Commercial Beverage Production Cooling: Beyond The Brewery August 4, 2026 The commercial beverage sector encompasses a wide range of production environments — soft drinks, juices, functional beverages, RTD coffee, energy drinks, and alcoholic beverages beyond beer and wine. Each category has its own thermal processing requirements, and the cooling systems that support them must be as varied as the products themselves. This article covers the cooling requirements across commercial beverage production categories that complement G&D's deeper coverage of craft brewing and winemaking. Carbonated Soft Drink Production CSD production involves several temperature-sensitive operations: Syrup preparation and mixing: flavoring syrups are blended at controlled temperatures; excess heat can drive off volatile aromatics Carbonation: CO2 solubility in water increases at lower temperatures. Product is typically carbonated at 34-40 degrees F to achieve target carbonation levels efficiently. Chilled water from a central plant serves carbonation equipment. Packaging temperature: filled product must be at controlled temperature before and during packaging to maintain correct carbonation and fill volume. Hot-fill and cold-fill operations have very different temperature requirements. CIP cooling: cleaning in place uses hot caustic and then requires cool rinse water to bring equipment back to production temperature before restart Juice and NFC Beverage Cooling Not-from-concentrate (NFC) juice and HPP (high pressure processed) beverages have specific cooling needs: Post-pasteurization rapid cooling: HPP and flash pasteurization processes require immediate product cooling to below 40 degrees F after the thermal step Cold-fill packaging: NFC juice is often cold-filled — packaged at below 40 degrees F — which requires product to be at temperature throughout the filling process Cold storage: NFC and fresh juices have limited shelf life and must be held at 34-38 degrees F throughout distribution RTD Coffee and Tea The ready-to-drink coffee category has specific cooling requirements tied to its production chemistry: Cold brew: steep at 35-40 degrees F for 12-24 hours; filtration and packaging at cold temperatures Hot-fill/cold-fill: RTD coffee products may be hot-filled (then rapidly cooled) or cold-filled; the thermal processing approach determines cooling requirements Ultra-high temperature (UHT) processing: shelf-stable RTD products are UHT processed and aseptically packaged — rapid cooling from 280+ degrees F is required Beverage Category Primary Cooling Application Carbonated soft drinks Carbonation temperature control; cold-fill packaging; syrup temperature NFC juice Post-pasteurization cooling; cold storage; cold-fill packaging Cold brew coffee/tea Steep temperature; filtration and packaging temperature RTD coffee/tea (UHT) Post-UHT rapid cooling from 280+ degrees F Energy drinks Similar to CSDs; often cold-fill; electrolyte and additive mixing temperature Functional beverages (kombucha, kefir) Culture fermentation temperature; cold packaging and distribution Water (flavored, functional) Carbonation temperature; cold-fill packaging "Commercial beverage production runs 24 hours a day, often 7 days a week. The cooling system doesn't get rest days. Equipment reliability and redundancy aren't nice-to-haves in this environment — they're production requirements."— Paul Johnson, G&D Chillers Frequently Asked Questions What size chiller plant does a commercial beverage facility typically need? This varies enormously by production volume and product type. A small RTD beverage startup producing 10,000 cases per day may need 50-150 tons. A large national beverage facility producing millions of cases per week may have a multi-megawatt central chiller plant. G&D's engineering team can size appropriately based on your specific product, production volume, and thermal process. Does beverage production cooling require food-grade glycol? Yes, for any cooling system where coolant could contact product. Most commercial beverage facilities use food-grade propylene glycol in secondary loops that serve process cooling equipment, with a chilled water primary loop serving the central plant. Verify all glycol in potential food contact applications is food-grade USP PG. > Engineer your commercial beverage production cooling system with G&D -> Contact us