Wort Stripping: Thermo-dynamic aspects of evaporative processes – Part 1

In modern brewing technology, evaporation during wort boiling is less a matter of adjusting original gravity but, together with hop isomerization and protein precipitation, of removing undesirable aroma substances to a level lower than the sensory threshold. In commercial operations, apart from very widely used atmospheric boiling, a combination of hot holding and evaporation or boiling under pressure or vacuum, together with post-evaporative systems, is frequently used. These additional evaporators are often in the form of a vacuum unit or a stripping process after removal of hot break. Stripping usually takes place as a continuous process where a gas stream serves to vaporize the liquid and, consequently, to desorb a certain portion of the aroma components contained therein.

Process innovations of the new brewhouse of the Karmeliten Brauerei in Straubing – Part 2: The lauter tun Lotus

An article entitled “New stage for classical brewing art”, published in BRAUWELT no. 45, 2012, pp. 1333-1334, reported on an innovative brewhouse concept. Meanwhile, the Karmeliten Brauerei in Straubing has implemented these ideas in its new brewhouse for the first time. These innovative products will now be presented in a series of articles and the gained practical experience will be summarized accordingly. Part 2 of this series describes the lauter tun Lotus.

Fermented beverages of the world – an overview

Rich stock | Fermentation is one of the oldest methods used purposefully in food processing and beverage production. In the processes, components undergo a material conversion by microorganisms or enzymes such that products are formed that have an influence on stability, aroma and/or tannin content and that are oftentimes regarded as having physiological properties.

Fermented beverages of the world – an overview

Rich stock | Fermentation is one of the oldest methods used purposefully in food processing and beverage production. In the processes, components undergo a material conversion by microorganisms or enzymes so that metabolites are formed that have an influence on stability, aroma and/or tannin content and that are oftentimes regarded as having physiological properties. In this four-part contribution, you will find beverages – arranged neatly in accordance with the raw materials used – whose recipes nowadays form the basis for the creative spirit of beverage technologists. The data can also be used, if required, for market research. This will be shown at the end by an example.

Aroma profiles of selected wheat beer yeast strains

The aroma profile of a beer depends on many factors. The majority of valuable aroma components are formed by yeast during fermentation. Unfortunately, the significance of yeast is frequently underestimated and it is oftentimes seen only as a “means to an end”. Selection of the yeast strain plays an important part in formation of esters, higher alcohols and other aroma components, in particular for top-fermenting beers. Every yeast strain has a particular genome and, thus, different modes of aroma synthesis. In order to be able to assess the anticipated aroma profile of a wheat beer, different wheat beer yeast strains were tested under standardised conditions to determine their fermentation characteristics and formation of aroma substances at the Research Center Weihenstephan for Brewing and Food Quality.

“Star” is still the star

For many decades now, Nigerian Breweries Plc. (NB) has been the undisputed Number One in Nigeria’s beer market. The group is expanding vigorously, but is meanwhile having to cope with fiercer competition. NB/Heineken upsizes its brewing and filling capacities firstly by acquisitions, and secondly by upgrading its existing facilities. The group’s operations include six complete lines from Krones. Its most recent investment was a new returnable-glass line at its Aba brewery in 2012, which replaced two existing smaller lines.

New Belgium Brewing awarded GEA Brewery Systems, Kitzingen (Germany) the contract for the new brewhouse, cold process area, filtration and finishing systems of the brewery in Asheville.

Beer filling

So far, we’ve talked about how beer is produced. If we now go into our cellar, we should find finished, filtered beer ready for enjoyment. But that does not really help us because it’s our customers who want to have our beer. So we have to have some ideas of how we ship our beer to the customer. This is when we have to look at filling our finished beer.

Reduced temperature bottle washing goes into commercial operation

In commercial operations, bottle washers (BW) for returnable glass bottles are operated at temperatures sometimes well above 80 °C for safety reasons. Against a backdrop of rising energy prices, the question arises as to how far caustic temperature can be lowered, without sailing too close to the wind and causing problems in washing standards or in microbiology. Following pilot tests in the Fink Tec GmbH laboratory, appraisal tests have been carried out in bottle washer 1 at Stieglbrauerei zu Salzburg GmbH in Austria.

Beer fermentation

On a brewery tour, while accompanying people who are unfamiliar with brewing, one can sometimes hear the question in the brewhouse when looking at the wort in the lauter tun “Does this already contain alcohol?”. After a bit of chuckling, one gets back to business as usual, explaining fermentation and the associated formation of alcohol in a matter of about 5 minutes. In Brewing 101, this will take a bit longer but will be much more detailed.

Inaugurated by the Maltese President and blessed by the Archbishop, this major national, and European, event was also attended by the acting Prime Minister, leader of the Opposition party and a number of guests from overseas, including The Brewers of Europe.