Gast Group Compressors. Helping to Refresh the Parts for Heineken that Other Compressors Cannot

Phil Black - PII Editor 28/11/2012

104 3 minutes read

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Used throughout Europe and more recently introduced to Mexico, Heineken’s Orion and Cellar-beer dispense systems have been developed for large venues, medium sized hotels, restaurants and cafés or where the high turnover of beer means that the traditional, loose beer keg is not a viable solution.

Each beer dispense system consists of a series of 250, 500 or 1000 litre stainless steel tanks, which are installed in either a cold room or water-cooled insulated beer-tank, are regularly filled from a beer-truck or road tanker. The Orion system is controlled by a touch screen interface behind the bar, which enables users to switch tanks and control the system’s temperature, delivery rate and cleaning cycle.

Unlike traditional kegs that rely on carbon dioxide (CO2) for dispense, the Heineken systems uses oil-free compressed air from a JUN-AIR compressor or Gast rocking piston to pressurise the tanks. This pressurisation method squeezes a beer-filled bag (in-liner) within the tank to press beer to the taps. The use of compressed air also improves health and safety in the workplace as the Heineken system doesn’t require venue employees to handle heavy barrels or gas canisters.

For Heineken’s cold room-based Cellar-beer system, a wall-mounted JUN-AIR OF312 compressor is fitted with an 8.5 litre stainless steel receiver tank and produces compressed air at 2.5 bar to pressurise the dispense system’s tanks and deliver the beer at 25 l/min, sufficient for up to five taps. The insulated, cold water-based Orion system uses a wall-mounted Gast 82R rocking piston fitted with a 8.5 litre stainless steel receiver tank and is capable of delivering beer at 20 l/min, sufficient for four taps. Each compressor is fitted with a regulator to enable the pressure to be adjusted to suit the tapping speed.

Commenting for Heineken, technical project leader Henk Foppen explains that traditional kegs use CO2to pressurise barrels and deliver beer to the taps. This method is very sensitive to temperature variations in the storage and increases or decreases the CO2level in the beer above/below the 0.46 Gew.-% CO2 preferred by Heineken, so beer doesn’t always reach customers at Heineken’s preferred CO2content. Conversely, dispense systems ensure that beer is served to customers at the same high quality it left the brewery and the in-liners create a barrier between the beer and compressed air to avoid oxidation of the product.

Says Henk Foppen: “Because Heineken’s Orion and Cellar-beer dispense systems use compressed air to squeeze the in-liner, the beer that customers drink at the venue is the best quality they can have – in fact the same quality as when it left the brewery.”

For larger venues such as arenas, exhibition halls and airports, Heineken specifies JUN-AIR’s OF1202 compressors fitted with two 8.5 litre receiver tanks. Here, the beer dispense systems are fitted in multiple cold rooms and can incorporate as many as thirty 1000 litre tanks with up to three compressors per cold room They are connected in series and capable of dispensing beer to as many as 90 taps.

For applications such as these, the Gast Group’s JUN-AIR range of oil-less air compressors offers an unrivalled combination of low noise levels (as low as 47-55dBA when housed in soundproof cabinets), reliability, long life and low maintenance. Receiver tanks are manufactured from high-quality stainless steel to avoid corrosion and ensure the highest air quality throughout the lifetime of the compressor. Units also feature a unique cooling system and wear-resisting piston rings, and are designed for 100% continuous operation up to 10 bar maximum pressure.

In addition, Gast’s oil-free 82R rocking piston is powered by an AC motor and protected against corrosion from moisture. It is available with air flow rates to 6.6 m3/h, vacuum capacities to 200 mbar and pressures up to 7 bar. Other features include a simple `O` ring cylinder head seal to reduce service time, which improves cooling on the compressor head and reduces the exhaust air temperature.

Gast Group claims that, compared to many rocking pistons, the 82R provides up to 27% better performance at maximum duties, 47% higher power efficiency and 29% less ampere load. Output ranges from 0.25 to 0.37 kW (1/4 to 1/2 HP).

Summarising, Henk Foppen says: “In the past we used electric pumps to deliver beer to the taps but, since developing the Cellar-beer 2000 system in 2000/2001, the JUN-AIR and Gast compressor solutions have helped us set new standards. They are an excellent, reliable source of compressors and I am confident in talking to them about future innovations, specifications and developments to our beer dispense systems.”

To date, Heineken’s Orion and Cellar-beer dispense systems, equipped with Gast Group’s compressors, have been installed in thousands of venues inHolland, throughout Europe and, most recently, inMexico.

For further information contact:
Andre Goodson, Gast Group Limited
Unit 11, The IO Centre, Nash Road, Redditch, B98 7AS
Tel: +44 (0)1527 504040, Fax: +44 (0)1527 525262
Email: gastgroup.uk@idexcorp.com Web: www.gastmfg.com / www.jun-air.com