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Brewery Setup Blog
How to choose brewery beer equipment
- Oct 16, 2021
- tiantai
- 7998
- How to choose brewery beer equipment
How to choose brewery beer equipment
Want to open a craft beer bar or build a craft brewery, the choice of brewery beer equipment has become a big problem. Baidu searches for craft brewery beer equipment on the Internet, and the pictures of various manufacturers and brewery beer equipment are dazzling. People who don't understand brewery beer equipment may easily be misled by various explanations by salespersons. After all, the quality and strength of each brewery beer equipment manufacturer are different, and salespersons will also organize their speeches from the perspective of benefiting their own manufacturers. Most people will follow the salesperson's thinking suspiciously. Professionals who have been engaged in beer brewing will not blindly choose when inspecting brewery beer equipment. They generally have their own set of ideas to evaluate the quality of brewery beer equipment from several important points. So, what aspects will experts pay attention to when choosing brewery beer equipment?
1.Stainless steel is the basic for brewery beer equipment
First, the material of brewery beer equipment. The main body of craft brewery beer equipment is stainless steel. The material is the foundation of the equipment, just like the foundation of a tall building must be laid first. The material is the most basic requirement, and it must be very strict without any discount.
304 Stainless steel
First of all, the material must be 304 stainless steel or a higher specification 316 stainless steel. The beer brewing process has very high hygiene requirements, and the cleaning of tanks and pipes will use acid and lye. 304 or 316 material has strong acid and alkali resistance, which can meet the technological requirements of beer brewing. Some manufacturers may use lower specifications of stainless steel, which cannot be distinguished in short-term use, and corrosion will occur in long-term use, which will affect the taste of beer. Some manufacturers use steel plates from some small steel mills. Although the stainless steel is 304, it is actually difficult to meet the requirements of the national standard 304, let alone higher standards.
Thickness of stainless steel
Secondly, the thickness of stainless steel should also be paid attention to. There are many different specifications of stainless steel plates and stainless steel pipes in the world, so the choice is very large. For example, stainless steel plates generally have a certain thickness loss during processing, which is normal and meets the requirements. However, the difference in thickness directly affects the cost of the equipment. For the 3 mm thick steel plate, you can find 2.92 mm, 2.85 mm, etc., with a smaller drop, or 2.6 mm, 2.5 mm, etc., with a larger drop. From a cost perspective, there will be a 20% gap in material costs. The larger the equipment, the higher the proportion of material costs. Although the thickness of stainless steel does not necessarily directly affect the brewing, it will have a certain adverse effect on the later processing of the equipment and the service life. The same logic applies to stainless steel pipes.
2. Production process like welding and polishing give super quality of your brewery equipment
Second, the processing technology of brewery beer equipment. As a stainless steel-based equipment, the main processing technology is welding and polishing.
Welding without any sanitary risk
Let me talk about welding first. The welding of stainless steel is argon arc welding. The current control in welding, the skill level and stability of the welding master, whether the welding method is used properly, and the argon protection during welding all determine the quality of welding. Craft brewery beer equipment is difficult to fully automated production due to its non-standard processing, and most of it still uses manual welding. As a large-scale manufacturer in the industry, Tiantai is the first to use automated welding equipment for tank welding and pipeline welding. The quality and stability of the welds have been greatly improved, but a considerable part of it still uses manual welding, such as the welding of Maitreya plates. In addition to the sensory judgment of the welding trace, the flaw detection test and the withstand voltage test can also be used to judge the quality of welding. Tiantai's five time with stand inspection method can better effectively inspect the welding quality.
Welding quality is related to the service life and hygiene requirements of craft brewery beer equipment. We often hear about beer leakage, ethylene glycol and steam leakage from the equipment of a certain brewery, all of which are caused by substandard welding. These not only lost
In addition, due to the poor control of the above points, the welding seam in the tank has dents, cracks, blisters, pores, welds, welding slag, etc., which makes the tank and the pipeline appear sanitary corners and cannot be effectively cleaned. There will be residues in these dead corners during brewing, which are easy to breed bacteria and contaminate the wine when brewing again. This is also the reason why many beer brewers always suffer from the unpleasant taste and even sourness of beer. The processing defects of these brewery beer equipment can hardly be dealt with later.
Polishing to sanitary
Let's talk about polishing. The polishing and welding quality of stainless steel are closely related. A good welding foundation is the beginning of a good polish. The polishing inside the tank and pipeline of the brewery beer equipment is more important than the outside polishing. The internal polishing is required for the hygienic requirements of beer brewing. The exterior polishing is mainly the beauty of the brewery beer equipment. The internal polishing process is more complicated than the external polishing process, and the labor cost is higher. When buying brewery beer equipment, laymen often only focus on external processing and not internal. This is precisely what is left to the last without paying attention to the key points. Experts first pay attention to the internal polishing quality, especially the polishing of the welds. If the welding quality is good, the internal welding seam polishing is very easy. However, if the above-mentioned dents, welding slag, pores, cracks and other phenomena occur, even a first-class polisher cannot make up for it. Generally, polishing needs to achieve a polishing accuracy of at least 0.6 microns. In 2017, Tiantai took the lead in controlling the internal polishing accuracy to within 0.4 microns, which greatly improved the hygiene and safety of beer brewing.
3. Quality of the components in the brewery beer equipment is one of the key factors
Third, the brand and rationality of brewery beer equipment parts. The stainless steel tanks of brewery beer equipment that we usually see account for the main part. When the stainless steel tank is delivered, there is no problem in quality, there will be no problem for many years after use, because the tank is still in use. There are some parts that are more difficult to judge the quality than the tank body. These parts are generally mechanically active parts, such as pumps, valves, sensors, electrical components, pneumatic components, etc. These components have service life and operation accuracy, and each component controls a node of the entire production process module. A problem with one node may cause the shutdown of the entire module system and affect the normal operation of the brewing process. Therefore, the quality of these parts is more important, and brands with a long service life and verified by experimental data must be selected. Of course, the selection of components also requires a comprehensive evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the investment. The cost of parts of some international brands is very high, such as Germany's Alfa Laval, Gea, e+h, Anton Paar and so on. Generally, small beer brewers cannot afford the investment cost of these foreign brand parts. At present, the localization of many parts is very mature and the quality is very stable. We generally recommend that most of the parts and components can be made of more well-known domestic brands. Some parts with higher accuracy requirements and higher software design requirements can be selected from foreign brands, mainly German brands. Of course, there may be too many domestic suppliers of parts and components that cannot be distinguished. There are only a few formal brand brewery beer equipment parts suppliers. The stability of quality is determined by the company's production technology accumulation, design innovation and refined management. The selection of parts brands by brewery beer equipment manufacturers also reflects the quality positioning of equipment manufacturers.
4. How to design the brewing process properly in the equipment
Fourth, the design of brewery beer equipment conforms to the brewing process. If brewery beer equipment tanks and parts are hardware, then the design and implementation of the process is the brewery beer equipment software. This involves an in-depth understanding of the various process links in beer brewing, the accumulation of various data achieved by the process, and the individual needs of different types of beer brewing. For example, the selection of a pump needs to consider the flow rate, flow rate, temperature, viscosity, density, pH of the medium, as well as the sanitary level of the pump, shear force, suction lift, head, energy consumption, electrical load and other conditions; The choice also needs to consider these.
The pump and pipeline
The pump is the heart of the process system, and the pipeline is the blood vessel of the process system. The calculation of the flow rate, flow rate, resistance and other data of the process pipeline determines the process realization of the mash, wort, water and other media. The pipeline must not only connect the two ends of the process correctly, but also plan the most reasonable route to avoid the phenomenon of material storage, mixing, cleaning dead ends, and excessive resistance of elbows. brewery beer equipment manufacturers or professional consulting experts will generally provide a beer brewing process flow chart, which details the connection of the two ends of the pipeline, and can know that the A nozzle should be connected with the B nozzle. However, the process schematic diagram cannot express the connection route of the pipeline, nor the route from the A nozzle to the B nozzle. This resulted in the connection of the on-site construction pipeline relying on the experience of the installation engineer. Beer brewing pipeline involves wort pipeline, beer liquor pipeline, cip cleaning pipeline, carbon dioxide pipeline, compressed gas pipeline, brewing water pipeline, hot water pipeline, cold water pipeline, ice water pipeline, etc. These pipelines are intricate and complex, and systematic overall planning cannot be achieved by experience alone. Therefore, many beer brewing projects often have pipeline connection conflicts during the on-site pipeline construction, temporary changes to the planned pipeline direction, changes in the optimal valve installation positions, and pipeline changes that cause sanitary dead ends and other problems. These problems caused by no planning are often difficult to plan and solve again. Temporary changes cause material waste, and the labor cost for secondary rework is also very high.
3D drawing make it visible and precise
Three-dimensional drawing can effectively plan the pipeline project in advance. The extensive use of industrial 3D software (such as solidwork) makes it possible to present real scenes on site. The brewery beer equipment factory can measure the site in advance and build a three-dimensional space model of the site. The brewery beer equipment is three-dimensionally drawn according to the drawings, and the pipeline can also be drawn in advance in the three-dimensional software. In this way, the overall planning and evaluation of the pipeline system can be revised in advance for unreasonable problems. The cost of modification in the drawing software is very low and the efficiency is much higher. However, the price of professional genuine software is extremely high. The solidwork software purchased by Tiantai Equipment Company costs more than two hundred thousand yuan, and the cost of the comprehensive three-dimensional rendering software is more than one million yuan. In the long run, this is conducive to the precipitation of technical data, helps reduce on-site costs, and makes the beer brewing process more scientific. With the development of craft beer, the customization of the brewing process has become simple, and the brewer can simulate and evaluate the pipeline design in advance.
Compared with hardware, software is often not directly visible. This requires more professional industry knowledge and deep brewing experience.
5. Brewery equipment installation and after sale service make you comfort and focus on brewing
Fifth, the installation training and brewing service of brewery beer equipment. Generally, brewery beer equipment factories will provide equipment installation services, as well as piping and accessories required for equipment installation. These are not problems. Here I would like to remind the other two aspects of the precautions during the installation process. One is the preparation and installation of the project. All brewery beer equipment needs water, electricity, steam, compressed air, etc. These equipment brewery beer equipment manufacturers do not produce them themselves. If it is not agreed in advance that these supporting equipment will be packaged and provided by the brewery beer equipment manufacturer, you will need to prepare it yourself. We recommend that the brewery beer equipment manufacturers package and provide them together. Although the price will be higher than buying it yourself, it can save a lot of communication and learning costs. This tests the ability of a brewery equipment factory to complete the package. The second is the training service of beer brewing. Some brewery equipment factories will build a small brewing system for research and training of brewing processes. These equipment factories will have their own professional brewers, who can provide more professional brewing training and brewing recipes. In terms of brewing raw materials, it will also help users to choose a supplier that suits them. The brewer who runs a craft beer bar or craft beer shop is different from the brewer who runs a brewery. Small craft beer bars generally make fresh beer with rich flavors, and the brewing formula is more flexible. Brewers of large-scale breweries need professional industry knowledge, and it is best to be responsible for brewing process and quality control in large breweries. There is still a big difference between a small beer brewing system and a large brewery brewing system. This is also an important consideration when choosing a brewery beer equipment manufacturer.
Some brewing courses are necessary before you start
If you don’t know how to brew, it is recommended to go to some training institutions for training and learning, such as the courses of Beijing Institute of Food and Fermentation Industry, the courses of Lanpu College, the courses of Wuhan Beer College and so on. You can systematically learn the theoretical knowledge of beer brewing, and you can also watch the actual brewing operation. Different colleges have different course fees. Before participating in the training, it is best to do it manually by yourself, which can be done at home. You can also go to the brewing practice base of Tiantai Company, they will regularly hold free beer brewing practice activities, the purpose is to better understand beer brewing through hands-on practice.
These are the tips that are often used in selecting brewery beer equipment manufacturers, and I hope it will help you.
Refequency questions
1000L Manual Three vessel Steam Heating Beer Equipment
2000L four-vessel steam heating brewery equipment
300L stainless steel two-vessel direct fire heating beer equipment
1500L manual three vessel direct fire heating beer equipment
1500L stainless steel steam heating mashing room beer equipment
Want to open a craft beer bar or build a craft brewery, the choice of brewery beer equipment has become a big problem. Baidu searches for craft brewery beer equipment on the Internet, and the pictures of various manufacturers and brewery beer equipment are dazzling. People who don't understand brewery beer equipment may easily be misled by various explanations by salespersons. After all, the quality and strength of each brewery beer equipment manufacturer are different, and salespersons will also organize their speeches from the perspective of benefiting their own manufacturers. Most people will follow the salesperson's thinking suspiciously. Professionals who have been engaged in beer brewing will not blindly choose when inspecting brewery beer equipment. They generally have their own set of ideas to evaluate the quality of brewery beer equipment from several important points. So, what aspects will experts pay attention to when choosing brewery beer equipment?
1.Stainless steel is the basic for brewery beer equipment
First, the material of brewery beer equipment. The main body of craft brewery beer equipment is stainless steel. The material is the foundation of the equipment, just like the foundation of a tall building must be laid first. The material is the most basic requirement, and it must be very strict without any discount.
304 Stainless steel
First of all, the material must be 304 stainless steel or a higher specification 316 stainless steel. The beer brewing process has very high hygiene requirements, and the cleaning of tanks and pipes will use acid and lye. 304 or 316 material has strong acid and alkali resistance, which can meet the technological requirements of beer brewing. Some manufacturers may use lower specifications of stainless steel, which cannot be distinguished in short-term use, and corrosion will occur in long-term use, which will affect the taste of beer. Some manufacturers use steel plates from some small steel mills. Although the stainless steel is 304, it is actually difficult to meet the requirements of the national standard 304, let alone higher standards.
Thickness of stainless steel
Secondly, the thickness of stainless steel should also be paid attention to. There are many different specifications of stainless steel plates and stainless steel pipes in the world, so the choice is very large. For example, stainless steel plates generally have a certain thickness loss during processing, which is normal and meets the requirements. However, the difference in thickness directly affects the cost of the equipment. For the 3 mm thick steel plate, you can find 2.92 mm, 2.85 mm, etc., with a smaller drop, or 2.6 mm, 2.5 mm, etc., with a larger drop. From a cost perspective, there will be a 20% gap in material costs. The larger the equipment, the higher the proportion of material costs. Although the thickness of stainless steel does not necessarily directly affect the brewing, it will have a certain adverse effect on the later processing of the equipment and the service life. The same logic applies to stainless steel pipes.
2. Production process like welding and polishing give super quality of your brewery equipment
Second, the processing technology of brewery beer equipment. As a stainless steel-based equipment, the main processing technology is welding and polishing.
Welding without any sanitary risk
Let me talk about welding first. The welding of stainless steel is argon arc welding. The current control in welding, the skill level and stability of the welding master, whether the welding method is used properly, and the argon protection during welding all determine the quality of welding. Craft brewery beer equipment is difficult to fully automated production due to its non-standard processing, and most of it still uses manual welding. As a large-scale manufacturer in the industry, Tiantai is the first to use automated welding equipment for tank welding and pipeline welding. The quality and stability of the welds have been greatly improved, but a considerable part of it still uses manual welding, such as the welding of Maitreya plates. In addition to the sensory judgment of the welding trace, the flaw detection test and the withstand voltage test can also be used to judge the quality of welding. Tiantai's five time with stand inspection method can better effectively inspect the welding quality.
Welding quality is related to the service life and hygiene requirements of craft brewery beer equipment. We often hear about beer leakage, ethylene glycol and steam leakage from the equipment of a certain brewery, all of which are caused by substandard welding. These not only lost
In addition, due to the poor control of the above points, the welding seam in the tank has dents, cracks, blisters, pores, welds, welding slag, etc., which makes the tank and the pipeline appear sanitary corners and cannot be effectively cleaned. There will be residues in these dead corners during brewing, which are easy to breed bacteria and contaminate the wine when brewing again. This is also the reason why many beer brewers always suffer from the unpleasant taste and even sourness of beer. The processing defects of these brewery beer equipment can hardly be dealt with later.
Polishing to sanitary
Let's talk about polishing. The polishing and welding quality of stainless steel are closely related. A good welding foundation is the beginning of a good polish. The polishing inside the tank and pipeline of the brewery beer equipment is more important than the outside polishing. The internal polishing is required for the hygienic requirements of beer brewing. The exterior polishing is mainly the beauty of the brewery beer equipment. The internal polishing process is more complicated than the external polishing process, and the labor cost is higher. When buying brewery beer equipment, laymen often only focus on external processing and not internal. This is precisely what is left to the last without paying attention to the key points. Experts first pay attention to the internal polishing quality, especially the polishing of the welds. If the welding quality is good, the internal welding seam polishing is very easy. However, if the above-mentioned dents, welding slag, pores, cracks and other phenomena occur, even a first-class polisher cannot make up for it. Generally, polishing needs to achieve a polishing accuracy of at least 0.6 microns. In 2017, Tiantai took the lead in controlling the internal polishing accuracy to within 0.4 microns, which greatly improved the hygiene and safety of beer brewing.
3. Quality of the components in the brewery beer equipment is one of the key factors
Third, the brand and rationality of brewery beer equipment parts. The stainless steel tanks of brewery beer equipment that we usually see account for the main part. When the stainless steel tank is delivered, there is no problem in quality, there will be no problem for many years after use, because the tank is still in use. There are some parts that are more difficult to judge the quality than the tank body. These parts are generally mechanically active parts, such as pumps, valves, sensors, electrical components, pneumatic components, etc. These components have service life and operation accuracy, and each component controls a node of the entire production process module. A problem with one node may cause the shutdown of the entire module system and affect the normal operation of the brewing process. Therefore, the quality of these parts is more important, and brands with a long service life and verified by experimental data must be selected. Of course, the selection of components also requires a comprehensive evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the investment. The cost of parts of some international brands is very high, such as Germany's Alfa Laval, Gea, e+h, Anton Paar and so on. Generally, small beer brewers cannot afford the investment cost of these foreign brand parts. At present, the localization of many parts is very mature and the quality is very stable. We generally recommend that most of the parts and components can be made of more well-known domestic brands. Some parts with higher accuracy requirements and higher software design requirements can be selected from foreign brands, mainly German brands. Of course, there may be too many domestic suppliers of parts and components that cannot be distinguished. There are only a few formal brand brewery beer equipment parts suppliers. The stability of quality is determined by the company's production technology accumulation, design innovation and refined management. The selection of parts brands by brewery beer equipment manufacturers also reflects the quality positioning of equipment manufacturers.
4. How to design the brewing process properly in the equipment
Fourth, the design of brewery beer equipment conforms to the brewing process. If brewery beer equipment tanks and parts are hardware, then the design and implementation of the process is the brewery beer equipment software. This involves an in-depth understanding of the various process links in beer brewing, the accumulation of various data achieved by the process, and the individual needs of different types of beer brewing. For example, the selection of a pump needs to consider the flow rate, flow rate, temperature, viscosity, density, pH of the medium, as well as the sanitary level of the pump, shear force, suction lift, head, energy consumption, electrical load and other conditions; The choice also needs to consider these.
The pump and pipeline
The pump is the heart of the process system, and the pipeline is the blood vessel of the process system. The calculation of the flow rate, flow rate, resistance and other data of the process pipeline determines the process realization of the mash, wort, water and other media. The pipeline must not only connect the two ends of the process correctly, but also plan the most reasonable route to avoid the phenomenon of material storage, mixing, cleaning dead ends, and excessive resistance of elbows. brewery beer equipment manufacturers or professional consulting experts will generally provide a beer brewing process flow chart, which details the connection of the two ends of the pipeline, and can know that the A nozzle should be connected with the B nozzle. However, the process schematic diagram cannot express the connection route of the pipeline, nor the route from the A nozzle to the B nozzle. This resulted in the connection of the on-site construction pipeline relying on the experience of the installation engineer. Beer brewing pipeline involves wort pipeline, beer liquor pipeline, cip cleaning pipeline, carbon dioxide pipeline, compressed gas pipeline, brewing water pipeline, hot water pipeline, cold water pipeline, ice water pipeline, etc. These pipelines are intricate and complex, and systematic overall planning cannot be achieved by experience alone. Therefore, many beer brewing projects often have pipeline connection conflicts during the on-site pipeline construction, temporary changes to the planned pipeline direction, changes in the optimal valve installation positions, and pipeline changes that cause sanitary dead ends and other problems. These problems caused by no planning are often difficult to plan and solve again. Temporary changes cause material waste, and the labor cost for secondary rework is also very high.
3D drawing make it visible and precise
Three-dimensional drawing can effectively plan the pipeline project in advance. The extensive use of industrial 3D software (such as solidwork) makes it possible to present real scenes on site. The brewery beer equipment factory can measure the site in advance and build a three-dimensional space model of the site. The brewery beer equipment is three-dimensionally drawn according to the drawings, and the pipeline can also be drawn in advance in the three-dimensional software. In this way, the overall planning and evaluation of the pipeline system can be revised in advance for unreasonable problems. The cost of modification in the drawing software is very low and the efficiency is much higher. However, the price of professional genuine software is extremely high. The solidwork software purchased by Tiantai Equipment Company costs more than two hundred thousand yuan, and the cost of the comprehensive three-dimensional rendering software is more than one million yuan. In the long run, this is conducive to the precipitation of technical data, helps reduce on-site costs, and makes the beer brewing process more scientific. With the development of craft beer, the customization of the brewing process has become simple, and the brewer can simulate and evaluate the pipeline design in advance.
Compared with hardware, software is often not directly visible. This requires more professional industry knowledge and deep brewing experience.
5. Brewery equipment installation and after sale service make you comfort and focus on brewing
Fifth, the installation training and brewing service of brewery beer equipment. Generally, brewery beer equipment factories will provide equipment installation services, as well as piping and accessories required for equipment installation. These are not problems. Here I would like to remind the other two aspects of the precautions during the installation process. One is the preparation and installation of the project. All brewery beer equipment needs water, electricity, steam, compressed air, etc. These equipment brewery beer equipment manufacturers do not produce them themselves. If it is not agreed in advance that these supporting equipment will be packaged and provided by the brewery beer equipment manufacturer, you will need to prepare it yourself. We recommend that the brewery beer equipment manufacturers package and provide them together. Although the price will be higher than buying it yourself, it can save a lot of communication and learning costs. This tests the ability of a brewery equipment factory to complete the package. The second is the training service of beer brewing. Some brewery equipment factories will build a small brewing system for research and training of brewing processes. These equipment factories will have their own professional brewers, who can provide more professional brewing training and brewing recipes. In terms of brewing raw materials, it will also help users to choose a supplier that suits them. The brewer who runs a craft beer bar or craft beer shop is different from the brewer who runs a brewery. Small craft beer bars generally make fresh beer with rich flavors, and the brewing formula is more flexible. Brewers of large-scale breweries need professional industry knowledge, and it is best to be responsible for brewing process and quality control in large breweries. There is still a big difference between a small beer brewing system and a large brewery brewing system. This is also an important consideration when choosing a brewery beer equipment manufacturer.
Some brewing courses are necessary before you start
If you don’t know how to brew, it is recommended to go to some training institutions for training and learning, such as the courses of Beijing Institute of Food and Fermentation Industry, the courses of Lanpu College, the courses of Wuhan Beer College and so on. You can systematically learn the theoretical knowledge of beer brewing, and you can also watch the actual brewing operation. Different colleges have different course fees. Before participating in the training, it is best to do it manually by yourself, which can be done at home. You can also go to the brewing practice base of Tiantai Company, they will regularly hold free beer brewing practice activities, the purpose is to better understand beer brewing through hands-on practice.
These are the tips that are often used in selecting brewery beer equipment manufacturers, and I hope it will help you.
Refequency questions
1000L Manual Three vessel Steam Heating Beer Equipment
2000L four-vessel steam heating brewery equipment
300L stainless steel two-vessel direct fire heating beer equipment
1500L manual three vessel direct fire heating beer equipment
1500L stainless steel steam heating mashing room beer equipment
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