RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
VLB SERVICE
Assessment of brewing cereals and beverage recipes on a small-scale basis Dipl.-Braumeister Michel Werner, B.Sc. Florian Mischke, Dr. Ing. Roland Pahl, VLB Berlin, Research Institute for Beer and Beverage Production
The "nano brewery" has been situated in the Wilfried Rinke Technical Center at VLB Berlin since 2017. Roland Pahl and Werner Michel introduced the plant at the October Convention 2017 as one of the smallest fully automated brewing plants, which was acquired in 2014/2015 as part of a publicly funded research project. VLB now also offers a service related to the "nano brewery". Customers can have raw materials assessed on a 5-liter scale.
Photos: ew
The processing properties of the brewery raw materials are subject to certain fluctuations. Influencing factors such as annual crop, provenance as well as growth and
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production conditions are relevant for almost all parameters in malting and brewing. The compositions of all brewery raw materials can be analyzed to a large extent. However, processing difficulties and undesired influences on wort and beer quality can usually only be demon strated to an insufficient extent. For example, difficulties can occur during lautering, beer filtration, or gushing may arise, even though the analysis results were inconclusive. Although it is possible to judge the general processability of a raw material, it is not possible to predict process difficulties or adapt the process on the basis of the corresponding raw material. Small quantities An investigation on a very small scale can provide insight on important information such as the behaviour of of raw materials on an industrial scale if sample material is supplied in advance for analysis. In such a case, the economic expenditure is much lower. Processing on a very small scale is therefore the optimal tool for evaluating new raw materials, raw material mixtures, processes and recipes. Test equipment has a decisive influence. It must be able to reproduce processing on an industrial scale in a reproducible and reliable manner. In light of the enormous potential of such plants, VLB Berlin has been dealing with the issue of down-scaling in the malting and brewing process for a long time. Consequently,
Brauerei Forum International – May 2020
2 the institute has the know-how and plants designed for 4 l unfiltered beer. The entire process of malt and beer production from grain to bottle can be examined. Individual components, such as the micro malting plant (600–700 g malt) and the modified EBC fermentation test tubes (fermentation of 4 l wort) have been established for long time and are widely accepted in the brewing and malting industry [1]. With the development of the miniature brewhouse [2], the gap between malting and fermentation could be closed in 2017 [3]. Once all process steps required for beer production have been miniaturized, small quantities of malt, wort, and beer can be produced much more easily, flexibly, and economically.
