Rolec headquarters in Chieming, Upper Bavaria, Germany

A reason to celebrate | 20 years is not an eternity but still ample time to stockpile a few good stories to tell. Rolec Prozess- und Brautechnik GmbH in Chieming, Germany, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Wolfgang Roth and Karl Lechner founded the company on July 16, 2003. In this article, Managing Director Ralph Wittkopp discusses the brewing equipment manufacturer’s early days and their first forays into the USA, as well as their current success on a global scale as a supplier of process and brewing technology. He tells of how they have established themselves as a firm fixture in the brewing world and not just in the craft segment.

Mash-lauter tun with cone, close-up

Sud Sixty Six | The novel brewhouse concept from banke GmbH combines many advantages in terms of technology, engineering and economy. With only two brew vessels and thus the smallest feasible footprint, a revolutionary 6 brews per day are achieved in 60 minutes of lautering time. Combined with the Exergon Brew energy management system, the lowest possible energy consumption can be achieved.

Beer bottles in front of the Hofbräuhaus in Munich, close-up

Energy monitoring 4.0 | As a state-owned brewery, the Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in Munich, Germany, feels it owes it to the environment and its customers especially to assume responsibility for better protection of our climate and act as a role model for other companies by adopting a clear position in this respect. In order to identify and realise potential savings in its consumption of steam, water and compressed air according to its environmental targets, an energy monitoring system has now been installed with the help of Endress+Hauser that makes consistent use of digitalisation.

Inside a lauter tun (Photo: Clément Bucco-Lechat, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brasserie_Ratz_-_20140926_-_Cuve_à_mélanger.jpg)

Mash filtration | Productivity of a brewery may be considerably compromised by lautering performance. In order to counteract inefficiencies and accelerate the process, a new process strategy was investigated in the context of a research project at the Department of Process Systems Engineering. In this second part of the article series, we present the results of laboratory tests and their significance for day-to-day brewery operation.

Test result NIR spectroscopy (Photo: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Common; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Testing_the_NIRSpec_instrument_on_the_Webb.jpg)

Real-time quality assurance | Research initiative smartfoodtechnologyOWL at the OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts is committed to the digitalisation of the food industry. One of its focuses is on the real-time quality assurance of food during production. Data-intensive and non-invasive sensors such as near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) detectors play an important role here, as measurement times can be achieved in the process that are also of interest for system control using specific quality parameters.

Impeller casing of a centrifugal pump cut open for demonstration purposes

General information | From the multiplicity of pump types, pumps should always be selected so that they are optimally suited to the particular case. In this final part of the pump series, Dr. Hans-J. Manger presents the most important criteria to be considered when selecting pumps.

Many visitors, mostly sitting on beer benches, at the Brewda Beer Festival

Young, creative and ambitious | It all began in Australia. While in Melbourne for business, the then 18-year-old Roel Buckens discovered he had a passion for brewing. Back in the Netherlands, he started his first brewing experiments, and in 2015 he then opened the Frontaal Brewing Company in Breda. His creative beers obviously hit a nerve. Thanks to several crowdfunding campaigns, the brewery has steadily grown ever since. Frontaal recently invested in a completely new brewing plant at its new location, “The Bay”. The project was realised together with Rolec GmbH, a German specialist for process and brewery technology from Chieming in Upper Bavaria.

View into a lauter tun (Photo: Clément Bucco-Lechat, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brasserie_Ratz_-_20140926_-_Cuve_à_mélanger.jpg)

Mash filtration | Productivity of a brewery may be considerably compromised by lautering performance. In order to counteract inefficiencies and accelerate the process, a new process strategy was investigated in the context of a research project at the Department of Process Systems Engineering. In a two-part article, we will present the theoretical approach, use of packing and its application in a practical test on a laboratory scale.

Person sitting in front of computer screen (Photo: Charles Deluvio on Unsplash)

Data analysis | Increasing digitalisation makes it possible to collect and analyse copious amounts of data with multivariate cause-and-effect relationships. However, brewery operations face major challenges when attempting implementation on their own. This contribution presents findings and solution pattern from the research project “Data-driven Process Optimisation using Machine Learning in the Beverage Industry” (DaPro).

Three computer screens on a desk in front of a window showing a city skyline at night and electric blue numbers and lines (Picture: Geralt on Pixabay)

Digital transformation | The construction of a new production facility poses increasingly greater challenges for the international brewing and beverage industry. To name just a few factors: Its flexibility must be ever greater, it must consume fewer and fewer resources and raw materials and its time to market must be as short as possible. Against this background, Ziemann Holvrieka GmbH is breaking new ground in the realization of a turnkey project. In this case, standardization and digitalization are of central importance.

Impeller casing of a centrifugal pump cut open for demonstration purposes

Optimum operating point | The seventh part of our pump series deals with the performance of pumps. When sizing a pump, the delivery rate anticipated as well as pressure to be handled have to be considered and adjusted to pump conditions. In this way, the plant designer can select a pump having optimal hydraulic efficiency. The pump characteristic curve and possibilities to influence same are essential parameters in this instance.

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