Smart solutions for the beer-brewing process

Inter­na­tion­al tech­nol­o­gy group Andritz is pre­sent­ing its unri­valled range of sep­a­ra­tion and fil­tra­tion tech­nolo­gies for the beer indus­try at BrauBe­viale in Nurem­berg, Ger­many, from Novem­ber 12 to 14, 2019, hall 7, booth 7–421. Experts from Andritz will be on hand to pro­vide spe­cial­ist sup­port for a wide range of brew­ing process­es from mash fil­tra­tion to yeast beer recov­ery and beer filtration.

The solu­tions cov­er a wide range of sep­a­ra­tion and fil­tra­tion process­es and equip­ment need­ed for beer pro­duc­tion – from fil­ter press­es and dynam­ic cross­flow fil­ters to decanters and separators.

One spe­cial prod­uct designed exclu­sive­ly for the brew­ing indus­try is the Art Brew beer clar­ifier, the lat­est ver­sion of which will be show­cased at BrauBe­viale. Com­bin­ing effi­cien­cy and ease of main­te­nance, Art Brew is a high-qual­i­ty and sim­ple-to-oper­ate beer clar­ifi­ca­tion solu­tion, which comes as a plug-and-play unit for the craft beer indus­try but also in large sizes for indus­tri­al beer production.It com­pris­es a unique inert-gas seal­ing sys­tem known as KO2 (knock-out oxy­gen) that pre­vents unac­cept­able lev­els of oxy­gen pick-up between the clar­i­fi­er inlet and out­let con­nec­tions. Thanks to its small dimen­sions and cus­tom con­fig­u­ra­tion, the Art Brew is not only high­ly effi­cient, but also a very com­pact solu­tion that is quick to install. The Art Brew range caters to brew­ers of any size, with a beer clar­i­fi­ca­tion capac­i­ty rang­ing from 50 to 700 hec­to­liters per hour. Vis­i­tors will be able to explore the Art Brew’s con­trol options and see the process clear­ly from close quarters.

Anoth­er sep­a­ra­tion tech­nol­o­gy that has proven its worth for pro­duc­ers of a wide range of bev­er­ages is the Andritz Dynam­ic Cross­flow Fil­ter (DCF). Its rotat­ing mem­branes allow users to sep­a­rate high­ly vis­cous sludges like sur­plus yeast up to yeast con­cen­tra­tions con­tain­ing more than 25% by weight, there­by ensur­ing opti­mum yeast beer recov­ery with the high­est fil­tra­tion qual­i­ty. Because brew­eries no longer have to dilute the yeast with water in order to process it, the fil­tered beer can be blend­ed with the main stream with­out any impact on the qual­i­ty or alco­hol con­tent. As a result, this method becomes an inter­est­ing alter­na­tive to tra­di­tion­al con­cen­tra­tion technologies.

The mem­brane fil­ter press­es ensure that the effec­tive fil­tra­tion of mash is kept at a con­stant, high qual­i­ty lev­el. As fil­ter press fil­tra­tion is a sealed process, the risk of oxi­da­tion is kept to a min­i­mum. Addi­tion­al peace of mind comes from the fact that Andritz fil­ter press­es are not only easy to clean and come with the option of clean­ing-in-place solu­tions, but the com­po­nents also con­form to FDA stan­dards. In addi­tion, brew­ery cus­tomers in par­tic­u­lar ben­e­fit from the fact that Andritz fil­ter press­es can be adjust­ed to a vari­ety of process­es and recipes.

IIoT Technologies

With the devel­op­ment of Metris addIQ con­trol sys­tems, the com­pa­ny has tak­en the lead in IIoT (Indus­tri­al Inter­net of Things) solu­tions for solid/liquid sep­a­ra­tion process­es and offers a wide range of inno­v­a­tive prod­ucts and ser­vices under the Metris tech­nol­o­gy brand. These tech­nolo­gies allow the evo­lu­tion of sep­a­ra­tion process­es towards ful­ly auto­mat­ic oper­a­tions. In addi­tion to user-free oper­a­tion, the biggest advan­tages lie in the fields of pre­dic­tive main­te­nance and risk mit­i­ga­tion. The inno­v­a­tive automa­tion solu­tions add a new dimen­sion to the per­for­mance of pro­duc­tion facil­i­ties by min­i­miz­ing down­time and max­i­miz­ing prod­uct yield, qual­i­ty, and con­sis­ten­cy – even for oper­a­tions that are already up and run­ning. Fur­ther­more, they are com­plete­ly scal­able and backed by a spe­cial­ist net­work of glob­al automa­tion experts.

One spe­cif­ic smart prod­uct that appeals to brew­ers is the intel­li­gent fil­ter press. Equipped with a Metris addIQ con­trol sys­tem, the intel­li­gent fil­ter plate with­in the fil­ter press is able to mea­sure the resid­ual mois­ture con­tent in the spent grains while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly mon­i­tor­ing this fac­tor online. This means that the fil­tra­tion process is always stopped at the ide­al moment – gain­ing valu­able fil­tra­tion time and there­fore a high­er fil­tra­tion capacity.

And the exper­tise doesn’t end with tech­nol­o­gy – whether cus­tomers need spare parts, rentals, local ser­vice, repairs, upgrades, or mod­ern­iza­tion of equip­ment, Andritz is a full-ser­vice provider. From ini­tial con­sult­ing through to ser­vice agree­ments, process opti­miza­tion, and train­ing pro­grams, Andritz spe­cial­ists are always look­ing for ways to min­i­mize down­time and increase pre­dictabil­i­ty in oper­a­tions while rais­ing over­all pro­duc­tion effi­cien­cy. The net­work of 550 ser­vice spe­cial­ists and glob­al ser­vice cen­ters ensures that the firm will always be there to sup­port its cus­tomers for many life­cy­cles to come.

Andritz at the Brau Beviale 2019: Hall 7, Stand 421