How to choose the right saccharification equipment for your brewery

Traditional saccharification with two vessels: This type of saccharification equipment typically consists of two vessels, a mash tun and a lauter tun. The mash tun is used for mashing, where the grains are mixed with hot water to convert the starches into sugars. The lauter tun is used for lautering, where the liquid is separated from the solid grain husks.

1. Classic saccharification with two tanks and three vessels: This type of equipment includes two additional vessels, a boiling kettle and a whirlpool. The boiling kettle is used for boiling the wort and adding hops, while the whirlpool is used for separating the solids from the liquid after boiling.
2. Split saccharification with three vessels: This type of equipment includes a separate mash tun and lauter tun, as well as a boiling kettle. The advantage of this setup is that it allows for more control over the mashing and lautering processes.
3. New saccharification with three vessels: This type of equipment includes a mash tun, lauter tun, and boiling kettle, but also includes additional features such as temperature control and automatic wort transfer.
4. Large-scale saccharification with three vessels: This type of equipment is designed for use in large breweries, and typically includes a mash tun, lauter tun, and boiling kettle of much larger capacities than the equipment described above.
5. Large-scale saccharification with four vessels: This type of equipment is similar to the large-scale saccharification with three vessels, but includes an additional vessel, such as a hopback or a separate whirlpool.

In summary, saccharification equipment is an important part of the brewing process, and the specific type of equipment used can vary depending on the size and needs of the brewery.

1. Two traditional saccharification machines:

This type of equipment was used earlier in the industry. It mainly consists of a saccharification/boiling pot and lauters tank.
Its main advantages are:

① The equipment is simple and the investment is small.

② Simple piping and easy operation.

③ The height of the equipment is low, and the requirements for the height of the site are not high.

Its main disadvantages are:

① Suction filtration can only be used for wort filtration (that is, the mash is in the filter tank, the wort is pumped through the wort pump, and then poured into the saccharification/boiling pot), the filtration speed is relatively slow, and the requirements for the brewer are high. Mistakes, light ones will cause the layer of wheat grains to be compacted, making filtration difficult, and heavy ones will cause deformation of the sieve plate, which will affect subsequent use.

② This type of equipment is generally equipped with an agitator in the saccharification/boiling pot. Since the mashing/boiling pot also has the function of a swirling sink, the agitator will affect the swirling effect.

③ Washing water can only be prepared in advance and stored in large basins, buckets or fermentation tanks (it is generally not recommended to store in fermentation tanks, if improperly operated, it may easily cause a vacuum in the fermentation tank or affect the operation of the ice water system). Trouble, high heat loss.

④ Generally, at most two batches can be brewed a day, and the brewer needs to stay up late and work overtime.

2. Classic saccharification with two tanks and three vessels:

This type of equipment is generally a saccharification/boiling pot and a filtration spinner tank. The filter spinner tank is actually composed of upper and lower layers. The upper layer is a filter tank and the lower layer is a spinner tank. This type of equipment has been upgraded and replaced by a new type of saccharification equipment.
Its main advantages are:

① The appearance is slender and tall equipment, which conforms to the aesthetic concept of Chinese people (skinny beauty).

② The heating area of the saccharification/boiling pot is generally large, and the heating speed is fast.

③ The position of the filter tank is high, which can realize natural filtration (wort is filtered by gravity), the filtration speed is fast, and the wort is clear and bright.

④ The spinner tank is designed as a vertical cylindrical tank. Because it is a special spinner tank, too many influencing conditions will not be considered in the design, so the separation effect of hop grains and thermal coagulation is better.

⑤ When filtering wort, the saccharification/boiling pot can prepare lees washing water, and can wash lees while filtering, which can shorten the mashing time by 30-50 minutes.

⑥ Generally, 2 batches can be brewed in one day. If you consider staying up late and working overtime, you can brew 3 to 4 batches a day. During the peak period of beer sales, you can brew more beer in the shortest time.

Its main disadvantages are:

① The equipment is generally slightly higher than the traditional saccharification equipment.

② Equipment investment is higher than that of traditional saccharification equipment.

3. Three separate saccharification devices

There are many combinations of this kind of equipment, and the common combinations are as follows:
① Saccharification tun + lauter tank + boiling/spinning tank

② Saccharification/filtration tank+boiling pot+spinning tank

③ Saccharification/filtration tank+boiling/spinning tank+hot water tank

④ Saccharification/boiling pot + lauter tank + hot water tank

Generally speaking, although the combination of this kind of equipment is varied, it remains the same.

Its main advantages are:

① The daily brewing batches are similar to the classic three-vessel brewing equipment.

② The height of the equipment is relatively short.

Its main disadvantages are:

① Filtration can only be done by suction filtration.

② The equipment occupies a large area.

4. Two new saccharification tanks and three devices:

This type of equipment is generally accepted by the market, and it belongs to the latest modification of the classic three-vessel brewing equipment, and it is also the craft brewing equipment generally chosen by craft beer lovers.
This type of equipment is generally saccharification/boiling pot, filtration/spinning tank, and the filtering and spinning tank is actually composed of upper and lower layers. The upper layer is the filter tank and the lower layer is the whirling tank.

Its main advantages are:

① The appearance is upgraded, in line with the aesthetics of Chinese people. The mixing and cultivating knife reducer and cultivating knife are upgraded to horizontal, and the operation of the equipment is more stable. The jacket design is added to fully filter out the vibration during use and maintain the stable operation of the equipment.

② The heating area of the saccharification/boiling pot is large and the heating speed is fast.

③ The position of the filter tank is high, which can realize natural filtration (wort is filtered by gravity), the filtration speed is fast, and the wort is clear and bright.

④ The rotary settling tank is a tangential feed, because it is a special rotary settling tank, and too many influencing conditions are not considered in the design, so the separation effect of hop grains and thermal coagulation is better.

⑤ When filtering wort, the saccharification/boiling pot can prepare lees washing water, and can wash lees while filtering, which can shorten the mashing time by 30-50 minutes.

⑥ Generally, 2 batches can be brewed in one day. If you consider staying up late and working overtime, you can brew 3 to 4 batches a day. During the peak period of beer sales, you can brew more beer in the shortest time.

Its main disadvantages are:

① The equipment is generally slightly higher than the traditional saccharification equipment.

② Equipment investment is higher than that of traditional saccharification equipment.

5. Three large-scale saccharification vessels and four vessels:

This kind of equipment generally has a volume of 1000L and above, and is a combination of saccharification/filtration tank + boiling/spinning tank + hot water tank, and usually adds auxiliary equipment such as screw conveyors, wort balance tanks, and hop filter tanks.

Its main advantages are:

① A sharp tool in a craft beer factory. There are separate tanks for saccharification, filtration, boiling, and spin sinking. In addition to the equipped hot water tank, the time occupied by the pot can be significantly reduced. The total time of saccharification is generally shortened by 30 to 60 minutes. A maximum of 6 batches per batch can be equipped with a maximum of 5-6 times the large fermentation tank, which can greatly reduce equipment cost investment.

② The saccharification/filtration tank and boiling/sinking tank use a new type of heating jacket, which significantly shortens the heating time of saccharification, and the boiling intensity can reach up to 8-10%, which is beneficial to protein denaturation and coagulation and can reduce the content of bad taste substances.

③ Using the screw conveyor, the transmission of malt powder becomes easy and simple (don’t underestimate this point, generally speaking, the feeding amount of 1000L wort is more than 200kg… This is the weight of 4 bags of chemical fertilizer).

④ A wort balance tank is added to realize the natural filtration of wort.

Its main disadvantages are:

The equipment of this kind of output is generally factory equipment, and customers will directly face the Food and Drug Administration, so the requirements for equipment processing are relatively high. When you choose this kind of equipment, you must inspect it in all directions. Price is one aspect. Quality, after-sales service, and the development of the manufacturer are all very important inspection contents.