Beer Production Equipment

Author: Evelyn

May. 20, 2024

Machinery

Beer Production Equipment

Beer production equipment encompasses a wide range of machinery used in the process of brewing and fermenting malts into alcoholic beverages. This specialized equipment plays crucial roles, from milling and mashing to packaging. Whether you’re running a small craft brewery or a large commercial brewery, understanding the essential equipment needed is vital for efficient production and quality control.

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Overview of Beer Production Equipment Needs

The typical beer production process involves multiple steps, including:

Milling

  • Breaking down malt grains

Mashing

  • Mixing milled grains with hot water to extract sugars

Lautering

  • Separating sweet wort from spent grains

Boiling

  • Adding hops to impart flavor and bitterness

Whirlpooling

  • Settling hop debris

Cooling

  • Bringing boiled wort down to fermentation temperature

Fermenting

  • Adding yeast to convert sugars into alcohol

Maturing

  • Lagering to develop flavor

Filtering

  • Removing yeast and particles

Carbonating

  • Dissolving CO2 for effervescence

Packaging

  • Kegging, bottling or canning

The main equipment involved includes:

  • Milling machines
  • Mash tuns
  • Lauter tuns
  • Brew kettles
  • Whirlpools
  • Heat exchangers
  • Fermentation tanks
  • Storage tanks
  • Filters
  • Filler/packagers

Additional equipment like pumping systems, piping, control panels, cleaning systems and conveyors connect the process.

The table below summarizes the key equipment:

Equipment Description
Milling Machines Hammer or roller mills break malt grains into grist for mashing. Determine extract efficiency.
Mash Tun Mixes grist with hot liquor for starch conversion. Sets wort composition.
Lauter Tun Separates wort from spent grains through sieves/strainers. Impacts wort clarity.
Brew Kettle Boils wort with hops for sterilization, extraction and bitterness. Defines style.
Whirlpool Settles hop trub and coagulants via centrifugal force. Necessary for clear wort.
Heat Exchanger Rapidly cools boiling wort to fermentation temperature. Prevents contamination.
Fermentation Tanks Yeast converts sugars into alcohol anaerobically. Stainless steel preferred. Control temperature.
Beer Storage Tanks Ages beer post-fermentation. BBTs clean up beer pre-packaging via filters/stabilizers.
Beer Filter Clarifies final beer, increases shelf life by removing yeast etc. Various depth filtration options.
Filler/Packager Kegging, bottling, canning systems to retail packaging. Care for oxygen pickup, sterility.

Brewing Process Equipment Details

The typical industrial brewing process involves:

Milling

Malt grains are milled into grist by hammer or roller mills, then mixed with heated water. The degree of milling impacts extract potential via husk shearing and kernel crushing. Well-modified malt needs less disruption. Standard cast rollers can handle 1000kg/hr.

Mashing

Grist and water, known as mash, are mixed thoroughly in the mash tun to activate enzymes, convert starches and extract soluble sugars. Insulated stainless steel tuns have separate temperature controls and agitators. Up to 20:1 liquor-to-grist ratio. 1 to 2 hour process.

Lautering

Sweet wort is separated from spent grain residue in a lauter tun or within the mash tun in brew-in-a-basket systems. Shallow rakes facilitate extraction through grain bed filters. 90 to 120 mins.

Boiling

The wort is boiled vigorously with hops in the brewkettle. Copper heating jackets or direct steam injection. 1 to 2 hour process extracts hop resins, precipitates proteins, sterilizes and condenses wort. Sets style.

Whirlpooling

Hop debris and coagulants settle out in a whirlpool tank following boiling. 30 minutes settling before wort cooling.

Cooling

Heat exchangers rapidly cool boiled wort to fermentation temperatures, while maintaining sterility. 80°C to 12°C within plate heat exchangers.

Fermentation + Maturation

Yeast is pitched into cooled wort in fermenters to metabolize sugars into alcohol. Temperature-controlled stainless steel vessels from 300L to 3000+L based on batch size. Lagering follows for flavor development.

Filtration

Clarifies beer of residual yeast etc. prior to packaging. Depth, sheet and sterile membrane filtration options with variables pore sizes. Sterile buffer tanks store filtered beer pre-filler.

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Carbonation + Packaging

Carbon dioxide gas dissolves into beer to carbonate, before kegging, canning or bottling lines package beer. Fully automated filling at high cleanliness standards. Various labeling, sealing and casing systems.

Capacity Considerations for Commercial Beer Production Equipment

Commercial beer production requires equipment with capacities matched to business scale:

Yearly barrel production Batch size (bbl) Vessels (HL)
1,000 – 10,000 15 – 30 Fermenters: 300 – 1,500
10,000 – 25,000 30 – 60 Fermenters: 1,500 – 3,000
25,000 – 50,000 60 – 120 Fermenters: Up to 20,000
50,000+ 120+ Mega tanks up to 30,000+

Sufficient lautering, mashing, boiling and whirlpool capacity must support batch sizes, along with enough horizontal/vertical storage tanks for fermenting, aging and filtering processes. Filler capacity and packaging line throughput must also align.

Space planning is critical – height for tanks, floorspace for mills and fillers, plant layout that allows smooth workflow and cleaning access. Gravity instead of pumping between steps saves costs.

Design, Layout and Customization

Key factors in production equipment selection, plant design and factory planning:

  • Location, space availability, construction costs
  • Budget
  • Local regulations
  • Production capacity now + future
  • Degree of process automation wanted
  • Desired batch flexibility – do you want to produce various styles?
  • Plumbing and utility requirements
  • Waste handling strategy
  • Worker training level and staff size
  • Cleaning needs, access routes
  • Maintenance access
  • Quality control points
  • Inventory/warehouse needs
  • Expansion capability later

Working closely with equipment vendors and specialists lets craft brewers customize the brewhouse design and factory layout to meet niche requirements within budget constraints. Pilot systems help provide manufacturing data.

Modular configurations give flexibility to modify pieces independently – for example starting with a manual mill + mash filter then upgrading to an automated inline mill, mash mixer and lauter tun.

Suppliers and Price Considerations

There is a diverse beer equipment supplier ecosystem catering to commercial breweries. Below is a sampling of established vendors and typical price ranges:

Category Supplier Examples Turnkey System Price Range
Integrated, Medium Specific Mechanical Systems, Craftwerk, Brewmation $250,000 to $2 million
Integrated, Large AB Mauri, Garhy, Ziemann Group $2 million to $10+ million
Tanks DME, Newlands, Glycol King $5,000 to $500,000 each
Mills Bühler Group $25,000 to $250,000
Brewhouses JVNW, Marks Design, Nxicorp $100,000 to $1 million
Filler/Packagers KHS, Krones, Alfa Laval $100,000 to $2 million
Lab Equipment Anton Paar, Orbis $2,000 to $100,000+

Pricing varies based on quality, customization, ancillary equipment/controls needed for a complete system and after-sales support offered. Local equipment reps provide quotes for configured solutions. Proposals detail pricing structure – equipment costs, install charges, shipping/duties, etc.

Installation, Operation and Maintenance

Equipment commissioning checks assembly, utilities, controls and trial batches ensure smooth handoff. Operator training is key before launch. Proper SOP documentation and maintenance keeps optimal performance for years.

For more information, please visit commercial brewing equipment manufacturer.

Installation

Flooring/foundations per specs, assembly support, safety checks

Commissioning

Short trial runs check valves, switches, measurements etc.

Training

Equipment vendor provides operator onboarding on procedures

Documentation

Standard operating procedures manual covers usage guidelines

Maintenance

Daily/weekly inspection and cleaning

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