In this article, the author discusses turbidity, the measurement of turbidity and the results of the latest series of comparisons carried out across some German breweries in view of a route to standardising the turbidity measurement for the brewing industry.

More than 3 years ago, a renewed discussion began about the standardisation of turbidity (haze) measurement in the brewing industry, in which the MEBAK institution (Mittel-europäische Brautechnische Analysen-kommission) played a key role. The subject of the discussion was the correlation between turbidity meters available on the market. Haffmans and other manufacturers took the lead, and MEBAK coordinated two series of comparisons to set up a standard procedure for turbidity measurement in beer. ...

On 9th September 2004 SAB/Miller, brewers of Pilsner Urquell, celebrated the inauguration of a new Huppmann brewhouse at the Plzensky Prazdroj Brewery in the Czech Republic. The newly constructed brewhouse increases capacity and preserves the traditional method of producing their world class beer.

Plzensky Prazdroj has completed stages one and two of the reconstruction and expansion of the Pilsner Urquell brewhouse at its Pilsen brewery. The new brewhouse is incorporated into the existing facility and is one of the most modern facilities of this kind in Europe reports Pilsner Urquell. The company required this strategic expansion to increase the Pilsner Urquell beer production for foreign markets. Pilsner Urquell is an international flagship brand of SAB/Miller global group. ...

The Finnish Hartwall Group consistently chooses the latest technologies for its brewing site in Lahti. This applies equally to the production, the filling plant and the warehouse. The brewhouse in particular reflects this philosophy and defines new standards for wort boiling. This article reports on the experiences made with this largest Merlin brewhouse in Europe up to now.

The heart of the plant, with its diameter of eight metres, is the largest Merlin® in Europe up to now. Merlin would make it possible to achieve the highest wort qualities with merely about half the energy consumption of a conventional boiling plant, forecast Jorma Rasi, responsible at Hartwall for the area Research and Development, on the occasion of the awarding of the contract...

At Beck & Co, it was necessary to replace the complete automation equipment in the brewhouse, and that with production running. This contribution reports on the required planning and installation works, all of which had to be carried out within a very narrow time frame. The internationally known Beck & Co brewery in Bremen, part of the Belgian Interbrew Group, produces some millions of hectolitres of beer per annum, with a rising trend. In October 2002, cleaning agent escaped while filling vessels in brewhouse 1. This caused irreparable damage to the process control equipment of all three production lines. After a short shutdown, it was possible to resume temporary production with restricted throughput. Medium term, however, the automation equipment had to be renewed completely....

Without question, our beer is brewed with very great care and the qualitative condition of delivered keg beer meets the highest standards. Beer delivered to restaurants and pubs practically always tests negative. However, in the second half of the 1990’s, concerns were voiced about hygienic shortcomings in dispensing draught beer, disquieting customers and shaking up breweries.

Apart from ongoing hygienic shortcomings in dispensing of draught beer, a second problem has still not been completely solved.
Every brewer fills his beer with a certain CO2 content. For bottom fermented beers, this ranges between 4 and 6 g/l and can be somewhat higher for top fermented beers.
Strictly speaking, a change of CO2 content contravenes German Dispensing Equipment Regulations § 9: "(....

Centrifugal pump suppliers should meet customer and application needs of both standard and premium duty pumps without compromising vital design and quality issues.

In order to cover most needs for sanitary pumping applications - pump manufacturers today need to cover a portfolio of standard duty pumps and premium duty pumps. Due to performance and costs, the split - as indicated below - between premium and standard duty pumps is important.

In general the performances of standard duty pumps can be defined accordingly:
- Inlet pressure typically up to 4 bar (59 psi);
- Temperature typically up to 120 °C (250 °F);
- Viscosity typically up to 150 cP.....

Wort aeration is the only time during beer production that oxygen is added intentionally to the substrate. In this context, "yeast aeration" would be a more appropriate term.
It should be remembered that aeration is really intended to provide yeast with an optimal quantity of oxygen so as to improve yeast propagation and vitality. Aeration of wort as such is not the objective. Looking at research in recent years, it is obvious that, from a technological point of view, it was directed towards adopting all conceivable measures for reducing oxygen ingress. By lowering oxygen ingress, formation of precursors of staling substances should be limited on the one hand and antioxidants present should be preserved on the other hand. But simultaneously, the oxygen reacts with wort constituents.e.

As a result of the energy crises in the 1970’s, a lot of effort was expended in determining whether it was technologically necessary to continue carrying out wort boiling at atmospheric pressure. Shortly before the energy crises, Rennie (1) studied a possible alternative for wort preparation. He tried producing worts with a hot holding phase at 85°C for 90 min in an open copper. With this extremely gentle wort preparation, he succeeded at that time in producing attractive and comparatively taste-stable beers. This idea of gentle wort treatment is very much alive today. Modern wort boiling systems involve very low thermal stressing, as measured by the TBI, thereby contributing to improved taste stabilities (2). The "SchoKo" boiling system is examined in greater detail below. 1).

As sales of beer cannot be increased nowadays at will, it becomes more important to look at other areas with potential - solid automation engineering can help. The essential element: Integration at all levels of production. Only those systems with uninterrupted data transfer and batch tracking, easy to operate and facilitating comprehensive transparency in the process, guarantee an improvement in efficiency. Feldschlösschen Brewery in Rheinfelden (Switzerland) took the opportunity to install such a system, assisted by ProLeiT system specialists.

Feldschlösschen Getränke AG, a subsidiary of "Carlsberg Breweries", operates the largest brewery in Switzerland at their head office in Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau.

Optimum results in terms of brewing and energy technology require a comprehensive consideration of all process steps of wort boiling. Therefore Huppmann understands modern wort boiling as a package consisting of heating-up, the actual wort boiling and wort treatment during cast-out. A comparison of different systems proves the advantages of this global approach.

In the last few years important developments and improvements in wort boiling technique have been made. Due to the demand to reduce energy consumption new processes and technical solutions have been introduced in the brewing industry.

Optimum results in terms of brewing and energy technology require a comprehensive consideration of all process steps of wort boiling. 72 - 74 °C and heated up there.
2. 2).

A new wort boiling system named "Stromboli" has recently come on the market. This system produces exceptional worts and beers at total evaporation rates below 4%. The "Stromboli" principle is based on the classic internal boiler, whereby "Stromboli" does not have the disadvantages of this classic system. Furthermore, "Stromboli" can easily be retrofitted to existing plants with internal boilers.

The new wort boiling system named "Stromboli" produces exceptional worts and beers at total evaporation rates below 4%. The "Stromboli" principle is based on the classic internal boiler, whereby "Stromboli" does not have the disadvantages of this classic system. Furthermore, "Stromboli" can easily be retrofitted to existing plants with internal boilers.e.