D.G. Yuengling & Son invests in the future

Georg Zuzok*
Tony Parham**
Rainer Deutschmann***

D.G. Yuengling & Son, the oldest and therefore most traditional brewery in America, was founded in 1829. According to Richard (Dick) Yuengling, fifth-generation brewery owner, this gives it a clear competitive edge. "Other success factors include the high quality of our beers, a motivated team of 200, a strong distribution network and outstanding technology," he states. Yuengling's most recent investment in innovative engineering was to purchase a KHS keg line for the brewery facilities in Tampa, Florida. In 2005 the brewery had procured a KHS keg system for their site in Pottsville, Pennsylvania and Dick Yuengling wanted equivalent lines at both sites. Jim Helmke,  Director of Operations in Tampa thinks, "We’re very satisfied with our new line.  The line meets our performance expectations, maintains the high quality of our beers, and is extremely operator friendly."

Plans for a brewery start the ball rolling

The idea for the present brewery was born in the German municipality of Aldingen, where David Gottlieb Jüngling began drawing up plans for his own brewery in America in the 1820s. He had learned to make beer from his father. With a handful of sketches in his baggage, he set out for the New World – and was at first bitterly disappointed. Contrary to what he had thought there were already plenty of breweries in the USA. Jüngling didn't give up, however, and despite the adverse circumstances he found a suitable site for his brewing enterprise in Pottsville. There were lots of German immigrants here, it had a river with good spring water and there was also a flourishing coal industry. 

*Head of Market Zone Americas, KHS GmbH, Bad Kreuznach, Germany.

     Phone: +49 671 852 2202

**Keg Technology Sales, KHS USA, Inc., USA. Phone: +1 262 797 7200 1802

***Director of Kegging Global Product Account Management, KHS GmbH,  

     Bad Kreuznach, Germany. Phone: +49 671 852 2977

From the Eagle Brewery to D.G. Yuengling & Son

In 1829 the young German founded the Eagle Brewery, anglicized his name to Yuengling and began working alone. Success was fast in coming. Just three years after starting up Yuengling was supplying 27 bars and saloons. His lager soon became the beer of choice for the thirsty miners of Pottsville. When in 1873 Yuengling's son Frederick joined the brewery, prompting the company to rename itself D.G. Yuengling & Son, it was outputting 23,000 barrels a year (one barrel is the equivalent of 1.1735 hectoliters). 

A truck of Yuengling beer for President Roosevelt

In 1901 the brewery hit the 65,000-barrel mark and in 1918 sold an impressive 100,000 barrels. During Prohibition, when alcohol was banned, Yuengling chiefly survived by being creative. During this period it produced near beer and sold ice-cream at a nearby dairy it had bought up. Dance halls in Philadelphia and New York City were further sources of income. One rather unusual action has since gone down in the annals of America's history. In 1933, on the exact day the prohibition law was lifted, Yuengling Brewery provided President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a truckload of its best beer as a sign of recognition. 

Registration as oldest existing brewery in America heralds period of change

Times were again hard for the regional brewery in the 1950s and 1960s when US breweries active through the entire country began to grow in popularity through their TV beer brands, ousting a number of local beers. In the 1970s, too, the company keenly felt the competitive influence of various big brewing concerns.  At that time, the amount of beer sold by Yuengling was approximately 250,000 barrels per annum. Dick Yuengling describes 1979 as the year of change when to mark its 150th anniversary the brewery was officially registered as the oldest American brewery still in existence, thus greatly boosting its popularity. Dick Yuengling remembers. "This mark of recognition greatly increased the amount of interest in our beer brands – and we're still profiting from it. The main aspect of our most recent success is that with our home-produced quality beers we're giving consumers just what they expect from a brewery with a long tradition."

Yuengling number four among American breweries with sales of 3 million barrels

Dick Yuengling has been running the brewery, now in its fifth generation, since 1985. In the mid 1990s he was selling about 400,000 barrels; by the end of the decade the brewery was making around 750,00 barrels a year at its historic facilities in Pottsville and had reached maximum capacity. This was expanded in 1999 when Yuengling bought what used to be Stroh's Brewery in Tampa and again in 2000 with the construction of a new brewery building near Pottsville. "This paved the way for further success – which in the past few years has also come about," smiles Dick Yuengling.  At its three sites Yuengling now produces a grand total of 3 million barrels of beer per year. This makes it the largest American brewery under family ownership and number four in the US after Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller and Pabst. 

At home in 12 US states

Since 2000 Yuengling's distribution area has grown from seven US states to 12. Beer drinkers can now purchase quality Yuengling tipple in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C., Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. Its home market is still the most important, with 30% of sales being made in Pennsylvania. Other anchor regions are New York and New Jersey. The brewery is not focused on export activities. 

Eight beer brands made in traditional brewing fashion

At present Yuengling makes eight brands of beer. One of the most drunk is the product which kicked off the brewery's success back at the beginning of the 19th century: Yuengling Traditional Lager which accounts for 60% of total sales. Likewise exceptionally popular are Premium Beer (20% of total sales) and Light Lager (15% of total sales). The remaining 5% is distributed between Black & Tan, Light Beer, Lord Chesterfield Ale, Dark Brewed Porter and Octoberfest and Bock, the latter two annually available from September. In few words Helmke sums up what he believes all Yuengling beers have in common: "Each of our beers has its own individual character and at the same time a balanced taste distinctive to the beer type." This is what Yuengling's diverse target group appreciates. Says Dick Yuengling, "Both young adults and seniors like our beers. We don't focus on a particular age group. As far as the quality of our beer is concerned, we see ourselves in the super premium sector – at a premium price."

30% of all beer in barrels

What's unusual in the USA for such a strong-selling brewery as Yuengling is the high percentage of kegs among its containers. Helmke elucidates. "At about 30% draft production we're more or less on a par with the craft breweries. In turn, this demonstrates that Yuengling consumers appreciate our traditional, hand-crafted brewing process and see us more as a big craft brewery rather than a classic big brewery." Of the rest, 50% goes into glass bottles and 20% is canned. Yuengling racks its beverages in two sizes of keg: half barrels (approximately 58 liters) and quarter barrels (around 30 liters). The larger size is especially popular on the market, with the brewery clocking up about 80% of its beer sales in kegs with it. Helmke again. "We are however noticing that there's a growing demand for smaller kegs. In the long term we estimate that the half and quarter barrel will even out the percentage share as far as our keg sales are concerned."

New KHS keg line provides maximum flexibility

Whether this be the case or not, the new KHS keg line is prepared for all eventualities and can also process new keg sizes if needs be. "This leaves all avenues open for the future," says Helmke happily, "keeping us competitive all round, even if new consumer requirements should materialize."

Output of up to 420 kegs per hour

The line's maximum output is 420 kegs per hour. When designing the line great importance was attached to providing outstanding visibility and accessibility and thus making maintenance an extremely simple affair. A maximum of just three operators control the line. Modern, articulated robot technology is used to palletize and depalletize the full and empty kegs in three layers, which in operation always perfectly adjusts to the line's production speed. The movement of the two robotic systems is smooth and precise and therefore extremely gentle on materials. A high degree of flexibility means if new keg formats are to be processed, the sequences of motion can simply be reprogrammed. During conveying to the exterior washer the fittings are checked for protective caps; if present, these are removed by a cap stripper.

Exterior and interior washing process perfectly controlled

The Innokeg Till AK 5/2 exterior washer seamlessly adapts to new situations without any break in production, even if the type of keg should change. Exterior washing is carried out over several zones. Kegs are pre-washed using caustic and mixed water. During this process, coarse soiling is removed from the sleeve area and the shoulder of the keg. Spray nozzles are used, with the spray pattern adjusted to suit the type of keg being processed.

The main washing process consists of an intensive treatment with caustic to reliably remove inkjet labels, among other things. This is followed by a further main keg wash using mixed water. Brush stations, comprising what are known as spinning brushes, give the keg casings an additional mechanical clean.  The last step in the exterior washing process is a final spray with fresh water. 

The Innokeg Till AK 5/2 is modular in design. Its circulation baths are generously proportioned and easily and thoroughly cleaned by external, temperature-controlled heaters. Special filter systems, which are a combination of coarse and fine filters, ensure a long service life and smooth production. Long drip zones and partition plates between the exterior washer treatment zones drastically reduce the amount of carryover between the baths. Swing doors that close automatically at the system infeed and discharge prevent spray water from escaping. Keg cleaning times on the Innokeg Till AK 5/2 can be selected as desired and are reliably monitored by a PLC controller.

Once washed, the kegs are passed on to three Innokeg Till Transomat 5/1 Duos connected in parallel. Each machine has two processing lines, with five washing and sterilizing stations and one racking station per line. The first step in the interior keg washing process is to check for leaks. To this end sterile air enters the washing head; if the pressure does not drop, the keg is ready for interior washing. If the pressure drops through the head seal leaking, the keg is cycled through the individual stations but does not undergo any further treatment. There is a leak test prior to every interior wash and before racking begins. 

After the keg has been connected and passed the residual pressure check, which ensures that neither keg nor fitting have been manipulated, any beer residue is blown out with sterile air. This way, any liquid present in the keg is specifically removed through the ring channel. This is followed by pre-spraying with mixed water in order to rinse out coarse soiling from the keg, such as thickened beer residue. The mixed water used is salvaged from the last hot water spray in the washing process to help specifically save on water, wastewater, and energy. As during the pre-wash a pulsating spray process with caustic and acid is used for the main keg washing process. This has the best possible cleaning action on keg interior and rising pipe. After this the keg is given a final rinse with hot water to remove any remaining cleaning medium and blown out with steam to remove residual hot water. This both sterilizes the kegs and displaces any residual oxygen, creating optimum conditions for the downstream racking process. 

DFC filling for a very low oxygen racking process that saves CO2

For Yuengling Brewery, the racking system of choice is the DFC (Direct Flow Control) system which is based on volume flow control. With the DFC racking process, it's generally sufficient to pressurize to a pressure that is slightly above the degree of CO2 saturation. This means that the carbon dioxide consumption is reduced by up to 40% versus conventional racking systems. The direct control of the racking process by a regulator valve on the product feed makes the DFC process precise. There is no loss of product due to keg overfilling nor is underfilling a problem. One of the key factors for maintaining the beer quality in the keg is extremely low oxygen pickup. This is realized by the precise control of the volumetric flow at the start of the racking process, as are very low CO2 losses. Says Helmke, "This very low oxygen pickup is of prime importance to us. This ensures that our high beer quality is maintained for our consumers just as we want it to be."

Finest equipment, best possible service ...

The racked kegs travel on to the keg turner and full keg scales. 'Bad' kegs are automatically rejected, and 'good' kegs have their fittings sealed with a protective cap. These are then inkjet coded and palletized in three layers by an articulated robot. When quarter barrels are processed, eight kegs are positioned per layer, with four half barrels fitting onto a pallet.  A downstream film wrapper then secures the layers. A CIP system and flash pasteurizer together with all media tanks are integrated into the KHS turnkey line.

Helmke smiles. "We are very happy with our new keg line. It has met all of our expectations and has put us in a good position for the future." Dick Yuengling confirms this. "With our new kegging line we’re paving the way for growth."

... and top beers as a base for future growth

The first priority at Yuengling is and always will be to provide top-quality beer at a reasonable price for the brand and to maintain the present distribution channels and areas. Dick Yuengling explains. "We don’t want growth at any price. The jury's still out on whether we develop markets in new US states or set up more breweries. Here, we believe that there's a right time for everything – and act accordingly." 

Sixth generation raring to go

This maxim is something that Dick Yuengling also applies to the next generation. His four daughters are already involved in the company. When and to whom the torch will pass remains to be seen. What is planned – as was the case with Dick Yuengling and every generation before him – is that the new owner will buy the brewery. Dick Yuengling concludes, "Only then does the company really become yours, making sure that you give it 100%."  Maybe it's precisely this which has made a major contribution to Yuengling's present success, making it not just the oldest and most traditional brewery in America but also the largest American brewery under family ownership.