Big Brands CoPacking Processes

We utilize manufacturing facilities that specialize in each beverage copacking process. 

Below, explains the type of beverage processing that we use for our customers.


Read more about the process below and the beverage manufacturing process.


Beverage Manufacturing Processes

  • Hot Fill
  • Cold Fill
  • Tunnel Pasteurization
  • Flash / HTST Pasteurization
  • Retort
  • Carbonation & Nitrogen Dosing


See below for the different types of beverage manufacturing processes.


Cold Fill

The cold fill beverage manufacturing process blows icy cold air into the beverage container to sterilize it before it's filled with the beverage. Then, the beverage cooled and  filled into the cold container.   The extreme cold kills bacteria.  With cold fill, the nutrients are preserved, there is not change in taste and the quality of the beverage is not affected. 


Cold fill is a common method for products like water, sweetened beverages and milk based products.


Almost any packaging container works well for the cold fill process.


Hot Fill

The hot fill process uses heat to sterilize both the product and its container during the food packaging process. The hot fill process starts by heating the  product to a high temperature and then filling the hot liquid into the packing container. Both the container and the food product are kept at the high temperature for seconds. This is done to ensure there is no bacteria in the product. 


Hot filling is used for co-packing of beverages like juice, iced tea and sports drinks.


With hot filling, the packaging containers need to be heavier PET bottles, glass or cans.


Flash/ HTST Pasteurization

A flash pasteurized beverage is put through a thermal bypass system. This means your product is heated in a tank and put through a special one way pipe. Then, another pipe, filled with heated water or steam surrounds the beverage pipe and beverages temperature increases.  Flash pasteurization is also called high temperature short-time (HTST) processing. 


Some beverages that are flash pasteurized would be juices, beer, wine and diary products. 




Tunnel Pasteurization

Tunnel pasteurization is the process of having your filled product passed through a tunnel that slowly heats the beverage product. The temperature is slowly raised to a desired temperature. When the product is at the target temperature, it’s held at that temperature long enough to kill specific bacteria. Then, the product is gradually cooled and brought to room temperature.  




Carbonation & Nitrogen Dosing

After filling the beverage container and right before sealing it, beverage packers dispense a precise amount of liquid nitrogen LN2, into the headspace of the beverage. This process displaces residual oxygen and pressurizes the container.  By removing the oxygen, the beverage containers prevents oxidation. Oxidation can affect the quality and shorten the lifespan of a product. For plastic bottles and aluminum cans, LN2 dosing can help with the durability and structural support of the packing product. 


Retort

Retort processing of beverages is for products that have a pH greater than 4.5 and mainly for dairy based products like milk and plant based milks. The retort process sterilizes and pasteurizes the beverage.





Not sure which process works best for your beverage?

Contact us and our team of knowledgeable experts can lead you in the right direction.

Contact us

Looking for more beverage co-packing resources?

For more information on how to copack a CBD, TCH or hemp product - read more here

Learn about packing a water product and a few famous sparkling water companies - Read more here

For more about cold filling - Read more here

For more about hot filling - Read more here

For more about retort filling - Read more here