New wort boiling system combined with thermal-VRC vacuum evaporator in Suntory Kyushu-Kumamoto Brewery

摘要

For the construction of the new Suntory Kyushu-Kumamoto Brewery in July 2003, we designed a new wort boiling system to achieve lower thermal and shear stress on the wort, further energy savings and easier maintenance. It has an internal heater with a very large heating surface to reduce the heating steam pressure and temperature, and this lower steam pressure enabled the combination of thermal VRC and an internal heater in an industrial scale brewhouse. Furthermore, by using a Vacuum Evaporator after whirlpool, total evaporation in the boiling process could be reduced free from the insufficient evaporation of undesirable volatile compounds like DMS in cold wort. This gentle and simple boiling system worked well with recycling ca. 50 % of vapors arising in the wort kettle, and the actual results indicated the possibility of achieving good flavor stability and foam quality by reducing the thermal stress on the wort.