Cervecería La Tropical has transformed the accuracy of its tetra hop extract dosing and its canning line performance with a Qdos chemical metering pump and Fabline PTFE hoses from Aflex Hose.
La Tropical, one of Miami’s most iconic breweries with deep historic Cuban roots, uses a Qdos 60 peristaltic pump every day to precisely dose small amounts of tetra hop extract (tetrahydroisoalpha acids) and to meter chemicals in its CIP system at its brewery in Miami. Previously, the brewery dosed hop extract manually, but wanted to achieve more consistency and efficiency.
The Qdos pump has enabled efficient use of tetra hop, for a more consistent product and reduction in costly over-dosing. By automating this process, La Tropical has also benefited from more efficient use of its employees’ time, as the process no longer requires daily manual intervention or hours of human effort.
The Qdos chemical metering pump, from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS), is perfect for micro-dosing small amounts (mL/min) with an accuracy of ±1 % and repeatability of ±0.5 %. This precision is critical for avoiding overdosing, which can negatively impact beer foam stability, bitterness and overall product quality.
Other benefits for La Tropical in its dosing of tetra hop extract include low‑shear pumping protects the integrity of viscous hop extracts and prevents emulsion damage; a fully contained fluid path eliminates sticky spills and simplifies clean-up and santoprene tubing that provides strong chemical resistance for acidic tetra hop.
The operator at La Tropical is also not exposed to aggressive CIP chemicals as it is contained in the Qdos pumphead.
Hygienic design, with only the inner tube contacting fluid, removing contamination risk Fernando Finol, brewing supervisor at La Tropical in Miami, said: “We used to dose the hop extract in a manual way. We wanted that process to be done automatically and with a lot more precision and this is why we bought the Qdos pump.
“Inaccuracy in dosing hop extract is really bad for the quality of the product and it could render the finished product unacceptable for the market. So precision is key when it comes to dosing hop extract.
“For this particular application it was very critical to have a high level of accuracy especially because the amount of hop extract that we are using is very small. We want to be dosing tetra hop extract at a rate that will vary between 0.2 mL/min to 1.2 at the most. Accuracy is very important because 0.1 can throw my whole specifications off.
“It is important for us to be able to CIP the Qdos pump with the same chemicals that we use for the rest of the brewery. They are very easy to CIP, they are very user friendly and the pump is very easy to reverse flow the hop extract that is in the line.
“Hop extracts are very messy. Some of them require to be held in a closed container so the Qdos pump is perfect to dose hop extracts without any mess or issues.
“It’s the best peristaltic pump you can find and the Watson-Marlow support team is great.”
La Tropical has also benefited from the Qdos Hose Connector Kit, which is a flexible and robust PTFE hose accessory designed for simple, safer and secure connection of a Qdos pump into an existing process line. The hoses are compatible for use with aggressive and corrosive chemicals, which can also handle elevated temperatures.
La Tropical also increased efficiency on its canning line by installing another brewery solution from WMFTS: Fabline PTFE-hoses from Aflex Hose.
After experiencing oxygenation in its canning line caused by PVC hoses, La Tropical switched to Fabline (0.5″) with blue EPDM cover and Tri-clover connections in 2023. Elevated levels of oxygen affect the taste of the final product, and reduce shelf life of the beer.
Fabline (2″) hoses with anti-static PTFE liner and blue external EPDM cover with DIN 11851 connections are also being used to transfer bright beer via a flash pasteuriser to resolve a loss of carbonisation experienced with common beer grade EPDM hose from another manufacturer.
Fernando Finol, brewing supervisor at La Tropical in Miami, added: “The issue we were having in our canning line was a high level of dissolved oxygen pickup, which was very detrimental to our beer. We realised it was coming from the hoses that we were using and we didn’t solve the issue until four or five months after commissioning the line.
“For every 10 ppb (parts per billion) of dissolved oxygen you have one less month of shelf life. That is very considerable and the flavour profile the beer changes dramatically. It’s the No 1 enemy of beer. But FaBLINE hoses have worked like magic to reduce our oxygen levels by 50 ppb and it allows us to be within the spec that is required, so it has helped a lot.
“In our canning line we have 12 Fabline hoses and they have reduced the oxygen pickup to almost nothing.
“We are using a Fabline from our bright beer tank to our flash pasteuriser to transfer already carbonated beer. Before using the Fabline for this application, we were getting a lot of loss of carbonation with EPDM hoses due to foam. Over time the EPDM hoses were getting wrinkles inside or rough surfaces – this creates nucleation sites which can be one of the reasons for carbonation loss.
“Due to its patented smoothbore profile Fabline allows us to reduce the losses of carbonation and the losses of beer due to foaming, and this will increase our efficiency. Also, their CIP ability and the fact that they can withstand any chemical and at any temperature that we use in our process is an advantage.
“FaBLINE is one of the best investments you can have in your brewery if you have been having these issues. We never thought they were going to be as good as they are, and they have exceeded our expectations.
“The overall assembly feels exceptionally robust, and the internal finish appears very smooth. It is clearly a very high-quality hose designed for demanding sanitary process applications.
“From a process performance standpoint, our trial results were positive. During beer transfer, we did not observe any measurable increase in dissolved oxygen (DO), and we did not see any meaningful change in dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2).
“The very smooth inner liner appears to help maintain stable product flow and does not promote CO2 breakout during transfer.
“This is the highest-quality process hose I have personally handled in a brewery environment, and I do not think there is a better hose in this category on the market. It is clearly built for long service life, sanitary integrity, and demanding duty. For breweries that need maximum robustness and process hygiene, I believe FaBLINE is a very strong solution.
La Tropical is now considering additional Qdos pumps and Aflex Fabline PTFE hoses for its Miami brewery: three Qdos H-FLO 300 pumps for CIP dosing, a Qdos 30 for hops extract, another Qdos on the keg line, and the Fabline for wort transfer.
