is repeated before the bottles are filled and crowned.
Next, the bottles travel into an inspection area, where a Heuft inspection machine checks the fill height. Then they pass into one of two labelling systems - the SIG Alpha Adhesive F5535T pressure sensitive label applier for 750ml bottles of Old Speckled Hen, Beer to Dine for and Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale; the SIG Alpha Topbrain wet glue applier for 500ml bottles, with front, back and neck labels.
The secondary packaging line was installed by SMI Group and provides for three packaging formats; 4 packs are produced on an MP200 cluster machine; shrink-wrapped trays on an SK450T, and a wraparound box on an SMI WP600. The finished packs are automatically palletised on to pallets, in layers of four for 750ml bottles and six for 500ml. After palletising full pallets are bound on an Aetna Robopack shrink-wrapper, and labelled, using a Markem machine. The bottles and finished packs have best before end dates applied by Videojet printers.
In addition to the new bottling hall, the facilities include a 3,700 sq metre warehouse, capable of holding over 2,500 pallets, and a quality control lab, for product testing.

As part of the visit John Bexon conducted a tutored tasting session, enabling members to have a tasting of some of the range of beers in the Brewery's Hospitality suite and bar. John Yates, BBI General Secretary, thanked our hosts for a splendid visit and buffet lunch and also thanked John and Paul for taking time out to guide us through their successful brewing and bottling operation. John Yates also took the opportunity to congratulate Greene King on winning Gold and Silver medals and certificates at the BBI 2006 Ales, Lagers, Ciders and English and Welsh Wines competition.
The impression gained from our visit is that the Brewery is proud of the development of their excellent brands over the last few years, and of achieving high standards of beer quality, taste and appeal.

For more information please visit the Greene King website www.greeneking.co.uk

Brian Gibbs