Whether you prefer a hoppy Pilsner, a hardy Stout, a peaty Scotch or a Sweet Bourbon, you will find Steam in the process!
In breweries, steam plays a crucial role in sanitation, cleaning brewing utensils and hard-to-reach areas, while ensuring beer flavors remain consistent. Breweries use steam to boil the wort, which utilizes a great deal of the total energy used in the brewing process.
The most common use is with jacketed steam vessels, which steam is continuously passed through to heat the wort. Most brewhouses have automatic controls to regulate the steam flow and control the temperature resulting in repeatable end products. Steam is also used in a mash tun to steep the grains and convert the starches into fermentable sugars, as well as the fermentation process, also known as a lauter tun, to separate the liquid wort from the spent grains.
The brew kettle with its internal calandria, or steam heating element, is usually located at the bottom of the kettle. The calandria’s allows for reducing brewing time and increased evaporation rate, which creates a lower chance of caramelization or the possibility of scorching materials along the kettle walls.
Other areas for steam use in the brewing process include heat for the CIP, as well as cleaning and sterilization for casks, kegs, bottles, and barrels.
Distilling allows for even more steam applications, as in the case of boiling points. FO example, ethanol boils at 172 degrees Fahrenheit, as opposed to the 212 degrees boiling point of water. A distiller is able to utilize steam to boil mixtures and then use the distillation process to effectively separate these components by capturing vapor produced in the boiling liquids.
For example, a wash of fermented liquid made with barley, water, and yeast, is added to the still at about 8% alcohol. To concentrate the alcohol, heat is added to the wash until it begins to change state from liquid to vapors. Since alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, that steam is much stronger in alcohol concentration than the wash. The Vapor then travels to the neck of the still where it enters a condenser. That condenser in turn changes it to a liquid, or distillate, before it goes to the spirit safe.
Many whiskeys are made on column stills, instead of the batch system of pot distillation, meaning they can continuously distill, making it more efficient method of production.
The efficiency of our industry leading Steam Generators deliver high quality pure Steam at constant pressure while reducing your costs, making Clayton Steam Generators the perfect pairing with your beverage of choice!
Okanagan Spring Brewery, Sazerac, Goose Island Brewery, CJSC Obolon, Carlsberg, Copenhagen, Duvel Moortgat.