Concept of a Beer Centrifuge

[Kornssj]

Good Day!

I have always wanted to be somewhat of a writer, and until recently its only been a dream of mine. MoreBeer! was kind enough to publish one of my articles relating to Beer Centrifuge.

Here is a link if you are interested in learning or just want to read the article for kicks. It's a simple explanation (in concept) of Centrifugal force and it's effects on Unfiltered Beer. Such equipment should be considered by Microbrewers or Commercial Brewers if not using already. There are some interesting concepts such as increased yield which will undoubtedly create a faster ROI. I did also learn that product timeline for hitting the shelf is lot shorter once the process is dialed in.

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/Centrifuge_Beer

Little bit of a background on the article, it was 2017 and I was at a Beer Festival in Auburn CA. This was the beginning to my home brew journey and I knew I just wanted to learn more about Beer, everything included. I started walking around to each booth and after I took a taste, I would inquire each brewer about something related to the brew. One concept I was curious about was how brewers get crystal clear beer, because it seemed like a laborious process given my 4-5 batches I had made at home haha.

A fascinating concept a brewer told me about during the event, was regarding centrifugal force used to filter their beer. I asked him to explain in which he stated the beer spins in a chamber and there are plates that open and close to filter out sediments. There are more Beer Centrifuge equipment in production today and as with anything the cost is associated with the size. That was my biggest takeaway during that Beer Festival and I'm happy to share that knowledge with you.

Even though its basic, I hope you enjoy the article and would love to hear your thoughts about this tech being used by more brewers.

Cheers!

 

[madscientist451]

Missing from the article is any information about costs involved.

 

[Kornssj]

Missing from the article is any information about costs involved.

As with anything that is a variable depending on the equipment size, manufacture and other important details. The article just focuses on the science with some interesting benefits related to ROI.

The cost variable was too wide to research / would have taken lot of time and I'm sure the price has been in flux due to the pandemic effects on Steel and other materials. However I do see what you're saying that perhaps I could have added a generic cost like a range between $10k-200K or something of that sort. Not sure if that would benefit the reader as interested parties would just research this on their own.

 

[IslandLizard]

Missing from the article is any information about costs involved.

Yup! Even the smallest centrifuges are priced far above homebrewers' budgets, while also demanding a (starting) volume that's much higher than typical homebrewers' batch sizes.

Such equipment should be considered by Microbrewers or Commercial Brewers if not using already.

You said it!
Although perhaps an interesting read, this topic does not belong in a homebrewers forum.

 

[mac_1103]

Missing from the article is any information about costs involved.

This seems to be missing from the entire internet. Or at least from my quick and dirty searches.

Reminds me of a conversation I had with my dad about clearing up his wine. Being a lab rat, I suggested centrifugation and explained how it works. He asked how much one cost and I thought he was going to throw something at me when I told him.

 

[madscientist451]

Here’s a “small” one. It has a capacity of 12bbl/hr. No price is indicated, but their main page has a contact form to get a quote.
https://www.alfalaval.com/globalass...ators/brew-series/brew-20_product-leaflet.pdf

 

[Kornssj]

Yup! Even the smallest centrifuges are priced far above homebrewers' budgets, while also demanding a (starting) volume that's much higher than typical homebrewers' batch sizes.


You said it!
Although perhaps an interesting read, this topic does not belong in a homebrewers forum.

True that the "today's" associated costs are too high to be considered by the modern Homebrewer. However I disagree that this topic / concept does not belong on this forum. A true homebrewer should want to learn all concepts associated with their craft. It should not matter if the capital costs or other setbacks are out of reach, they may one day very easily be in reach, as is with technology. It takes a bit of knowledge and inspiration for someone to create a better mousetrap and I would argue that all Microbrewers / Commercial brewers started off as Home Brewers and if they didn't that is a very small percentage if at all.

Build your own centrifuge or buy one, whatever you choose to do I just wanted people to understand the concept so that when someone asks you, "Hey what is a Beer Centrifuge?" you can explain what it is and how it works.

 

[Agent]

So, SWMBO set me up an inside tour with a microbrewery a couple years ago because she's awesome.

In addition to helping unload an entire semi trailer of cans that had to be tilted out due to truck/dock height differences, I learned that this brewery was also employing a compact centrifuge unit to maximize production speed. Nifty stuff.

In my line of work (wastewater) centrifuges are usually behemoths focused on solids concentration rather than liquid clarification, so it was interesting to see the application dichotomies of the same technology.

 

[day_trippr]

A quick look around says even reconditioned entry-level beer centrifuges go for almost $40K...

 

[Kornssj]

https://www.morebeer.com/products/c...e-enoitalia.html?variant=WE312PB&gad_source=1

Perhaps someone on this forum has ran beer through this particular filter made for wine. It's rather cheap and seems like someone could come up with a similar concept for Beer, with some tweaks. Only downside to this model is it requires 3PH power so the average homebrewer may need a Transformer and some electrical knowledge to make this happen. The other centrifuges I have researched are primarily for Micro and Commercial Brewers.

I'm reaching out to the manufacture to see if it can be used for beer and what the effects are. Stay tuned.

 

[McMullan]

It’s pretty standard for many larger commercial breweries, to separate larger solids prior to filtration. Home brewers have the luxury of using time instead.

 

[Broken Crow]

This thread makes me miss @Bracconaire....He'd probably be trying to figure out how to build one from an old washing machine to put alongside his malt-dryer.

 

[MaxStout]

Centifuges are within the reach of some (not all) commercial brewers. Many craft brewers simply use time and temp to precipitate solids in the FV or bright tank. For the vast majority of us homebrewers centrifugation is a neat technical process that we can appreciate, yet it's not practical or economical for us to actually deploy.

Sort of analogous to commercial packaging lines, something almost exclusively in the domain of the commercial producers, but not for most of us. We homebrewers find other ways to reduce O2 ingress in our beers.

That said, an article on centrifugation in a homebrewing forum is not entirely without merit. But it's a topic that most of us can only appreciate from a distance.