Cheers: for a finer glass ~ Think Plastic

Next time you watch the landlord pull a foamy pint of your favourite ale, spare a momentary thought for the plastic engineering that’s been part of the intricate brewing process – then order a bag of nuts.

There are many elements to the brewing process notwithstanding selecting the finest hops (plentiful here in Kent), malted barley and pure water. Then on to malting, milling, mashing, lautering, boiling, fermenting, conditioning, filtering and packaging. Each is important but perhaps the more crucial stages are the conditioning and filtration steps – these temper the finished quality, free of imperfections and biological contaminants. After all, who wants a foaming pint alive with contamination !

And – if you thought your glass of wine was simply a glass of rich, sun-baked hillside vines … think again: Wine is a product of microbial activity requiring a warm, food rich environment for friendly microbes to convert natural sugars into fine tasting beverages.

Unfortunately, a pleasant home for useful microbes is an equally hospitable hangout for any strains of wild yeast and bacteria gaining ingress to the fermentation vessel. And having arrived, all impart certain flavours to the beverage, producing signature wine faults that fancy-pants Vintners like to claim they can distinguish. However, whatever the flavour imparted, the general rule is these unwelcome bacteria all spoil wine, producing medicinal (think antiseptic), animal (think rodent cage or barnyard), or microbial (think yeasty and sour) flavours, all which are pretty nasty.

To combat these bacterial infections, Odour Lock uses cutting edge nanotechnology used in the medical industry to filtrate harmful bacteria from blood, plasma and bodily gasses. The result is Sterilock, the World's First Antibacterial Airlock.

Fitted directly to the fermentation vessel or seated on top of existing water based airlocks, it's patented Bacteriaex seal allows the venting of Co2 molecules whilst preventing 99.9% of larger bacteria, yeasts and other fungi from gaining access to fermenting beverages. Making it possible for the first time in Home Brew history to guarantee the exclusion of those 'flavours' from wines, beers and other alcoholic beverages.

However, enabling Sterilock's to be fitted to a diverse range of existing water based airlocks wasn't straightforward. As Richard Cook, Odour Lock's Technical Director explains:

“Finding an endcap of a size, shape and shore hardness (flexibility) to meet the design brief wasn't easy. It required the testing of numerous samples supplied by Sinclair & Rush until the exact combination was found”.

The result is a patented, low cost lid enabling the World's first antibacterial airlock to be fitted to virtually all existing 'S' Bend water locks.' A solution already reaping dividends as the largest distributors in the UK and Australasia place orders for Sterilocks and Odour Lock looks towards expansion in the US and the rest of Europe. As Richard further explains:

“Water based airlock's are used by Home Brewers throughout the world, making Sterilock an instant global product. A couple more lids may be needed to secure the entire global market, but by continuing to work closely with Sinclair and Rush we're confident there won't be a Home Brewer in the world that won't benefit from antibacterial brewing.”

Many thanks to Richard Cook, MD of innovative Odour Lock (www.odourlock.com), for this ‘good news’ contribution to our blog this month. I personally will treat my beer and this evening’s glass of wine with even more respect than usual.

Think Plastic ~ Cheers

 

Put us to the test.

We work with manufacturing companies in the UK & Europe, who have problems protecting or finishing their products. We manufacture and supply solutions for this through a wide variety of plastic mouldings, caps, plugs and sleeves, which means they... or indeed you.... reduce the risk of damage or contamination, so your customers receive a top quality product every time.

www.thinkplastic.co