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    Vol. 72, 1986] 351 PROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW* By M. G, Roysto, Ph.D., AACLChem.E. (The A.P.V. Company Limited) ‘The brewing process can be analysed by considering each stage as a complex of unit operations. By considering the physical parameters involved in each unit operation the effects of changing the traditional process can be assessed. If the design of the brewing process is based on sound process engineering principles the overall efficiency of the process should be improved without having to sacrifice product quality. Ixtropuction Tue traditional process of brewing, as operated in the United Kingdom, is going through a period of considerable change as is shown by the fact that any paper pub- lished on the subject of New Developments in the Brewing Process ot on Brewery Engineering arouses considerable interest. “However, in this time of change it is as well to study ‘the basic theory of processes and by this means to attempt to establish a sound foundation of such process development. Since this subject embraces both the processes them- selves and process plant, it is important to avoid considering the engineering aspect in isolation from the complete brewing process, and to treat instead the engineering of brewing processes, which involves both engineering and brewing aspects. It is particularly important to discover the underlying principles behind the changes taking place in a process industry, such as the brewing industry. Development is in itself a continuous process and at most there is a pause for the appraisal of results, before the next stage is planned. This lack of finality is inevitable, since the pattern of raw materials, equipment, products and the state of brewing science changes year by year and, therefore, the best solution to a problem this year is unlikely to be exactly the same as the solution offered last year. In this changing scene the one unchanging factor is the theory of Process Engineering upon which such developments are based. ‘Tue Prixcipces oF Pxocess ENGINEERING Process Engineering is, basically, concerned with the design and integration of the series of manufacturing stages which result in the transformation of a raw material to the finished product. There are three major criteria which must be borne in mind when considering the design of any process. First, the process must produce both the product and any by-products at the required specification, Secondly the process must be reliable and efficient both in its own operation and in continuity with preceding and succeeding process stages. ‘Thirdly, and having allowed for the frst two requirements, the overall processing costs should be kept to a minimum, The technique of process engineering is to consider each stage as a complex of basic unit processes. This approach is by no means new," as it was used by. the medieval alchemists who held that transformation from the basic materials to the refined and transmuted product resulted from the unit operations of:— Calcination, Congelatic Fixation, Solution; Digestion, Distillation; Sublimation, Separation; Ceration, Fermentation; Multiplication and Projection. In modem terms we prefer to talk of:— * Based on 4 paper read to the Midland Counties Section of the Institute of Brewing on 9th December, 1905 and on one read to the Yorkshire and North Eastern Section of the Institute of Browing on 3d ‘February, 1966. 352 For solids Screening. Size reduction, Solids handling. Weighing. Blending. For fi ‘Sedimentation, Pumping. Flow measurement, Filtration. Centrifugation, Extraction. Fluidization, Distillation, Absorption. ‘Adsorption. Evaporation. Crystallization. Agitation. Drying. General operations Reaction, Heat transfer. For Biochemical processes Fermentation (cell growth and product formation). Sterilization. Thus a brief and somewhat oversimplified description of the brewing process in terms of the unit operations involved might be:— Malt handling 1, Materials handling. 2. Weighing. Milling 1.” Size reduction. 2. Screening. Mashing 1. " Blending. 2, Heat transfer. 3. Enzyme reactions, 4. Filtration, 5. Leaching or extraction. Wort boiling Heat transfer. Sterilization. Reaction (protein denaturation and coagulation). Reaction (of hop constituents). . Extraction (of hops). oh gee ROYSTON: PROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW UJ. Inst. Brew. 6. Distillation (of hops and wort vola- tiles). 7. Evaporation. Hop separation 1.’ Filtration. 2. Separation of break material. 3. Leaching or extraction. Wort cooling 1. Heat transfer. 2. Gas absorption (aeration). Fermentation I. Blending. 2. Fluid measurement (gauging). 3. Gas absorption (rousing). 4. Fermentation (cell growth and pro- duct formation), 5. Heat transfer. 6. Separation and sedimentation. Racking ain as 1.” Blending (primings and finings). 2. Sedimentation (fining). 3. Extraction (dry hopping). ning 1, Heat transfer. Fermentation. Reaction (of flavour components and also haze formers). 4. Sedimentation, Chilling and filtering 1,” Filtration 2. Adsorption. 3, Heat transfer. 4. Gas absorption. 5. Sterilization. This is, of course, a considerable over- simplification of the processes involved, although this treatment does reveal the basic unit operations of the major processes. It is an axiom of the process engineering approach that in general the overall process is improved if each unit operation is conducted in a piece of equipment specifically designed to operate under the optimum process conditions. As an example of this, a number of brewing processes will be examined and analysed by the application of process engineering tech- niques. MiLLixc The object in milling malt is of course to obtain a maximum disintegration of poten- tially soluble material, iz, the starch and a “? Fig. 1.—Continuous mashing plant. Inlet to first oteolytic converter). lant. Inlet to sevond stage (siccharifieation converter). Fig. 4. of Horlicks wort extraction plant. Vol. 72, 1966] minimum disintegration of the insoluble material, the husk which forms the filter ed. Classically with a British two-high, 4-roll mill a compromise is reached which is reflected in a target grind of certain per- centages of husk, grits and flour. The control of the milling process is greatly improved by providing intermediate screens between milling stages, as is common on the Continent, so that the husk, which is essential for retaining a free running mash bed, is separated after the first milling stage and so prevented from further disintegration. In the Afiag system for example, further improvement ‘is achieved by effecting a differential brittleness of the malt by a pressteaming technique which toaghens the husk. Thus, by considering the two basic operations of size reduction and particle size control which take place during milling, an overall improvement in the process takes place. ROYSTO! Masuixe As was indicated in the initial classification, the traditional British mashing stage contains at least four different unit operations, of which the first mashing-in stage is conducted in the Steele's masher. The remaining operations, however, are conducted in a single vessel, which ‘combines the function of reaction vessel, filter and extractor. There are many advantages in breaking down the mashing stage into its unit opera- tions. In the batch process the shape and design of the traditional mash tun is dete mined by the filtration requirements, i.e, it is large in diameter, is fitted with a false bottom and, as a vessel, is very expensive; yet a significant proportion of the process time of a mash tun is devoted to the sacchari- fication reaction, which could equally be carried out in a vessel designed for that process requirement, i.c., a simple holding vessel. There is a growing movement to separate these operations in order to obtain an optimization of the design of both the reaction vessel and the extracting unit. This is perhaps best exemplified by the continuous mashing plant in which each operation is conducted in equipment specifically designed with the process requirements in mind, The particular installation which is illus- PROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW 353 trated in Figs. 1-4 was installed by Messrs. Horlicks at Slough and processes several hundreds of quarters of grist per day. |The grist comprises a mixture of wheat flour and malt and is mashed with hot water under flow and temperature control in a small agitated vessel. The mash is then pumped through 2 long tube housed in an isothermal jacket. During the passage through the tube at a low temperature, proteolysis of the mash takes place. The mash is then heated in a second vessel, and is pumped into a second tubular converter for the saccharifi cation to take place, The malt extract is then removed from the spent grains in a unit comprising a series of screens, squeezers and extractors which is shown in Fig. 4, Since the malt extract is destined for evaporation, the ability of this plant to produce wort at a gravity of 100° by mashing at a liquor to grist ratio of 1°6 to 1 is of great economic importance. Masi Fi:tratiox The lautering stage presents special prob- lems regarding the two basic operations of filtration and leaching. Filtration rate is controlled by pressure differential, porosity and bed depth as can be expressed mathe- matically by a modified form of Poiseuille's equation: where V = the velocity of liquid through the bed. the ressure differential. ed depth. 2 = the liquid viscosity. and m = the permeability of the bed. In the case of a mash bed the permeability will depend on the grind, on the ce of adjuncts, the type of malt and the brewing technique and can change drastically during the course of the run-off, for example by applying too great a pressure differential in the early stages. In the idealized case of a bed of uniform size particles Sg ,, Fre 2% T the particle size. the gravitational constant. where 354 Fre = a factor correcting the Reynolds Number for bed’ porosity and particle shape. and Ey = a factor correcting the friction factor for bed porosity and par- ticle shape. Thus for a given type of bed AP Ly Leaching efficiency, on the other hand, is controlled by the overall mass balance of the process and by the rate of diffusion of wort from within the solid particles in the bed and the subsequent removal of extract from the surface by fluid mass transfer. It can be seen immediately that the rate of mass transfer from within the particle will take the form Veo xa D Kag where K = the solid phase mass transfer coefficient. the diffusion coefficient, and d = the particle diameter. Thus the rate of leaching is an inverse function of the size of particles which make up the bed whereas the rate of filtration is Proportional to the square of the particle size, ROYSTON: PROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW {J. Inst. Brew. extraction in some form of column. The results, however, have a direct bearing on the performance of lauter tuns in which, although, the grain bed is static, there is a progressive flow of sparge through the bed, analogous to the flow of wash liquor in a countercurrent system. In such countercurrent extraction the loss due to incomplete extraction (assuming 100% equilibrium at each stage) is given by La Sarge Po. “Tn where L = Fraction of extract lost. n = Number of countercurrent stages. M = Mashing liquor rate.) all in U = Liquor carried through | ‘con- with insoluble solids. sistent W = Wash liquor rate. units Table I shows the effect on extract loss of variables encountered in brewing. Thus ior medium gravity wort a system involving three theoretical stages can achieve better than 99% extraction efficiency. The extr: tion efficiency falls if excessive mashing liquor or insufficient wash liquor is used. Also, the higher the final gravity required, the more extraction stages are needed. At TABLE I Loss oF Yrecn iN CounTERCURRENT EXTRACTION OF Mast (Liguor/Grist Ratio = vy Gravity of collected wort =a | ! 1-050, i Moisture | s content | First | Number of | First of | separa: | washing stages spent | tion grains | stage [ 2 87% coe a6) 75% 2 | 2 60% 7 | o7 At this point it is perhaps of interest to consider the characteristics of pure extraction devices. These would take the form of a countercurrent system with either succesive st of separation of spent grains from Wort following temashing of the grains ot else a gravity system of countercurrent very high gravities the effect of the liquid carried through in association with the insoluble solids becomes marked and either the process should include a de-watering stage or else efforts should be made to eliminate the husk, etc. before mashing. ‘As indicated above, this analysis also Vol. 72, 1966] applies to a grain bed in a lauter tun, and from a consideration of the taking place in a fixed bed and that taking place in a countercurrent extracting unit, it can be seen that the increase in the number of contracting stages in the latter corresponds to the depth of the bed in the former. The precise correlation between the number of equilibrium extraction stages and the bed depth is somewhat difficult to determine but, by analogy with other mass transfer pro- cesses in packed beds, it is possible to draw some general conclusions. Thus, the number of stages in a given depth of ‘bed will be reduced markedly by any maldistribution of Sparge and as a general rule will reduce as the ratio of bed diameter to bed depth is increased. This goes some way to explaining the high ‘extraction efficiency of the rotary mash filter despite the relatively shallow beds employed. Tt is also a general rule that the number of extraction stages will increase as the permeability of the bed decreases, i.c,, free running beds would tend to result in inefficient extraction. It is interesting to note at this point that a linear relation is found in certain classes of mass-transfer equipment between pressure drop through a bed at a characteristic throughput and the number of theoretical stages in that bed. Finally, the of bed which corres- ponds to an equilibrium stage depends on the overall mass transfer coefficient, the inter- facial area between solid and liquid and the run off rate!®), L A= KoA where H = the height of a transfer unit. Kom = the overall mass transfer coefficient. A = the interfacial area. and L = the liquid rate. It is also of interest to resolve the overall mass transfer coefficient into the individual components of mass transfer. Within the particle itself of diameter d, mass transfer is controlled by the diffusion coefficient D. ‘Mass transfer from the surface and into the bulk of the wash liquid is effected by the liquid film transfer coefficient K, thus:— 1 da 1 Kom 7X pt Ke xR where K, and K, are constants. ROYSTON: PROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW 365 In the event of Ky 5 > Ket the mass transfer will be controlled by diffusion from the solid and the overall mass transfer coefficient can only be improved by reducing the particle size, d, or by raising the tem- perature so as to increase the diffusion coefficient, D, I, however, Keg D> Ky § the mass transfer will be controlled by the liquid film mass transfer coefficient which will itself have the form? 8 pmiet pasos wpe) *(b) where p = liquid density. v = liquid velocity. d = particle diameter. p= liquid viscosity. In this case, apart from increasing (he ratio D/d as in case of diffusion controlling process, the overall mass transfer coefficient can be increased by increasing the degree of turbulence between the liquid and the solid as is shown by the dependence on the Reynolds Number. wus it can be seen that by considering the unit operation of extraction which is one of the mash tun operations it is possible to shed light on the nature of the process and the effect of process variables upon it. The exact relation between these two operations of filtration and leaching still requires to be fully investigated, but the basic incompatibility can be seen’ from the effect of particle size, in that the rate of filtration increases as the particle size in- creases and the bed depth decreases, but the efficiency of extraction should increase as the cle size decreases and the bed depth increases. The success of traditional lauter tuns, as well as newer designs, such as the rotary mash filter, lies not in the precise resolution of this problem, but in the fact that these units are well-designed leaching units, and high extraction efficiency is at the heart of any economical brewing line. Nevertheless, an appraisal of the lautering stage from the process engineering viewpoint does reveal this anomalous fact that the mash filter is primarily a leaching device and as 356 such uniform penetration of solvent (sparge) and provision of sufficient contact time for sugar to diffuse ont of the spent grains are vitally important facts to be bore in mind when designing any mash extraction equip- ment. This is particularly so when con- sidering low contact time devices, such as centrifuges ora very high frequency lautering uns, ROYSTO: Econowtcs or Mast FILTRATION ‘When considering extraction equipment, it is important to consider not only the overall, process characteristics and the mechanical reliability but also the general economics of the process. Take for example two pieces of extraction equipment for a 360-Or, per day mashing ine, one involving a low capital cost but with a relatively low extract yield, and a second with a higher initial cost but a higher yield, One would expect to pay for the more expensive, more efficient plant in about 3 yr. by the savings in raw materials. This ensures a reasonable return on invested capital after Joan charges and depreciation have been taken into account. In this hypothetical case let us suppose that the two items of plant cost £5000 and £60,000 respectively. ‘The annual saving in raw material at the break-even point should therefore, be £15,000, ie., approximately 1/60th of the annual mait bili, Therefore, in this case despite a large difference in initial cost the cheaper plant can only be justified if its extraction efficiency is within 2% of that of the mote expensive plant. ‘This simple economic argument justifies the traditional attitude of British brewers that high extract yields are well worth having. Wort Borsa One stage of the brewing process which is due for great change in the near future is wort boiling. Once again an appraisal of the various unit operations contained within the boiling process indicates that the processing of whole hops should take place elsewhere than in the wort boiler, thus giving indepen- dent control of extraction of bitter substances and hop oils as well as eliminating the problem of leaching valuable wort from spent hops. With the rapid strides taking place in the development of high-quality hop extracts it seems inevitable that post-fermentation ROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW (J. Inst. Brew. bittering will replace the present relatively inefficient system of hop boiling. In a batch system the sweet wort boilers could well be followed by a centrifuge or a tangential entry wort receiver. This latter device, first uséd a few years ago in Canada, comprises a flat-bottomed, vertical, cylin- drical vessel into which wort freed from hops is run through a tangential inlet pipe set in the wall. The rotary motion imparted to the contents as the vessel fills, sets up an inverted vortex which sweeps hot break material to the centre of the vessel from which it cannot escape. With a suitable choice of inlet velocities and vessel dimen- sions, clarified wort can be run off as soon as the vessel is filled and the residual solids form a coherent mound in the centre of the vessel, Tn the continuous process the wort can be clarified by centrifuge or hydrocyclone with subsequent extraction of wort, if this operation is justified economically. In considering a transformation of the boiling process itself it is, of course, essential to consider the individual processes of reaction and distillation which are taking place, Considering the distillation of hop and wort volatiles as an example, the result of batch distillation can be seen from the Rayleigh equation ‘which reduces to the X_ A -E\t X T where X, = the final concentration of vola- tiles. Xq = the initial concentration, E = the evaporation. and a = the volatility relative to water. Ina continuous wort boiler, however, at X, TF EG-H Thus if an evaporation of 10% is just suflicient to eliminate 00% of a substance of relative volatility = 20 in a batch boil, a single-vessel continuous system will only eliminate 65% of that volatile whereas a three-stage continuous process with the same overall evaporation would eliminate 80%. ‘The adoption of a three-vessel boiler, as opposed to a single vessel boiler, would depend on whether the evaporation in the batch process is controlled by the distillation Vol. 72, 1986) efiect, or by some other effect such as the desire to concentrate the wort. FERMENTATION Fermentation offers perhaps the greatest challenge to those interested in the funda- mental design of brewing processes. From the process engineering viewpoint, the requirements of the various operations are not compatible with their being carried out in the same piece of equipment. For example aeration and fermentation are more efficient in deep vessels, Settling of yeast is most efficient in shallow vessels or (one might add) centrifuges. Heat transfer in large vessels is naturally somewhat inefficient and the requirements of excise gauging for rigid vessels have also to be met. One could conceive therefore of a batch system as an extension of the traditional dropping system in which wort is gauged, roused and pitched in a tall vertical, cylindrical, non-attem- perated vessel fitted with skimming equip- ment or perhaps with a circulation system which maintains the yeast in suspension, and an external heat exchanger for attemperation. After 60 hr. the contents of the vessel can be cooled by a heat exchanger as they drop either to a horizontal/cylindrical settling vessel from which beer can be run off for racking after, say, 12 hr. or else through a centrifuge, preferably provided with auto- matic yeast count control. Naturally to avoid time spent in filling, emptying and cleaning vessels, the fermenta- tion process should be continuous and should be fed from a continuous gauging unit and should in turn feed a continuous settling device. From a consideration of the relation detween beer flavour and the concentration of the minor constituents produced in fer- mentation on the one hand and the depend- ence of the production of these minor con- stituents upon such fermentation conditions as pH, alcohol content, sugar and nitrogen content on the other it appears essential that the course of fermentation in any successful continuous process should closely parallel the batch process. From general economic requirements the fermentation should be as rapid as possible so as to minimize both vessel and building costs and the accrued processing costs and duty lock-up in fermenting wort. ROYSTON: PROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW 357 ‘The overall rate of fermentation is a function of the yeast concentration and to some extent of the concentration of ferment- able sugars. Therefore, a high efficiency fermenter should have a course of fermentation similar to the batch fermenter both from the point of view of product quality and maximum fermentation driving force and should also operate with 20-40% of yeast in the fermenter. The A.P.V. Tower Fermenter* which is shown in Fig. 6 has been designed to operate {6 outlet Accemperation Jacket Sight glass Perforated distributor Wort inlet Pate Fig. 6.—Diagram of tower fermenter, under these conditions. The fermenter com- iss a tall vertical cylinder opening up to a xrge diameter at the top. Wort is fed into the base, is distributed across the full diameter by means of a perforated distributor plate and flows up through a zone of high yeast concentration, fermenting progressively as it does so. Beer is withdrawn from the large- diameter head, from a decanting zone, which is designed so that it is not agitated by the fermentation gas evolved. In the tower, as in any other fermenter, the degree of fermentation is a function of 368 the quantity of yeast present, the residence time and, to some extent, the sugar con- centration. In the case of ale fermentation this last effect can be neglected owing to the restricted attentuation. Thus:— ds it fermentable sugat concentration. time. a constant, x = yeast concentration, = Kx. However, since the yeast occupies a definite volume in the tower the actual residence time t = T(\—x) where T = tower volume/ hourly flow rate. ds Therefore: — se = K.x. (1x) dust Kx 3) In the case of lager beers, where the limit attenuation is achieved, the relation takes on a logarithmic form. ‘Thus - Baws x.0-x) or T= or T= = Within the tower a natural balance exists between the drag forces of the rising wort/ beer and the effect of gravity on the flocs of yeast. The settling velocity of the yeast is given bytes (ey—p)gd? Tn * x 0123(1—a)?7_ 1 — XP (Ga ) x where py = density of yeast cells. p = wort/beer density. d = size of flocs. a = volume of liquid occluded in the flocs per unit volume of yeast. v Thus, it can be seen that an equilibrium exists in the tower which defined by the main parameters of wort density, yeast concentra- tion and velocity. ROYSTON: PROCESS ENGINEERING IN THE BREWERY—A REVIEW UJ. Inst. Brew. In a general form for a given tower and yeast this relation can be expressed as: The lack of mixing in the tower is demon- strated by the attenuation curves which can be constructed from samples drawn from difierent heights up the tower? and is ptoven by the coherent form of the compound attenuation curve for samples withdrawn under widely differing flow rates (Fig. 6). The broken lines on Fig. 6 show what the resultant curves would have been, had mixing been present in the tower. ta Specific gravity of wort 8 8 EER) Residence tine (hr) Fig. 0.—Specifie gravity of samples drawn from the tower at diflerent levels, showing the effect of the time of travel of the wort from the inlet to the sample point on the attenuation at —Xx— 5 gal. pet he, —O— 4 gal. per hi

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