Pay attention to details when purchasing craft beer equipment

The general brewhouse equipment configuration is composed of:

Grinder, mashing tun, lauter tank, boiling pot, whirlpool, plate cooler, oxygenation equipment, yeast addition, and other equipment such as auxiliary pumps, pipelines, and valves.

However, in order to save space, some bars mainly use two devices, one for mash filtration and one for boiling and whirlpooling. Some will add a hot water tank to facilitate washing spent grains.

1 main equipment 

Industrial breweries generally have five main equipment, namely gelatinization pot, mash pot, filter tank, boiling pot, and whirling tank.

Small and medium-sized craft breweries mainly use four equipment, namely mash pot, filter tank, boiling pot and whirling tank.

Considering the space, bar craft equipment generally consists of two devices.

German style - mashing and boiling, filtering and whirling

American style - mash and filter, boil and whirling

Of course, if the funds and space are plentiful, it is recommended to configure according to the three appliances, that is, add a hot water pot to facilitate washing.

 Brewing beer equipment 2 vessels and HLT 

Remark:

There must be an exhaust system for saccharification and boiling, and the exhaust pipeline must be equipped to prevent the condensed water from flowing backward along the exhaust cylinder; it is recommended to add a waste washing spray coil in the filter tank, which is convenient and safe. The heating method of the boiling pot is recommended to choose steam heating, because the heating area of steam heating is uniform, the color of wort will not be too dark, and the electric heating tube is easy to burn and difficult to clean.

2 Auxiliary equipment 

Although malt crushing is a simple mechanical process, too fine crushing will increase the dissolution of harmful substances in the barley skin, affect the quality of beer, and increase the difficulty of wort filtration; crushing too coarsely will affect the utilization of malt active ingredients and reduce wort extraction rate. Therefore, the best effect of malt crushing is that the skin is broken but not broken, the rollers should be fine, and equipment manufacturers should try to choose high-quality products.

Industrial breweries generally choose continuous humidification five-roll or six-roll pulverizers.

For small and medium-sized and bar craft breweries, the general choice of roller mills can meet the needs.

The thin-plate cooler generally chooses a cold section, which is energy-saving, convenient for hot water recovery and operation, and accurate temperature control.

The choice of accessories for auxiliary equipment is very important. There is a big gap between the use effect and the price. The price gap between well-known brands and ordinary brands is 2-10 times, so the choice is very important.

3 product processing 

Appearance: The processing accuracy of the equipment determines the aesthetics of the equipment. Generally, the surface of the equipment has copper mirror, stainless steel mirror, brushed, frosted (sandblasting), 2B primary color, etc. At present, the appearance and quality of products on the market vary, so brand selection is the key.

Intrinsic: the processing accuracy of each production process and the design of key points, whether there are sanitary dead ends, sieve plates (milled, welded), valve fittings, pump bodies, heating methods, etc., aseptic design of pipelines, pipelines to achieve sterility The ability to install (whether there is a hygienic dead angle), etc., all directly affect the service life of the product, and of course, more importantly, it will also have a great impact on the quality of the beer.