Low temperature wort flavour evaporation: A new dimension in evaporation efficiencies

Abstract

It is shown that the vapour liquid equilibrium of wort flavour components in wort and thus the efficiency of evaporation processes during the production of beer can be influenced by means of changing the evaporation temperature. Here, the enrichment of unwanted volatiles in the vapour is increasing with decreasing temperature. Thus, an evaporation in the cold parts of the brewery brings advantages concerning the needed over-all evaporation and thus the needed energy amount of the brewing process. In combination with a countercurrent guidance of wort and vapour during the evaporation process, a maximum evaporation efficiency can be reached. In order to prove the theory, test trials were performed in a 10 hl scale. In addition, a new procedure was researched, wherein wort is only heated up to moderate temperatures providing an onward evaporation in the cold part of a brewery. Here, additional savings can be reached. Using an evaporation of unwanted flavours in the cold parts of the brewery leads to enormous advantages for each brewery and thus for the whole brewing sector.