"Our Hanovia UV system has worked perfectly since we installed it in 2009. We routinely get a zero (bacterial) count after the UV (treatment)."
Brown Brothers is one of Australia's leading family-owned wine companies, with the Brown family making wine in Victoria for over 120 years. Over this time Brown Brothers has established a reputation as one of Australia's most innovative wine producers.
This innovation carries across the whole business, from their cellar door to the production and laboratory facilities. Being a fourth generation family winery, they've seen many changes in the Australian wine industry yet the cornerstone of their success remains as varietal wine specialists and winemaking innovators.
With this mantra in mind, it is only natural that Brown Brothers looked to UV disinfection to produce the sterile water needed for their wine-making process. UV treatment delivers the safest and most environmentally friendly water treatment to their production process, with the UV disinfected water used for bottle washing, process water, laboratory water and just about anywhere else sterile water is required throughout the winery.
In 2009, Brown Brothers updated their existing UV water disinfection system to the latest Hanovia AF3 UV system.
"Our Hanovia UV system has worked perfectly since we installed it in 2009. We routinely get a zero (bacterial) count after the UV (treatment). It wasn't always that way - our old UV system would often return counts for bacteria of 40, 80 or sometimes even 100 CFU (Colony Forming Units)" says Steve Dows from Brown Brothers.
The Hanovia UV disinfection system safeguards Brown Brothers water from the risk of water-borne micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses, yeasts and moulds, as well as protozoa such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Furthermore it does this with no affect on the water's pH, colour or taste. This means there is no impact on the quality, flavour or aroma of the wine, which is important when you are producing gold medal winning wines.
"Chlorine is a no-no anywhere in the wine making process- it can affect the taste of the wine," says Steve.
Brown Brothers use a deep bore as its water supply and positions the Hanovia UV disinfection system after 0.04 micron filters. The UV disinfection has the advantage of using no hazardous chemicals and it introduces no disinfection by-products. It is also effective against all microbes.
After taking out several gold medals in the Royal Melbourne Wine Show in 2012, it's clear that Brown Brothers continue to lay claim as one of Australia's most iconic winemaking success stories.
www.brownbrothers.com.au
Download the PDF of this case study
