Brewing - water
Mashing vessels
If mash tuns are employed do not overfill them
- Will impede extraction efficiency and increase process losses
Consider automatic pressure control of sparge liquor
Do not employ water jets to empty grain from a mash tun or lauter tun
- Rotating rakes (large vessels) or manually (small)
Consider the employment of fermenter room rinse water as rinse water for mashing vessels
CIP is preferable to manual hosing. If not, employ high pressure hoses.
Confirm equipment uses water at its recommended consumption
- if consumption is higher savings are possible
Clean immediately after processing to avoid hardening of deposits It may be possible to employ a reduced cleaning cycle if the next product has similar colour optimise product scheduling
Case study: Steinecker equitherm & shakesbeer
In terms of energy management, wort production constitutes the section of the process that requires the most primary energy in the form of heat. This is where design enhanced energy management deploys a new energy recovery system. Besides the familiar energy recovery system between the lautered wort heater and the wort boiler, an additional energy recovery system in the brewhouse can cut thermal energy consumption still further. For this purpose, during wort cooling, high temperature energy is removed from the wort. This quantity of heat is used to heat the mash in an almost entirely recuperative process. In conjunction with the Krones Steinecker "ShakesBeer" mash kettle, primary energy savings of more than 25% can be achieved in the brewing process. A 200000 hl/year brewery, for example, can save over 250000 kWh of thermal energy a year. In addition, significant quantities of water and refrigeration energy are saved. The investment should pay for itself after 3 or 4 years. (Author's abstract).
Gattermeyer, P., Proc. Eur. Brew. Conv., Glasgow, 2011