How to choose the right centrifuge for your brewery
Selecting the correct centrifuge size for your brewery is not an easy task, with many designs and manufacturers to choose from. Key factors to choose the right model include the amount of solids, throughput and what you are trying to accomplish.
Globally, centrifugation technology is a topic of major interest. It’s a proven technology and the probrewers are aware of the multiple benefits of centrifugation technology in the beer process.
Consistency, quality, faster turnaround of tanks, control of losses, as well as greater control over contact time of ingredients with beer are well known benefits.
But while many craft brewers make a centrifuge the first piece of equipment they are looking to invest in or upgrade, there are several factors to consider when choosing the correct centrifuge size and system for your brewery.
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Request pricing for Alfa Laval Brew Centrifuge range and talk to one of our brewery specialists to find out which centrifuge size and type is best suited to your requirements.
Solids
When it comes to dry hopping, craft brewers tend to dose a much larger volumes compared to legacy brewers. Depending on the solids content, you can recover more or less beer from the bottoms. Typically, 50% of tank bottoms is valuable beer. With the brewing centrifuge that translate to 5% up to 15% increase in beer yields, which can be achieved with even the smallest models such as the Alfa Laval Brew 20.
Throughput
The Alfa Laval Brew Series caters for breweries with small batches up to commercial production. The smallest model, the Alfa Laval Brew 20, has a working capacity of 4 – 15hl/h, which makes it ideal for a brewpub or microbrewery with 1 – 2 fermentation tanks. The Alfa Laval Brew 80 has a working capacity of 50hl/h and the Alfa Laval Brew 2001e delivers up to 750hl/h.
Longer Shelf Life
Oxygen pick-up is among the major concerns for all breweries but especially for craft brewers producing hoppy oxygen sensitive IPAs, negatively affecting the product’s shelf-life stability. Even Alfa Laval’s smallest multi-purpose centrifuges for craft brewers, the Alfa Laval Brew 20 and Brew 80, have a unique axial hermetic seal that allow brewers to achieve minimal ppb pick up levels of dissolved oxygen without requiring CO2 or deaerated water.
Pro Tip
If you need zero dissolved oxygen pickup, for instance for canning, distribution and export, consider a larger bottom-fed model such as the Alfa Laval Brew 250 or Alfa Laval 701 eMotion as a polisher.
Your questions answered in our video guide
Whether you’ve been shopping around for a centrifuge for a long time, or have just started considering investing in one, our experts give you answers to the most important beer separation questions.
Choose the right partner for your brewing journey
Just an important as choosing the right centrifuge is choosing the right partner for your brewing journey. Since creating the first disc stack separator 130 years ago, Alfa Laval has put innovation at the centre of everything the company does.
Our proven craft brewing equipment and systems are designed and manufactured for brewers to improve quality, optimise production and reduce cost and environmental impact. Alfa Laval does not only make brewery centrifuges, but offers brewers a market leading range of hygienic fluid handling products (i.e. tank cleaning, pumps and valves) as well as process solutions for beer production including dry hopping, wort modules, de-alcoholisation, CIP stations and yeast propagation. Alfa Laval hygienic heat exchangers allow you to recover and re-use heat from processes to reduce your carbon footprint and save money on energy.
With over 90 years’ market presence in Australia and New Zealand, Alfa Laval Oceania boasts an unrivalled local service and support presence in the region, and our customers include some of the region's most exciting microbreweries as well as medium sized craft breweries up to the biggest commercial names in the industry.
Do not settle for second best. Choose Alfa Laval as your trusted business partner that grows with your brewery. Contact us today for a detailed discussion of your requirements.
Alfa Laval innovations for brewing centrifuges
Our Brew Series centrifuges stand out from the rest with technology innovations that help you get better yield, performance and sustainability.
Only Alfa Laval offers fully hermetic, bottom-fed centrifuges for breweries
eMotion™ feature results in 75% energy reduction
New product releases and models available now
