Brewers love to debate brewing: What’s the best process for fermentation? Which are the right hops or yeast for a specific style? What’s a fad and what’s a classic?
It is often the operational details that make or break most craft breweries: fermentation tanks tied up by long sedimentation times, hop burn in your IPA, inconsistent clarity in your pale ale. Fluctuating results can lead to off-flavors, secondary fermentation post-packaging, unpredictability in quality, and shortened shelf-life. There is no argument that a high-quality craft beer centrifuge can significantly reduce, and sometimes eliminate, these drags on production.
Spin to Win: Centrifuges for Craft Beer Clarification
Traditionally, brewers approached beer and wort clarification using a combination of methods: sedimentation, additives and flocculation agents (like isinglass), or filter-based separation solutions (like diatomaceous earth beds).
However, these approaches often fall short. After putting considerable effort into a unique combination of aromas and flavors, it is disheartening to lose some of those qualities during the transfer from tank to bottle. Even under ideal circumstances, you still end up with some perfectly usable beverage trapped at the bottoms of tanks, in the filter sludge, or in the filtration medium.
Craft beer centrifugal separators approach clarification entirely differently. Instead of forcing the beer through a filter, where characteristics vary as solids accumulate, centrifugal force precisely separates out unwanted solids while leaving everything else intact—protecting flavors while driving down labor and increasing yields. Craft beer centrifuges are designed to meet the unique challenges craft breweries face—especially good beer’s oldest enemy: oxygen.
Spinning Up the Flavor and Quality
A brewing centrifuge protects the consistency of beer purity, clarity or haze, aroma, and flavor without creating more work. The right centrifuge technology doesn’t just protect flavors and character: it’s an investment that increases yield while enhancing quality. The correct centrifuge reduces the brewing process by days or weeks, without increasing the number of fermenters (and the required ancillary equipment). It can increase production by 30-50%, reclaiming beer bound up in the yeast sediment at the bottom of fermentation tanks and by decreasing overall batch time. A centrifuge offers numerous advantages over traditional filtration. It not only operates much faster, but also eliminates the need to wait for yeast and other particles to settle before proceeding with clarification and polishing. Moreover, centrifugation is far less labor-intensive than beer filtration and servicing centrifuges can be very cost-effective due to short washing times and convenient “self-cleaning” cycles.
Brewer Centrifuge: A Flexible Tool for Craft Brewers
A purpose-built brewery centrifuge is a versatile tool that offers craft brewers and large-scale global brands the ability to take control of quality, cellar efficiency, your wastewater stream, and more. Centrifuges are regularly used on both the production side and in wastewater pre-treatment and processing, where they reduce organic loads prior to sending wastewater to the sewer, dewater sludge, and even prepare discharge for immediate reuse elsewhere in the brewing process.
Removing chill haze and producing bright brands is a special challenge, regardless of clarification method. Centrifuges with high bowl RPM and specific disc design deliver higher centrifugal force, making it easier to consistently pull-out proteins contributing to haze. These centrifuge features can brighten any beer style, or meet a given turbidity spec to deliver clarity, even on hazier brands.
With the installation of a centrifuge, various advantages can be expected, such as increased yield from the fermenter, reduced loss during transfer, improved consistency, extended shelf-life, and decreased expenses related to water utilities, waste, and waste management. The installation of a centrifuge can greatly improve the efficiency, productivity, and sustainability of your brewery operations.
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