New standards in beer stabilisation

BEER stabilisation is an indispensable step in achieving the longest possible shelf life for beer.  The standard practice to date for regenerative beer stabilisation has been to use a conventional gap candle filter or horizontal mesh filter system.  As a rule of thumb, this investment is usually worthwhile beginning with beer outputs of around 400,000 hectolitres per year.  With the newly developed Innopro ECOStab, KHS has made this rule of thumb obsolete.

This system has been specially developed for regenerative beer stabilisation and is worth using for significantly smaller beer quantities.  Consequently, it is of just as much interest to small and medium-sized breweries as to large breweries.  Amongst other things, this is because the investment costs are lower compared with conventional gap candle or horizontal mesh filter systems and a reduced volume of PVPP is required.  The comparatively minimal operating costs thanks to reduced media consumption are a further plus point.  Other important factors are the continuous operation with a high degree of automation, compact frame design enabling fast installation, and the modular system that permits the use of PVPP materials from different manufacturers. Low container volumes in the Innopro ECOStab also mean that the set-up times for system start-up and shutdown are short, that changeover times between various types of beer are kept brief, and that product losses are low.

Rationale for redesign

Three disadvantages of existing solutions lead to the innovative Innopro ECOStab. The first important point was that investment in a horizontal mesh or gap candle filter is associated with high costs, which are not acceptable for a relatively simple application.  This high cost of investment can only be amortised for breweries with a beer output of less than 400,000 hectolitres in special cases.  In contrast, using this new KHS system, regenerative beer stabilisation is justified for small and medium-sized breweries, which also benefit from more sustainable production by using the principle of regenerative beer stabilisation.

Another important aspect was that there are often problems, particularly when cleaning the horizontal mesh and gap candle filters designed for PVPP stabilisation. PVPP sticks to the filter elements and often cannot be removed using conventional cleaning methods such as backwashing.  Blocked surfaces prevent a uniform precoating with PVPP and some parts of the system soon become overloaded, which can damage the filter elements.  In order to prevent this risk occurring in the first place, the Innopro ECOStab has a clearly visible cleaning area, and PVPP is restricted to the inner part of the filter elements. Complete cleaning of the entire surface can be carried out at high pressure using a centrally located jet cleaner.  This ensures high system availability.

A third disadvantage of existing systems is the work associated with batch operation when using classical PVPP precoat filters.  The Innopro ECOStab uses several redundant system parts.  When one stabiliser module is in the regeneration phase, the other begins production.  This enables around-the-clock, 24/7 operation without stopping and – an aspect particularly important when connected to a crossflow filtration system – the output is continuous.

Positive aspects add to range of advantages

The newly developed system also offers many further positives.  Whilst the classical beer stabilisation cycle runs 10 to 20 hours, the stabilisation cycle in the new KHS system takes 2 to 3 hours to complete.  PVPP material is therefore regenerated much sooner, and usage is reduced by more than 50% compared with conventional systems thanks to the short production cycles of the stabiliser modules as well as the particularly low system container volumes cNIKE AIR HUARACHE