Heineken

I. Introduction
HEINEKEN Vietnam is a member of HEINEKEN Group, a brewer present in many
countries in the world. Originating from the Netherlands, HEINEKEN is a family
company with over 150 years of history, producing and distributing over 300 beer brands
and fermented juice in more than 190 countries.
Founded in 1991, HEINEKEN Vietnam now operates 6 brewery factories in Hanoi, Da
Nang, Quang Nam, Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau and Tien Giang and 9 commercial
offices throughout Vietnam.
From humble beginnings with only 20 employees, HEINEKEN Vietnam today has
become the second largest brewer in Vietnam with more than 3,500 employees. Every
year, HEINEKEN Vietnam contributes significantly to Vietnam's economy, accounting
for about 0.9% of the national GDP.
In Vietnam, HEINEKEN produces and distributes beer brands: Heineken, Tiger, Amstel,
Larue, BIVINA, Desperados, Affligem and Strongbow fermented apple juice.
In 2017 and 2018, HEINEKEN Vietnam is honored as the Most Sustainable
Manufacturing Enterprise in Vietnam by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (VCCI) under the Evaluation and Ranking Program for Sustainable Enterprises
in Vietnam ( CSI).

II. Brewing process

a. Ingredient
i. Malt
Firstly, the malt is carefully soaked to start germination process. This naturally releases
enzymes that transfer part of the malt into essential ingredient used for making beer.
After germination, the malt is gently dried out at 80oC. This meticulous process is called
malting. Malting starts the process of converting the malt’s starch into simple sugars. It’s
these sugars that will be converted into alcohol.

ii. Houblon flower

Hops give Heineken its bitterness and aroma. Moreover, hops are also used as beer’s
preservative, stability enhancer, beer’s foam enhancer. There are many varieties of hops,
each with a distinctive flavor; from spicy aromas to mild herbal flavors. Selecting the
right crop is an art form in itself. It should have 19% bitterness, 13% cellulose, 8% ash,
5-10% protein, 20% tannin, 1.5% oil and 4% minerals.

iii. Water
Water is the main ingredient in beer with nearly 95% of the finished product. Being such
a vital ingredient, only the highest quality of water is used with pH from 6.5-7.2,
hardness less than 5oF, turbidity less than 20NP

iv. Yeast
Heineken – “A yeast” is still a unique Heineken yeast nowadays making its beer a unique
special taste.

b. Process
i. Milling
The brewing process start with grinding malt. Malt from the silos is transferred to the
brew house through the conveyors

ii. Mashing
Ground malt and water are heated in the mash tun, allowing starch to be converted into
fermentable sugars.

iii. Wort filtration

The mixture of malt and water which is called mash is filtered to separate spent grains to
create wort.

iv. Boiling with hops

Hops are added to boiling wort in the kettle to enhance the taste and aroma and also to
allow the foam head to develop

v. Wort clarification and cooling

The mixture of hops in wort is whirled in whirlpool separator to remove hop sediments.
The wort is then cooled at 9oC with plate heat exchanger.

vi. Fermentation
Then oxygen is added in the preparation for the fermentation process. Next, the
fermentation is begun at low temperature, and yeast is added to the wort. The temperature
is kept at 9-12oC for 8 to 10 days.
 vii. Maturation.
After fermentation, wort is moved to into incubation chamber for further fermentation.
The temperature at this process is kept at 0 – 20oC for 6 to 8 weeks.

viii. Filtration
The mature beer is then filtered to remove the remaining traces of yeast and protein to
create bright beer for packaging

ix. Packaging
Step 1: Transferring pallet to the conveyors, each pallet containing 800 bottles.
Step 2: Using innopack machine to pick up the bottles from pallet to the conveyors
Step 3: Washing the bottles with heat, NaOH and pressure at different levels to wash the
bottles.
Step 4: Checking the bottles by fluorescence and by eyes.
Step 5: Filling the bottles and cover it.
Step 6: Quality assurance.
Step 7: Pasteurization.

III. Conclusion
After this tour, I learned more about large scale beer processing line and automation
processing line and strengthen my knowledge about lager. Thank to Heineken Viet Nam
for offering this chance for me to study and understand more about Heineken as well as
Heineken products.