UV Eliminates Contamination Risk for Bourbon Producer

A well-known Tennessee bourbon producer identified a Lactobacillus contamination risk when adding sucrose used for flavoring to their bourbon. This micro contamination did not pose a health risk to consumers, but was a potential source of:

• Product spoilage
• Off flavors & odors
• Product inconsistency batch-to-batch

Most microorganisms cannot survive high alcohol environments, but Lactobacillus is capable of not only survival, but also reproducing, increasing the risks associate with contamination. The Lactobacillus must be inactivated in order to ensure the product integrity, consistency and the quality that consumers expect from this leading brand.

The Solution

Rodem proposed incorporating a UV system to deactivate the Lactobacillus, thus eliminating the risk for spoilage, off flavors, odors and batch inconsistencies. The proposed solution would incorporate an Aquionics Pureline S PH UV unit on recirculation of the sucrose tank.

To ensure that the proposed UV unit was appropriately sized and capable of zapping the Lactobacillus sucrose bugs, samples from the distiller were submitted for testing. UV manufacturer, Aquionics tested the samples and the proposed unit proved effective for deactivation in the sucrose.

The Result

By incorporating the Aquionics UV Pureline S PH unit on recirculation of the sucrose tank the distiller was able to deactivate the Lactobacillus. By eliminating the potential source for product spoilage, off flavors, odors and product inconsistency the producer was able to deliver high quality product to consumers consistently and efficiently.