Further innovation | BrauKon GmbH, a globally renowned brewery equipment manufacturer, operates its own 50 hl brewery, Camba Bavaria, in Seeon, Bavaria, in addition to fabricating its own equipment. This combination of engineering and brewing under one roof is unique: 120 employees, 36 of them brewmasters and engineers, test and optimize all BrauKon products in the process of brewery operations. The equipment manufacturer, which claims to be the market leader in hop technology, has already launched the second generation of its successful cold hopping system, the “HopGun® 2.0”.

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.

Unique character | Brewers of craft beer are creative and know exactly what they want – unique beer that has big taste and lots of charisma. There is no way they would be able to meet these special requirements without the key role that filtration plays in the brewing process. The chosen filtration process can have a heavy influence on the turbidity, color and taste of the beer – as you will see in this fifth and final part of the series about filtration in breweries.

Maximum product safety | Filtration is an integral part of all process steps in the brewery. No matter how the beer is brewed, final microbiological stabilization is always carried out before the beer is bottled. This is normally done using flash pasteurization, but many breweries are now using cold-sterile membrane filtration too. This final filtration step offers brewery operators numerous advantages – as you will see in part 4 of this five-part series about filtration in breweries.

Optimizing beer quality | Whether at home, at a restaurant or at a local festival, there are many opportunities in life to enjoy a refreshing beer. To ensure that it has a polished, clear appearance and tastes good, it must be the right color and not turn turbid when poured—traits that are achieved thanks to fine filtration during the brewing process. Part three of a five-part series on the filtration process in breweries deals with this topic.

Fewer particles, improved quality | Suspended solids, filter aids, tannin-protein complexes: A wide variety of particles can affect the shelf life and brilliance of beer. Clarifying and trap filtration remove unwanted components and increase beer quality. This is the second installment of a five-part series on the filtration process in breweries.
Clarifying filtration plays a key part in the brewing process. There is scarcely a better way to increase a beer’s shelf life. But it can do much more than that. Aside from preserving the beer, it gives the beer clarity and brilliance – two of the most important things customers look for in beer. Only a few specific, cloudy specialty beers and craft beers, which are usually consumed locally within a short time, are able to forgo the process.

Gentle filtration | To satisfy the increasing worldwide demand for premium beers with an unaltered flavour profile, Bucher Unipektin AG Competence Center Filtration has developed Stefinox, a plant for cold sterile filtration of beer and all other kinds of filtered beverages (e.g. wine, spirits, soft drinks or water).

Developers want feedback | On October 1, 2020, Dr. Mark Schneeberger assumed leadership of Application Development Beverage & Beer at GEA in Kitzingen, Germany. He succeeded Dr. Rudolf Michel, who went into well-deserved retirement at the end of March 2021. BRAUWELT interviewed Dr. Schneeberger about his new position, one year on.

Spent grain residue | Mash filters are currently the most common alternative to the classic lauter tun. The central filtering medium are filter cloths made of plastic. These filter cloths need to be thoroughly cleaned as following filtration they may be covered with spent grain residue.

Complex device | A modern, properly designed mash filter is a rather complex hydrodynamic device. In the followig article the author discusses how mash filters could become more accessible.

Highest beer quality | Modern process engineering and automation are optimizing processes in the breweries. When it comes to quality, taste and beer shelf life, it pays to take a closer look at filtration, as it has a major impact on the entire brewing process. This is the first of a five-part series on the filtration process in the breweries. We start with an overview of the process steps before covering the topics of clarification and trap filtration, fine filtration, and membrane filtration in detail in the following parts. The series will conclude with special filtration solutions for craft beer production.