Private brewery Moritz Fiege invests in the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS
Private brewery Moritz Fiege invests in the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS
The privately owned Moritz Fiege brewery is deeply rooted in the Ruhr area of Germany. Founded in 1878 the family business is now in its fourth generation and run by brothers Jürgen and Hugo Fiege. Whenever there's something happening in the Ruhr, Fiege are in on the act! Whether it's the Ruhr tent festival, the Bochum kulinarisch food event or ExtraSchicht, the region's 'long night' of industrial culture, quality Fiege beers are part of it. The brewery exercises a definite premium strategy with its products in keeping with the motto that "Top quality has its price." According to Hugo Fiege, this commits the brewery on all counts, meaning that only the very best filling and packaging technology is – and always has been – utilized in production, for example. This way of thinking is also illustrated (among other things) by the brewery recently investing in the KHS Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS filler. Says Hugo Fiege, "We're extremely satisfied with KHS technology which has also been employed in our packing and palletizing area and to rack kegs for many decades now."The benefits of the new filling system are summed up by Mark Zinkler, first master brewer at Privatbrauerei Moritz Fiege, to give it its full German title: "The system's hygienic design considerably reduces cleaning times, allowing us to save energy and water. Line availability has also increased. With this filling system we're still profiting from very low oxygen pickup in the product and can thus safeguard the high quality of our beer." Zinkler is also full of praise for the advantages of the KHS Eco+ vacuum pump system for pre-evacuation integrated into the filler which saves up to 99% of the amount of water previously used by the classic vacuum pump. It also functions without the use of classic coolants and always runs at its optimum operating point.
The filling system has been perfectly integrated into the existing line using new KHS conveyors. The line resumed operation after about two weeks and has since been running at a higher level of efficiency than it used to. Private brewery Moritz Fiege was one of the first breweries to invest in the innovative Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS filling system, therefore enjoying a clear competitive advantage and again underlining its status as a pioneer.
The success of the brewery thus far has been strongly molded by two groundbreaking decisions. The first was in 1926 when Moritz Fiege, owner of the brewery in its second generation, boldly decided to start brewing pilsner. With the brewing industry then largely given over to the production of export-style beer, this was something of a revolution. Another courageous decision, which has proved partly responsible for the company's present success, was taken in 2002 when almost all of the brewery's classic crown cork bottles were replaced by clip-lock bottles in the space of just 14 days. Hugo Fiege tells us more. "We do what the people in the Ruhr usually do: we just get on with it, making our own not inconsiderable contribution to what happens on the market."
At the time of writing Privatbrauerei Moritz Fiege sells about 135,000 hectoliters of beer per year, 70% of which is attributable to pilsner. The company's product portfolio also includes Gründer, Bernstein, dark Schwarzbier, Altbier, wheat beer, the light beer Leichter Moritz, a shandy with and without alcohol, a Schwarzbier and cola mix and Charakter, a special-edition beer for 2013.
