Micro Breweries BREWORX – technical description

General description of the breweries BREWORX

Micro Breweries BREWORX , produced by the Czech company Czech Minibreweries s.r.o., are made with all modern methods and premium quality steel for food industry exclusively of European origin. It enables the production of traditional Czech type of beer, but also any other type of world beer made by a decoction or infusion method.

The design allows production of the bottom and top fermented beers in modern way of fermentation and maturation in a closed fermentation pressure tanks ( cylindrical-conical tanks ) or in open fermentation and maturation (lager) vessels.

By selecting a suitable combination of ingredients and production processes it is possible to produce light, half-dark, dark, wheat, stout, ale, pale ale, white beer, and many other beers by Czech and foreign recipes.

Beer production process in microbreweries BREWORX

Beer production consists of several consecutive steps. Generally it consists of a hot process (production of wort in a hot block) and cold process (fermentation and maturation in cold block).

I. HOT PROCESS

… takes place in a facility called a brewhouse. In the brewery BREWORX this includes several functional parts:

• MASH TUN / KETTEL – an insulated vessel for mashing of malt grist and boiling of mash and wort. Instaled duplicators, for transfering heat transfer medium (steam, glycol)
• LAUTER TUN – an insulated vesell without self heating, equipped with a sieve – used to prepare mashing, to separate a part of the work for mashing and lautering of wort.
• WHIRLPOOL – a vessel with tangential nozzle, designed to centrifugal separation of hop grains from the wort. For smaller sizes of vessels it is integrated into the body of the brewhouse.
• SUPPORTING FRAME – a steel construction, which are mounted on all other functional parts of the brewhouse
• CONTROL SYSTEM – If the brewery is equipped by SA system, the whole brewing process takes place automatically under the control of the brewer, which performs a preparatory operations before brewing and evaluation of the samples. For systems MC and CC the brewing process is performed incrementally by the brewer, in the case of CC with the comfort of central control brewhouse.

The brewery also includes several support components, collectively called water management system, used to heat recovery in the brewing process. This includes :

• HOT WATER TANK (boiler) – The isolated container for heating and storing hot water, we gain by removing the heat produced wort.
• ICE WATER TANK – The isolated ontainer for cooling and storage of ice water to cool the wort at the end of a hot process.

Furthermore, the hot process precedes preparation of raw materials, which is grinding malt and dosing hops to dosing tray :

• MALT MILL – Equipment for grinding of malt before brewing process.

Our system allows the production of brewing wort batches 2-3 per day, depending on the brand. According to the total volume of daily brews the volume of vessels in a COLD BLOCK is chosen.

… a detailed description of equipment for hot brewing process …

A detailed technical description of the brewhouses BREWORX :

• Technical description of the brewhouse BREWORX CLASSIC

• Technical description of the brewhouse BREWORX LITE ME

• Technical description of the brewhouse BREWORX TRITANK

• Technical description of the brewhouse BREWORX OPPIDUM

II. COLD PROCESS

… runs continuously in the cylindrical-conical tanks or open fermenters and consists of two operations:

II.1 ) MAIN FERMENTATION – the wort produced by the brewhouse is by activities of brewing yeast changing sugars into alcohol and so producing young beer, which is still not a product intended for consumption. The process takes 5-8 days.

• The breweries BREWORX labeled CF (closed fermentation) provide the main fermentation in closed cylindrical-conical tanks. This method is suitable for making top fermented beer, or this brewery can be equipped to produce a bottom fermented beer.
• In the breweries BREWORX labeled as OF (open fermentation) main fermentation takes place in the traditional way for a typical Czech bottom-fermented beer, ie. in open fermentation tanks. This fermentation method is not suitable for the production of top-fermented beers.
• Both technologies can be combined within the same brewery, ie. we can equip the brewery BREWORX with both technologies OF or CF – this is labeled OCF.

II.2) MATURATION OF BEER – young beer is fermenting and by low pressure is saturating with carbon dioxide, resulting from yeast activity. The process takes, depending on the type of beer, from 2 weeks to 3 months. After the fermentation the beer is pumped into SERVING TANKS.

• In the breweries with OF (open fermentation) maturing of beer takes place in maturation (lagering) tanks, or in cylindrical-conical tanks.
• In the breweries with CF (closed fermentation) maturing of beer takes place in cylindrical-conical tanks, or it is possible to use maturation tanks (lager).
• In both types of brewery (OCF), serving tanks can be also used for the maturation of beer.

If the brewery has the system AFCC installed, temperatures and pressures in cylindrical-conical tanks or in maturing tanks are operated automatically by the program. In the system MFCC all the required pressures and temperatures are controlled by the operating personell.

… a detailed description of equipment for cold brewing process …

III. CONTROL SYSTEM FOR BREWERY BREWORX CLASSIC

I . Control system level MC (manual control):

A manual control of a brewhouse, simple push-button control panel with basic control and sensing elements. Manually adjusted pipeline routes, switching of motors and pumps, temperature and times are watched by the brewer .

II . Control system level CC (central control):

A centrally-manually operated brewhouse with support of PLC with most operations controlled from central control panel with controls and sensing elements. The panel is designed as a touchscreen or mechanical switches and controllers – from there motors, heating and setting routes are centrally controlled.

III . Control system level SA (semi-automatic control) :

An semi-automatically controlled brewhouse – with most computer- controlled operations – according to the specifications from a central control panel. The control panel is designed as a touchscreen. The brewer selects the recipe and starts the program that controls the production process. The brewer controls it and performs laboratory tests, treats abnormal conditions and ensures the preparation and the brewing of raw materials for the process.

IV. DISTRIBUTION OF BEER

– after maturating, the beer is pumped into the serving tank. In the serving tank, the beer starts to calm down, but it is mainly in serving tank for distribution and consequently consumption. If the brewery produces beer for its own restaurant, the beer can be served in glasses directly from the serving tank, which can also become functionally-design of the restaurant.

For further distribution of beer to the consumers it is necessary to transfer beer under pressure into kegs, PET bottles, glass bottles, disposable kegs or other containers. To significantly lengthen the life of beer, especially before distribution outside the brewery, it is recommended to perform the filtering, removing the remaining yeast from beverage, biological and colloidal stabilization of beer. For the filtration it is necessary to equip the brewery with special filtration equipment, which is an optional part of the brewery.

… a detailed description of equipment for preparing of beer for sale and tap …

V. TECHNOLOGICAL EQUIPMENTS

The Brewery is also equipped with a set of devices that provide the necessary operating functions :

• Cooling system – equipment for the production of cold for fermentation tanks, lager tanks and serving tanks. In our mini-breweries we use three types of cooling : air , ice-water, glycol . The cooling system comprises an air cooling unit ( air cooling tanks) or liquid chiller ( liquid cooling of tanks by ice-water or glycol) , glycol or ice-water storage tank.
• Yeast tank – for safe washing and storage of brewer’s yeast , reusable in cold block.
• CIP station – equipment for effective sanitation of vessels and pipelines in the brewery – keeps acidic and basic sanitation solution and provides hot water for washing and sanitizing of brewery. Auxiliary equipment is also portable pump for easy pumping beer and sanitizing solution between containers.
• The Water Management System – Support System using heat recovery in the cooking process. Includes hot water tank ( HWT ) Ice water tank ( IWT ) and plate heat exchanger for cooling the wort , which during cooling the wort at the end of the cooking process extracts heat wort and forward it to the ice water, which becomes hot water .
• A system for preparation of raw materials – shredding contains malt ( grain milling equipment for the grinding of malt ) , with larger brewhouse is usable a container scrap , malt hopper , conveyor and hopper grist. It also includes weight for accurate weighing of raw materials . For larger malt mills we recommend steps for easy operator access to the malt hopper above the grinder.
• Three-compartment tray for dispensing hops – is included in SA-level of brewhouse control system.
• Air compressor with filters – ensures the production of compressed air for aeration of the wort , and also for the production of nitrogen , if the brewery has the appropriate generator .
• Aeration candle – used to aerate the wort compressed air from the compressor before fermentation process .
• Computer control unit – includes a control computer , control panel and system of measurement and control of the brewery.
• Pipe connections – pipe system paths for the transfer of beer , wort , mash , sanitizing solutions, water , industrial gases and vapors between different parts of the brewery.
• Electrical conduction system – sensors and control elements , ensuring the supply of electric power and control signals.

… a detailed description of technological equipment for breweries …

VI. OPTIONAL EQUIPMENTS

– includes a functional part of the brewery, which is not the mandatory equipment, but extends its capabilities, increases operator comfort, saves operating costs or multiplies the effect of its marketing operations.

This includes:

• copper brewhouse cover
• cover design technology elements of the brewhouse
• water filters and drinking water treatment plant
• beer filtration equipment (plate, candle,alluvial, crossflow filters and microfilters)
• yeast propagation station
• malt hopper
• hops silo with automatic dosing
• malt conveyor
• keg washing and filling machine
• PET bottle filling machine
• glass bottle filling machine
• pressure bottles with gas CO2 , N2, Biogon
• nitrogen generator
• pressure cleaner for containers
• air cooling unit (for storage of full kegs)
• tap stands and bar
• beer cooling unit, etc.

Among the costly expansion device then include filling and packaging lines, automatic washing machines and keg fillers, paster, lines for the preparation of malt, etc.