Accelerating the wine process

DRINKTEC 2013—the world's leading trade fair for beverage and liquid food technology—will be introducing many of the latest in wine production, from products to techniques in filling, labelling, packaging and marketing. To appreciate all these, visitors will be able to see how some of the equipment work since whole systems will be set up and run. Developments in winemaking have given vintners the opportunity to enhance the age-old process, which essentially begins with liquid being extracted from a source and then transformed through fermentation. The solids resulting in this process, the yeasts for example, have to be separated out several times in a defined way in order to produce clear, stable wines with a pure taste. In the past this was achieved through gravity, with the substances settling down and being separated by decanting from the liquid. It is possible to accelerate the process by having lower liquid levels and using precipitants of the kind that are still used today.

Decanters replace presses
The process of clarification, for example, can be hastened considerably through the use of centrifuges and filters. These devices ensure that the wine or extract contained in the solids can be recovered and marketed and the remaining dry solids can be processed more easily. Decanters can replace the press, which has been the common method of juice extraction since the days of the Romans.

Robert Stangl, the regional manager of food technology at Alfa Laval explains, "Nowadays decanters not only handle must clarification and yeast separation, these machines can also be used to extract must or juice from the grapes. Scroll-type centrifuges have already more than proven their effectiveness as compared to conventional presses. The more constant values, the easier operation and the drier residues all lead to greater efficiency. For vintners this means a higher yield with precisely calculable costs.

Several well-known institutes in Germany and abroad can confirm these results." Swedish company Alfa Laval offers products and solutions for heat transfer, separation and fluid handling of foods and beverages, amongst others, and has a specific range of equipment for wine production, from clarification to thermovinification. Modern refrigeration technology Another important showcase at drinktec 2013 will be the latest in cooling equipment for winemaking. These follow the trends in green technology and assure cost savings when compared to earlier cooling methods.

In traditional wooden barrels, for example, the fermentation temperature took care of itself, the volume-to-surface ratio of the smaller barrels automatically regulating the maximum temperature in cool cellars. This is no longer the case these days since large stainless steel tanks are used, so the mash has to be actively cooled to prevent the wine from "boiling". Smaller production operations used to address this challenge in part by trickling water over the tank, but this is an old method, and an expensive one at that. More up-to-date refrigeration systems remove heat from the wine in a closed cycle through cooling panels, located in the product, or special tank cooling zones. The required cooling is achieved through the evaporation of a cooling agent, such as ammonia. In the case of direct evaporation using ammonia, this cold production takes place at the actual place of consumption, for instance, the fermentation tank.

A tried-and-tested alternative is indirect cold transport using a carrier medium such as water or glycol. By selecting the cold production process best suited for the temperature level required and modern day control and compaction systems, this refrigeration plant operates with maximum efficiency, and therefore maximum energy efficiency. Another benefit of constant parameters for fermentation and storage will be observed in the quality of the wine itself.

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