20 Aug 2014 Looks/acts like a glass beer bottle, but it’s PET!
Sidel has launched the world’s first-ever pasteurisable lightweight PET bottle for beer. Will this bottle do for beer what PET has done for virtually every other beverage and liquid food?
Facts about the new PET beer bottle
Weighs less than glass: The new bottle design weighs only 28 grams, which is up to 86% less than an average equivalent glass bottle, according to Sidel data.
First-ever: It is the world’s first-ever pasteurisable lightweight PET bottle for beer.
High resistance: The bottle can be used for flash or tunnel pasteurised beer, and also micro-filtrated beer. This means that it can withstand pressures of 20 pasteurization units (PU) in the tunnel, which is standard for lagers. Furthermore, the bottle design can be used on existing tunnel pasteurizers that currently serve glass bottles.
Looks like glass: The innovative bottle also supports a crown cap, which together with the non-petaloid base gives the bottle the appearance of glass.
Long shelf life: Sidel has blown a 330-millilitre version that can achieve a six-month shelf life (with less than 1 parts-per-million (ppm) of oxygen ingress and less than 17% of carbon dioxide loss) through combination of different solutions, such as single-layer material blends and Sidel’s proprietary Actis gas-barrier technology.
Flexible sizes: The bottles can be provided in various versions up to 600 millilitres and new bigger sizes are currently being developed.
Myths about beer in PET
For many years misperceptions have surrounded beer in PET. One prevalent myth is that people think beer bottled in PET gets warmer quicker than beer in can or glass. After conducting a series of studies at the Sidel lab, PET bottles actually kept beer cold for the same time as an equivalent sized glass bottle.
Taste is also another misperception, with some consumers falsely believing beer tastes better, for example, in cans instead of PET bottles.
Easy solutions
The new bottle itself can be produced using all suitable Sidel PET packaging solutions for beer, including its beer fillers and the new range of Sidel Matrix blowers and labellers. This makes it easy to add the bottle to current production lines.
Source: Sidel