Battle of beer cultures: rock stars meet tradition

The American craft beer invasion of Europe is more than competition for markets. It’s as much a battle of beer cultures as it is a battle over the prerogative on taste. BRAUWELT International’s Ina Verstl discusses the repercussions with Belgian beer industry expert Krishan Maudgal.

Unfathomable growth in the City by the Sea

San Diego, California is situated in the far southwestern corner of the US on the border with Mexico and looks out across the vast expanse of the Pacific. Along with other famous cities further up the coast, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, San Diego is on the extreme western edge of the so-called Occident. Nevertheless, its influence has been felt across the brewing world. The Golden State, as California is known, is the birthplace of American craft beer, and the state’s brewing industry continues to exhibit healthy growth. San Diego was settled by immigrants from Europe, Latin America and Asia, among others, who followed the sun in search of gold. Those still seeking gold in California will find that it still flows in great abundance – as “the juice of the barley”.

TCM Mash Filter: Quo vadis? – Part 2

This series of articles provides a detailed description of the installation and operation of the thin-layer chamber mash filter (TCM). The design of the mash filter and the results of worldwide inspections were presented in part 1, BRAUWELT International no. 3 2015, pp. 154-158. The following part deals with the question of achieving a full extract yield and discusses the options currently available as well as the limitations.

TCM Mash Filter: Quo vadis? – Part 1

The following series of articles provides a detailed description of the installation and operation of the thin-layer chamber mash filter (TCM). Part 1 presents the design of the mash filter and the results of worldwide inspections with the aid of tables and images. In Part 2 the author then deals with the question of achieving a full extract yield, demonstrating the options currently available and the limitations.

The lure of numbers

In the business world there is a cruel joke about Brazil: it’s the country of the future – always has been, always will be. The only thing of which we can be certain is that the future cannot be known, and that any prediction is at best a gamble. Then why did foreign brewers fall for Brazil’s luridly tempting projections?

Energy and water management in the brewery – Part 3

Many different technical solutions for improving the environmental performance in a brewery are widely available from the major brewhouse suppliers. In part 1 of this series, the combination of a vapour condenser, condensate cooler, heat storage tank (stratification tank) and wort preheater was discussed. This is the obvious choice for any new brewery for recovery and reuse of thermal energy, even though this solution is not always a guarantee that energy is effectively recovered and reused. Often there is an imbalance between heat recovery and heat reuse. In spite of the benefits, surprisingly few breweries use stratification tanks.

Skol! to the Ikea way

Swedes are on first name terms with Billy, Malm and Hemnes. They come in birch veneer, black-brown, oak veneer and white and are sold by Ikea. Ever since Ikea was founded exactly 70 years ago, it has not only changed the way Swedes furnish their homes – perhaps eight in ten people sleep on an Ikea mattress, and it’s even been suggested that most babies are conceived in Ikea beds – it has also changed the way Swedes run their lives. If you can assemble an Akurum kitchen without going mad, you won’t be daunted by the task of building your own brewery. Don’t get me wrong. Not every Swedish homebrewer has turned to brewing full-time, but quite a few have. Therefore, today’s 70 or so craft breweries owe their existence, at least in part, to the prevalent Ikea can-do approach.

Thermally regenerated kieselguhr – an alternative to conventional kieselguhr?

The notion that thermally regenerated kieselguhr could serve as an alternative to conventional, untreated kieselguhr has been a topic of discussion for years in the German brewing industry. Some view kieselguhr, also known as diatomaceous earth, which has been thermally regenerated, as a fully acceptable alternative while others refuse to even consider it. When attempting to ascertain basic facts on this subject, it becomes evident that there is almost no solid information specific to this application. Therefore, an objective evaluation for the utilization of thermally regenerated kieselguhr in beer filtration is needed. The results of the evaluation conducted by the VLB Berlin in cooperation with Tremonis GmbH, Dortmund are described in this paper.

From vintner’s son to prominent brewer in the Italian craft beer scene

When he came into the world, Teo Musso’s path was already laid for him as the son of a vintner in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, a region known above all for Barolo (barrique) wine. However, as is often the case, his destiny took an unexpected turn. When Teo was 15 years old, his father Enrico Musso began to train his son’s palate to recognize the “proper” flavors preferred in wine by giving him a glass of wine and water. This marked the beginning of an on-going conflict between the two. Young Teo, who was groomed to follow in his father’s footsteps, made up his mind to thwart his father’s plans for him and, in rebellion, began drinking beer – though he didn’t really care for it.

Pentair Filtration Solutions has acquired Carl Prandtl MicroFiltration (CPM), a global leader in sterile air filtration. CPM brings Pentair Filtration Solutions over a century of innovation and expertise in sterile air filtration technologies in the Food and Beverage industry. . CPM also offers a line of in-process and off-line filter cartridge integrity testing equipment.

Depth filtration makes a comeback

Beer filtration has seen significant developments over the last 25 years. An excellent overview, including a synopsis of the status quo and the prospects for the future for this sector, was published in the BRAUWELT anniversary edition [1]. Most systems are either new or based on further developments of existing technologies that usually require substantial investment and therefore represent a significant hurdle for small and medium-size companies. True to the motto “Never change a winning team”, Begerow uses a different approach for offering breweries environment-friendly and economic filtration solutions. Read on to find out how different breweries work with Becopad.