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David Kuntz wouldn‘t believe it. u\hefounnderolflnl(mm-ymldwalkthwh the Carling O‘Keefe Brewery in~Waterloo today, he‘d be amazed. For that matter, so would the average citizen. During peak production times, the plant makes 23 milâ€" lion bottles of beer a year and a mechanical device can bottle approximately 625â€"30 bottles of beer a minute. The brewery business has come a long way since David Kuntz founded a brewery in Waterloo in 1844. Ailthough the first building was constructed on the present site of the Carling Brewery on William Street, the company now occupies six buildings on two city blocks in the heart of Waterioo â€" administration office, retail store, brew house, cellar building, bottle storage building and a bottling, shipâ€" ping and receiving building. The Waterfoo branch employs 300 people â€" 50 salaried, and 250 in the plant â€" of which the average employee has served 20 years. ‘‘Once someone gets in here, they either retire or die of old age,‘"* Wm. White, plant manager says frankly. ‘"Obviousâ€" ly we must be doing something right." _ _ S __An employee‘ of Carling‘s O‘Keefe for 25 years himself, Mr. White acknowledges the plant employees on a first name basis and vice versa when giving a tour through the plant. . _ Group tours are no longer given to the public because, according to Mr. White, it is distracting to the workers. At the same time, a mixture of raw corn and water is boiled in a kettle for about 20 minutes. This changes the starch into a fermentable material. The corn mixture is then pumped into the malt mash in a 10,000 gallon copper kettle. Two or three times a week, a railroad grain carrier containing 50,000 lbs. per carload unloads at Carling‘s. Once the grain is pumped through various pipes to the brewing house, it is mashed and added with water in a large stainless steel kettle. A slot in the bottom leaves the spent material behind, which is later sold to farmers for cattle feed. ‘‘This is where the brew basically starts," explains Mr. White. ‘"The mixture is boiled at 212 degrees (Fahrenheit ) for about 90 minutes." + ‘"*As the biggest user of water in Waterloo, we use more than we end up with,"" says Mr. White. Ed Hergott, assistant head brewer says, ‘‘We add the hops at this point and extract the bitterness we want from the hops. After the brew is made, caustic is circulated in to clean out the kettle." Any valve can be opened or closed with a panel board in the fully automated brew house. * All the water used for brewing goes through carbon and sand filters then goes through two stages of demineralizing. **We end up with practically distilled water," says Mr. Hergott. _ y The bottle storage building can store up to 400,000 dozen bottles of beer at one time. It is in this building that the used and returned bottles are uncased, placed on a conâ€" veyor belt, and subsequently sent upstairs in a washing device. Before being bottled, all processed beer goes through a beer filter which handles 12,000 gallons an hour. Once the beer is brewed, it is fermented for seven days in 47 open and 10 closed tanks, then it is kept in various levels of storage for about a month. ~ _**We can have about one and threeâ€"quarterâ€"million galâ€" lons of beer kept in storage in our cellars,"" says Mr. White. ‘‘*Nothing under 28 days of storage is shipped out."" Storage rooms are always kept at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Before each batch of beer is sent out, it is inspected by the chemistry lab. As well as taste testing, the three full« time staff members check the colour of beer in every tank. For a period of 15 to 20 minutes, thg bottles go through various â€"soapages and rinses which takes labels and all other debris off the bottles. The bottles are sterilized when they come out an the second floor conveyor belt. As the sound registers at 85 decibels, the 72 employees on the bottling floor have to wear either ear muffs or plugs and safety glasses in case of broken glass. It is mandatory for employees to wear hearing protection at 90 decibels. By 1910 the Kuntz Brewery had grown to become the second largest in Ontario. The Kuntz Brewery was sold to E.P. Taylor of Ottawa in 1929. The Carling Brewery in London closed in 1936 and amalgamated with the Kuntz Brewery of Waterloo. The title of The Carling Kuntz Brewâ€" ery was retained until 1940 Mr. Taylor remained a major shareholder until 1968 when Rothman‘s of Pall Mall Canada Ltd. took over. They are now the major shareholders of the company. The bottles are filled with beer by jet spray at 625 to 630 bottles a minute at a temperature of 32 or 33 degrees Fahâ€" renheit. Beer freezes at 27 or 28 degrees Fahrenheit. After being checked by an automatic and human bottle inspector for correct level content, the bottles are packed, sealed and sent to the ground floor for shipping. via an automatic palatizer. ‘‘Once the beer hits the storage floor, it is at its peak for consumption."" says Mr. White. ‘"We like to see it conâ€" sumed within a three month period. Unlike liquor, the fresher it is the better. When it hits the bottle. it‘s fresh." An accurate inventory system keeps the stacked beer on a continual rotation system. Within a week,. the floor is basically rejuvenated. The Kuntz family name has been synonymous with Waâ€" terloo for 100 years up to 1940. Although founded by David Kuntz in 1884, Louis Kuntz took over the business from his father in 1870 and the brewery became known as the L. Kuntz Park Brewery. + What goes on behind the doors at Carlings Story by Sandy Hazell [ L 3# Photos by Dave Johnson % +Â¥ %. Miltions of bottles take the same route through the bottle washer to become sterilized and completely stripped of labels and debris. Ear mutffs are mandatory in the bottling room, as the sound reaches 85 decibels Bottles are jet sprayed filled with beer at 625 to 630 bottles a minute Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, March 24, 1976 â€" Page 13