Tubular – Eldon James Corp. has developed antimicrobial plastic tubes, pictured here, that can reduce the need to clean out beer keg lines. Adolph Coors Co. has endorsed the tubes for its beer customers.

Loveland – Eldon James Corp. has taken a giant step toward selling its tubing products to the brewing industry.

That's because industry giant Adolph Coors Co. has given its blessing to the anti-microbial tubing developed by the Loveland company.

"I think it's going to benefit Coors and the industry," said Mike Smith, national draft manager for Coors. "It will allow us to fight a lot of the bacteria that harms beer."

Coors recently tested the Eldon James tubing and approved it for use with its beer kegs. The approval means Coors distributors can begin to buy the tubes for use with their draft beer accounts.

Tubes carry beer between the kegs and the taps. However, bacteria can build up in the tubes over time leaving a film on the surface of the tubes and fittings. Consequently, keg systems require regular flushing and cleaning of the tubes with chemical solutions.

Eldon James has developed a means to coat the tubing lining with silver, a metal that is a natural anti-microbial agent. The presence of silver kills bacteria and minimizes its build-up in the tubes.

Use of the antimicrobial tubes means beer distributors can cut back on the frequency of the cleaning process, which can translate into significant cost savings.

"For distributors, it will help the bottom line," Smith said. "Ultimately it will save time for distributors and, will cut down on liability issues. Liability is a potential issue anytime a cleaning solution is introduced into a beer line, he said.

Currently Coors policy requires that any line over 25 feet long has to be cleaned weakly, and a line less than 25 feet has to be cleaned every other week. Smith said Coors hasn't determined yet how that cleaning policy will change with the use of Eldon James tubing.

Eldon James did not set out to develop the tubes for the beer market, said Marcia Sampson, the company's president. The company was selling a flexible polyethylene tube before it started work with the antimicrobial additive last fall. Early users were laboratories, including biotechnology companies.

"We just kind of kind of had some things evolve and it turns out the beer industry really has a problem with microbial growth," Sampson said. "Microorganisms love to grow. This is an industry that could really benefit."

The major hurdle was to ensure that the beer's taste would not be harmed by the contact with the silver. Coors ran the product past a test panel, which couldn't detect any impact, Smith said.

Coors is the first to authorize the Eldon James product, but doesn't have exclusive rights. In fact, other national and Colorado brewers are testing the product with their own products.

"My experience is when you start counting money before it's in the bank, it seems to disappear," she said.

Predicting the impact of the products also means predicting the potential markets for the antimicrobial tubes. Sampson isn't sure where that will stop.

"Customers keep testing it," she said. "With each customer reporting back, it opens new markets. It's hard to imagine how many industries and companies we can help."

updated 10/4/04