M. KERN (1), J. Tippmann (1), T. Becker (1); (1) Technical University Munich, Freising/Weihenstephan, Germany

Poster

To produce high-quality beer, high standards in all technological areas of a brewery are required, including malt intake and storage, milling, hot and cold process area, and bottling. To gain this, brewhouse operations are an important intermediate step. As modern brewhouses are the basis for the production of high-quality beer, science and industry are engaged to continuously develop brewhouse technology. In particular, increasing energy costs require cost-efficient production processes, which guarantee high quality standards in the brewing industry. A closer look at mashing systems shows that nearly all modern technologies have various disadvantages, such as oxygen intake, poor heat transfer rates, fouling problems, and increased shear forces. It was the purpose of this research to develop a new mashing technology with the aim to improve the disadvantages mentioned above. Further aims are energy savings, better homogenization of mash, better mash and wort qualities, easy retrofitting in existing plants, and saving of time. The new technology uses direct steam instead of typical heating jackets to heat the mash and inert gas as a substitute for a stirrer to achieve adequate mixing. The results show that direct steam has no influence on saccharification of mash, but it reduces energy consumption and fouling problems. A negative effect on enzyme activity, as mentioned in the literature, could not be confirmed. The highly volatile substances dimethylsulfide and oxygen could be reduced to a minimum. At best, this leads to a shortening of boiling time and higher aging stability of beer. Other important parameters, such as nitrogen fractions, the apparent attenuation limit, beta-glucan, and mash viscosity, were also examined. In comparison to a conventional mashing system, no significant differences were found. The presentation will explain these analytical results in detail, with a special focus on saccharification and stripping of volatile substances. The advantages of this new technology (e.g., energy savings) will be mentioned, and potential problems will be discussed.

Matthias Kern, born in 1984, graduated from Technische Universität München in 2011 as with an engineering degree in brewing sciences and beverage technology. The same year he started his doctoral thesis with Thomas Becker at the Institute of Brewing and Beverage Technology. His research project is the “Development of a New Mash and Lauter Technology.”