From 12 to 500 hl: volume is no longer a barrier

Most breweries are tied to the batch size of their own line. Too small for a large order, too large for a test. At BCB we handle runs from 12 hl to 500 hl on the same flexible tank park. A limited edition of a few hundred litres and a full production run for a distributor both run with us, without you having to adjust your recipe or your ambition to whatever the machine happens to allow.

That makes seasonal peaks manageable. Festivals, the summer, the end-of-year period or a sudden promotion all temporarily call for far more packaged product. With flexible filling capacity you absorb those peaks without tuning your own production to the busiest moment of the year. You spread your runs, you plan ahead and you reduce the risk of stockouts, while your own people and equipment stay free for your core lines.

33 formats, and happily side by side

Volume is one thing, format another. This is where the real barrier lies for many brands, because every format changeover on a conventional line costs time, parts and cleaning. We built our lines precisely for that switching. In total we package in 33 formats:

• Can: slim, sleek and standard, from 15 cl to 50 cl.
• Bottle: just about everything, from 20 cl to 150 cl magnum bottles.
• Keg: all common formats, including the washing and refilling of steel kegs.

And the strongest part: we split one and the same production across bottle, can and keg at the same time. Even a run of 12 hl can go partly to the on-trade as kegs, partly to the shelf as cans and partly as bottles to the specialist shop. That way you serve several channels with a single brew, without having to meet a minimum per format that you then cannot sell.

Quality that does not waver, however small the run

More formats and more runs must never come at the expense of quality. With us, every changeover therefore runs through the same control regime. In our own lab, with Anton Paar measuring equipment, we check raw materials on arrival and validate every beer before it leaves. We measure the dissolved oxygen (TPO) to safeguard shelf life, we monitor yeast vitality and we check the seam of every can down to the micrometre. Our filling lines are built to keep oxygen pickup during filling extremely low, which keeps your beer on flavour for longer, in cans too.

That certainty matters most with heavily hopped beers, oxygen-sensitive recipes and drinks with particular storage requirements. And it reaches further than taste: with our IFS, organic, gluten-free and kosher certifications, your brand can address audiences for which you would otherwise have to obtain all the certificates yourself.

Room to experiment, right up to alcohol-free

A flexible line does not only manage what already exists, it opens the door to what is still to come. Want to test a new recipe, a new format or a limited edition? With a manageable run you keep the risk of a launch small and only decide afterwards whether to scale up.

That matters all the more now that ranges keep broadening: alcohol-free and low-alcohol beer, organic and gluten-free recipes, seasonal beers, collaborations and even soft drinks, cider or wine. Alcohol-free has grown into a real specialism for us, with techniques such as vacuum distillation, reverse osmosis and adapted yeast strains. For commercial peak moments like Dry January and Tournée Minérale, that is worth its weight in gold. Do note: we brew alcohol-free from 24 hl, whereas our conventional runs start from as little as 12 hl.

Your brand, our equipment

Modernising a packaging line to make it more flexible is a heavy investment: the equipment itself, but also the settings, the format changeovers, the cadence and the quality control at every run. For many brands, a partner is therefore the smarter route.

That is how BCB works. We are the extension of your production, your creative laboratory: you keep full control over your recipe, your taste and your brand identity, while we take on the technical execution, the consistency and the quality assurance. From a one-off test run to a fixed, recurring production, you have a single point of contact, from the first brew to the finished, labelled product.

Conclusion

In a market where lines pile up and volumes become harder to predict, flexible packaging and filling is not a luxury but a lever. It lets you respond quickly to a commercial opportunity, steer your capacity and protect your core lines.

At BCB you get that flexibility without investing in a new line yourself: from 12 to 500 hl, in 33 formats across bottle, can and keg, with a lab that safeguards every run and the experience of a brewery that itself grew from 300 to 25,000 hl. That way you produce the right volume, in the right format, at the right time. You ask, we brew.