how do microbreweries pump finished beer?

hi, as a home brewer we all know we have to treat finished beer with 'kid gloves', gently siphon into the bottom of the bottle, don't agitate it too much, etc.

but when you are dealing with several thousand liters at a time and need to pump it to a bottling machine, what kind of pump system is usually used? i looks to me like sanitary grade, stainless centrifugal pumps are used but i think they would agitate the beer a lot and cause a lot of CO2 to come out of suspension? does anyone know how small breweries do it?

thanks, steve

 

They pump under pressure in sealed systems and use whirlpool separators.

 

thanks, you mean they push it out of the barrel with CO2 pressure?

 

I make beer at a brewpub and we use large stainless versions of march pumps. There is no pressure in the fermenter or the bright tank while transferring. To can or bottle though, you have to keep the beer cold and under pressure otherwise the carbonation would turn to foam all over the floor.If you are moving carbonated beer anywhere you just use CO2 pressure.

 

Yes.

10 characters

 

I am not sure what they use but did a quick search in Google and found a few sites!



http://www.intercaps.com/beer_fillers.php


In my nanobrewery (my kitchen and patio ), I use CO2 to transfer from secondary fermenter through 1 micron filter into dispense keg (all under CO2). It works like a champ! No oxygen exposure issues. If you need to bottle after that, a counter pressure beer gun is always an option!!!



Cheers!

 

Is this pre or post carbonation?

 

I assume it must be pre-carbonation, as the filter would probably knock CO2 out of solution and fill with gas. However, I have never filtered, so what do I know?

 

Where I worked, we filtered (plate) carbed cider under pressure, if I remember correctly, right into the bottling line.

 

Most likely it went into a pressure bowl inside the filler.

I filter both, carbonated and non-carbonated beer under pressure into dispensing tanks, through plate filters.
If not done right it can be a pain to recover from foaming.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

It is pre-carbonation. I do a cold crash for a couple of days before the transfer. It helps to clear the finish product.

For those wanting to bottle post-carbonation, More Beer has a thing call a counter pressure bottler filler.



Hope this helps.

Cheers!

 

Yes. I wasn't aware it was re-pressurized in the bottler. Makes sense.

As long as you're not trying to push it thru too fast, it is better, from what I remember. Just fast enough.

 

Interesting indeed. Is the basic principle for filtering carbonated beer that you get the outbound side at least as cold as the input side, and have the inlet pressure advantage low enough relative to the output pressure? I assume inlet pressure must exceed outlet pressure to get the beer to flow, nanotechnology aside.