Bottling and filling

In bottling, the finished drink is filled into bottles, cans, kegs or cartons and sealed. Hygiene is decisive, because even small amounts of germs or oxygen can impair shelf life and flavour. Bottles are rinsed, often treated with steam or hot water, and sometimes flushed with inert gas before filling.

For carbonated drinks, filling is done under counter pressure so that the carbon dioxide does not escape. Small producers fill by hand or semi-automatically, large plants manage several tens of thousands of bottles per hour. Afterwards batch number and best-before date are applied to the label.