Before long, at Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn in Kelheim the new beer dealcoholization plant will be commissioned. It is a completely piped compact plant for the expansion of the wheat beer production. The plant operates according to the process developed by GEA Wiegand in the late 80s on the basis of the falling-film evaporator principle, and it is the only known process without recirculation or re-dilution and without rotating distribution system. These unique characteristics are responsible for extremely short residence times and tight distribution of residence time during production and for short cleaning cycles of the plant.

In an effort to boost its share price, InBev has announced a new share buy-back programme for an amount up to EUR 300 million.

Finnish brewers can never get it right. If they raise prices, consumers complain. If they drop prices, the government objects.

Following the consolidation in the Danish brewing industry Royal Unibrew finds itself straddled with more breweries than are economically feasible.

Ulrich Kallmeyer, CEO of Radeberger Group, estimates that beer consumption in Germany will decline 4 percent this year.

Warsteiner admits to a 7 percent drop in draught beer volumes, some of which may have been caused by the ban on smoking.

With collective bargaining talks having failed, employers and workers place their hope on arbitration. Should there be no agreement, strikes will be imminent.

Is a new European brewing giant waiting in wings? On 28 January 2008, Heineken announced that it has established a joint venture with Efes Breweries International.

On the 1st of December, 2007, Oliver Pfeiffer (42) took over the business divison filter aids at Lehmann & Voss & Co. in Hamburg. He is successor to Thomas Antz, who had suddenly and unexpectedly died in November 2007. O. Pfeiffer had previously been manager of logistics at Lehmann & Voss & Co.

The water treatment company Elga Berkefeld, a subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, has developed a process for removing uranium from drinking water. It was firstly presented at the BRAU Beviale European trade fair for the beverages industry. Elga Berkefelds sister-company, Krüger WABAG, developed together with the Karlsruhe Research Centre and ATC Dr. Mann e. K., Obrigheim, a process which re-moves the heavy metal highly selectively. The core component of the system, which is marketed under the name Uranex^®, is a filter with a highly-effective synthetic adsorp-tion material through which the water flows. This process was adapted by Elga Berke-feld to meet the special needs of beverage production.