Kgalagadi Breweries took the media on a tour of both the carbonated Soft Drinks and Beer Plants on Thursday.
The purpose of the tour was to give journalists an opportunity to see first hand the newly introduced 330ml packaging cans machinery, which was commissioned on June 8, 2007.
These new containers come as a conversion of the previous 340ml cans and are said to be an international trend as well. The conversion was necessitated by the fact that the material used to make the containers has become rare and quiet expensive. This conversion has long been anticipated, hence the unexpected price hike that took place in February earlier this year. The increase in price was to cater for the cost of production, which has since gone up.
Each plant has its own laboratory used to monitor and show the quality of the product. Sampling and quality control is also done there. The labs have a second rating in the Southern Africa region, coming second only to Alroad Brewery in South Africa.
Kgalagadi Breweries imports 75 percent of its malt from Zimbabwe while the remaining 25 percent comes from South Africa. Malt is said to contain barley which is highly rich in starch. The production of alcohol uses only malt, saaz hops and mainly water, with no other extra materials or chemicals used.
The quantity of raw materials and the amount of the hops added are the ones that separate one lager from the other.
The KBL plant is said to be 68 percent effective in terms of capacity.
