At the 16th Forum of brewers, distillers and beverage producers, Beer&Craft Drink Forum 2026, one of the key topics was beer stability and quality control at all stages of production.
During his speech, Director of Opillia Engineering and Development Director of the Opillia Brewery Yevgeny Blokhin, emphasized that product stability is formed not at the stage of filtration or bottling, but in the logic of the entire production.
“If the system operates unstably, no single technology will give the predicted result. That is why we work not with separate equipment, but with the entire technological scheme of the enterprise,” Yevgeny Blokhin noted.
Where production loses stability
During the forum, special attention was paid to the reasons for unstable product quality after bottling. In practice, problems arise due to:
- product contact with oxygen;
- unstable sanitation;
- errors in process logic;
- uncontrolled pumping;
- temperature regime violations.
As a result, this leads to turbidity, sediment, re-fermentation, unstable taste and reduced shelf life.
Opillia Engineering emphasizes that most of such problems are formed within the production system, so stability cannot be ensured by only one final stage or a separate technology.
Systemic approach instead of local solutions
Many enterprises try to solve the problem with a separate technology, such as pasteurization, filtration or stabilizers. But in practice, this only partially compensates for the consequences and does not eliminate the very cause of instability.
That is why modern beer production is increasingly moving from point solutions to a system engineering approach, where all technological stages work as a single system.
Practical experience of production modernization
In its speech, the Opillia Engineering team also shared practical experience of large-scale modernization of its own production.
During the reconstruction of the Opillia Brewery, specialists worked not with individual units or equipment, but with the full logic of interaction of all production processes. This included:
- stable and repeatable CIP;
- minimization of product contact with oxygen;
- control of colloidal stability;
- optimization of pumping;
- synchronization of technological stages with each other.
This approach allows you to obtain a stable result from batch to batch, reduce the risks of post-bottling defects and predict the behavior of the product during storage.
Cross-flow filtration as part of the system
Special attention at the forum was paid to membrane cross-flow filtration. In practice, this technology allows you to obtain a more controlled and repeatable result compared to classic filtration schemes.
Cross-flow allows you to:
- effectively remove yeast and microorganisms;
- control the amount of suspended particles;
- reduce the bacterial load;
- work in combination with stabilizers.
The principle of operation is based on the movement of the product along the membrane, where the purified part passes through the system, and impurities are removed separately.
Opillia Engineering emphasizes that filtration in itself is not a universal solution and works effectively only as part of a properly constructed production system.
Engineering approach to production
In its projects, the team works not with individual units of equipment, but with the entire logic of Ukrainian production – from sanitation and oxygen control to filtration and product stability after bottling.
Depending on the tasks, the system may include:
- CIP stations;
- deaerators;
- pasteurizers;
- membrane filtration;
- brewing equipment;
- process control systems.
This approach allows you to reduce losses, stabilize product quality and predict shelf life at the production stage. Today, stability is not only a matter of taste, but also loss control, predicted shelf life and the ability to scale equipment for manufacturing products without additional risks.
The Opillia Engineering team thanks the organizers of the Beer&Craft Drink Forum 2026 for a professional platform for discussing practical challenges in the industry and exchanging real production experience.