Selecting the Right Microbrewery Equipment Set

Microbrewery Equipment

A quality microbrewery equipment set is essential for creating high-quality beer. But selecting the right equipment depends on the size of the brewery and its brewing style and complexity.

Breweries should also consider scalability to ensure they can meet increasing production demands without compromising on quality. Implementing strict quality control protocols and collaborating with experienced brewing consultants can help achieve this goal.

Microbrewery equipment includes grain silos, mills, weighing systems, mash tuns, lauter tuns, wort grants, brew kettles, fermentation tanks and conditioning tanks. Microbreweries also need cleaning and sanitation equipment, such as sinks that are dedicated for washing and sanitizing cutlery and service ware.

The mashing process produces a liquid rich in sugars called wort. This must be separated from the residual grain to make beer. A lauter tun is an essential piece of brewing equipment for this purpose. Microbreweries may opt to buy pre-milled malt instead of installing a mill, however this is more expensive and reduces the control that a brewer has over the crush.

Selecting the Right Microbrewery Equipment Set

Fermenters are where the wort turns into beer, and they can be open or closed. Closed fermenters are more common as they can be sterilized and have precise temperature control. They are also easy to clean. The beer is then filtered to remove dead yeast and other solids to clarify it before bottling or canning.

The fermentation equipment used in a microbrewery includes the tanks, barrels, and other containers where wort is held while it ferments into beer. These fermentation vessels may be stainless steel, glass, or plastic and are a crucial part of the brewing process.

Brewing fermented foods is a messy business that calls for special tools and gadgets to help you manage the mess effectively. There are airlocks that let gas escape from jars, lids with small “windows” you open in order to release the pressure, glorified glass jars rebranded as “small fermentation crocks,” expensive weights, mandolines for quickly cutting vegetables or fruits into uniform sizes, and so on.

Many microbreweries also have filtration systems to make their beer look and taste its best. Filters range from rough ones, which only remove solids, to fine ones that eliminate the majority of microorganisms in a liquid. Lastly, packaging equipment is required to store and deliver the finished product.

In addition to brewing and fermentation equipment, microbreweries need storage equipment for smallwares like pots, pans, mixers and food prep equipment. This can add up quickly and it’s always a good idea to buy extra of these items.

Breweries also need a large selection of tanks and containers for the beer they produce including brite tank, mash tun, fermenters, coolers, kegs, yeast propagation tanks, carbonation systems and cellar equipment. You’ll also need a hot-liquor tank for bulk water heating and a glycol chiller for the circulation of cooling glycol.

Finally, you’ll need a packaging system to keg, bottle or can your beer for sale. This is a huge investment but it allows you to sell your beer anywhere. A centrifuge is a separate piece of equipment used in the brewery that helps to reduce beer loss by separating the liquid and solid components. It spins at high speeds, allowing the denser solids to be discharged while the less dense liquid phases flow through concentric inner circles.

A brewery generates an incredible amount of waste materials like kegs, plastic can carriers, shrink wrap, and polyester strapping. For breweries, minimizing this waste is an ongoing challenge. A dedicated drop-off spot at a local recycling center for these items helps to consolidate and find end markets for these materials that otherwise might have ended up in landfills or trash facilities.

Every barrel of beer created by a microbrewery creates about 217,000 gallons of wastewater and 5,000,000 pounds of spent grain. An anaerobic digester can transform this brewery wastewater into a renewable energy source while also cutting down on the amount of waste sent to WWTP and lowering community & brewery infrastructure costs.

Many breweries also invest in solar hot water heating systems to lower energy costs, reduce their carbon footprint and use less natural resources. Other efficiencies include high efficiency refrigeration, lighting upgrades, motor and compressor optimizations, and point-of-sale system integration for inventory control.