Surplus yeast tank failing catastrophically

A large surplus yeast tank shot into the air leaving the floor plate and the contents behind. Although not designed for overpressure, the tank was kept at “very slight overpressure” to suppress nuisance foaming. The brewery was unaware of the hazards of compressed air. The accident described in this article serves to illustrate that care should be taken if a tank originally designed for atmospheric pressure is modified to operate at slight overpressure.

Some reflections on mashing – Part 1

Despite the fact that malt quality can undergo fluctuations from year to year, brewers are very reluctant to change their mash schedules for fear of the inscrutable consequences this might have on the quality of their beer. But this is precisely what the process of mashing is all about. Mashing is a highly flexible instrument which affords a brewer the capacity to effectively overcome the challenges of contending with difficult malt. Thus, it offers a brewer the means to effectively compensate for the shortcomings of a particular year’s crop and, in turn, helps to ensure a consistently high quality product even if the quality of the raw materials does not always remain the same. The mashing process also provides a brewer with a great deal of creative control, which can be harnessed in the development of novel and unique beers – a boon for brewers looking to alleviate monotony in their products. Through a clever combination of rests, the performance of the enzymes derived from the malt can be made to rival any supplemental technical enzymes, and the malt’s own enzymes are, of course, fully in compliance with the German Purity Law for Beer.

Ball Corporation, Broomfield/USA, has agreed to sell to Ardagh Group S.A., Luxembourg/Luxembourg, eight U.S. aluminum can plants and associated assets in order to settle FTC charges that its proposed acquisition of Rexam PLC, London/Great Britain, – worth USD 8.4 billion when proposed in February 2015 – is likely anticompetitive.

Fermentation properties of bottom-fermenting brewers’ yeasts used in high-gravity brewing

How do bottom-fermenting yeasts behave at an original gravity of 18 per cent by weight? Are they genetically stable? How can their homogeneity be verified? The objective of Research Project IGF-16473N was to find answers to these questions.

New generation of can fillers at Pilsner Urquell

The can is currently undergoing a clear growth on the European market and proving very popular among consumers, with beer and soft drinks in particular the canned beverages of choice. In the next few years leading beverage can manufacturers forecast a further growth in sales on the international markets. Reason enough, then, for brewery Pilsner Urquell to continue to market its world-famous specialty beer of the same name in cans and to invest in a new can filler.

Gantry robots in the brewing and beverage industry

Packaging diversity in the brewing and beverage industry has been on the increase for years. For example, whereas all German brewers filled more or less the same beer crates with identical Euro bottles in times past, one nowadays finds a colourful mix of bottle shapes and packaging types. In any event, this plus in versatility involves more changeovers, in particular more sorting and repacking costs, in a nutshell: machinery and equipment has to comply with more complex specifications. Nevertheless, packers and palletisers in the brewing and beverage industry must, at the same time, be reliable, effective and economical. This circumscribes an environment in which freely programmable and flexibly adaptable robot solutions score – especially when in gantry-frame design.

Influence of mashing parameters on release of precursors of phenolic wheat beer aroma

Tests were carried out in order to investigate the influence of mashing conditions such as temperature, time and pH on the development of precursors such as ferulic and p-coumaric phenolic acids. Another objective related to identifying a means of minimizing cinnamic acid, a precursor of styrene. This contribution drawn up in the context of a research project provides an overview of interrelationships and possibilities of influencing the process.

A decanter used as Intelligent Whirlpool System

In most breweries nowadays, the whirlpool is a state-of-the-art system to remove hot trub from wort. A decanter, when used in combination with a whirlpool, will decrease wort losses to a minimum while positively influencing the quality of the wort and the resulting beer. This article introduces the Intelligent Whirlpool System (IWS) developed by Alfa Laval Copenhagen, Denmark.

Water treatment tailor-made

Water used as raw material and for technological processes in the brewing industry is by no means chemically pure and undergoes rapid changes in terms of chemical and microbiological composition. Depending on hydrogeological conditions, compositions of waters vary, as does the quality of natural waters. The fact that water is a good solvent for polar and ionic substances with high thermal capacity and heat of evaporation makes it suitable for many technical applications.

Increasing filtration efficiency through special depth filter sheets

One of the major parts of the beer brewing process is filtration as it is crucial for producing high quality beer with excellent flavor and color, and with good shelf stability. Filtration has always placed high demands on filter media and until a couple of decades ago depth filter sheets were being changed after every filtration. However, the brewing industry has now discovered new ways to increase profitability and significantly reduce filtration costs: through backwashing and regeneration of the filters.

Chlorine dioxide solutions in the beverage industry

Use of chlorine dioxide for disinfection of drinking, process and industrial water, for bottle disinfection and for disinfection of plants and plant components has been common practice in beverage production for decades. However, the oxidising disinfectant causes corrosion on metal surfaces. The corrosion behaviour of austenitic chromium-nickel steel 1.4301 (304SS, V2 A) at different concentrations of chlorine dioxide has been investigated in the Dr. Küke GmbH laboratory, Wedemark. A chlorine dioxide solution containing hydrochloric acid and a pH neutral one was used.