Mechamasher
| 02
craft brewing
| 07
Meura technologies | 07
Meur a
2001
Micro
A successful
project
at Cerveceria Costa Rica
Irish distillers
Pernod-Ricard
makes its new brewhouse
with Meura!
The Meura Journal
special issue Drink tec 2013
Meura’s
developments
since last Drinktec
Dear Readers,
Here we are at Drinktec 2013
already!
In the past 4 years we have
already presented you the first
results of our latest technology
of the time, the MEURABREW,
the ILOBOX and the Hybrid
MEURA 2001 Filter.
In our various Newsletters published since Drinktec 2009 we
have shared our vision of the
brewery of the future based on
the integration of our different
technologies with you. We have
summarised those various communications for your perusal in
this edition of The Meura Journal,
especially published on the occasion of Drinktec 2013.
The savings in extract and in the
consumption of utilities, without
compromising the quality of the
product, have always been at the
core of the concerns and objectives of the MEURA engineers.
It is therefore my great pleasure
to invite you to also discover our
latest development in The Meura
Journal: the MEURASTREAM.
This technology will allow reducing the thermal energy
consumption of your brewhouse
by up to 52 % and the hot water
produced in excess by up to 60%!
I encourage you to discover this
new MEURA product and our
team will welcome you at our
stand at Drinktec 2013 to explain
it in detail.
And of course, as always, you’ll be
greeted with a delicious selection
of our very best Belgian beers.
Sincerely yours,
Christian De Brackeleire
Chief Executive Officer
drinktec 2013
16-20 september
Messe München
/ Tr aditio nally pio n eers sin ce 1845/ w w w. m eur a .be
The Meurastream: Reducing the steam consumption by 52% !
The industrial introduction, about 5 years ago, of
the Meurabrew (Meura’s continuous brewhouse)
is certainly one of the major technological
developments in the recent history of the brewing
industry. To date, 4 large size continuous brewhouses
have been sold or installed. The Meurabrew is a very
attractive solution for large breweries with a limited
number of different wort streams and certainly in
case of greenfield projects where the utilities still
have to be installed. Consequently, this also means
that it is not the optimum solution for every project.
Thus, both types of brewhouse will continue to exist
in parallel.
Batch as well as continuous brewhouses still
have significant steam consumption and an overproduction of hot water. In the last 5-10 years
especially, the over-production of hot water has
become a problem for many brewers. Since the
industry is trying to reduce the water consumption
of the overall process, the extra hot water produced
in the brewhouse cannot (or can only partly) be
used. Often the hot water tank in the brewhouse
overflows on a daily basis which represents a water
and energy loss.
With reduced steam utilization and hot water excess
in mind, Meura has developed a new concept, called
the “Meurastream”. The principle of the
Meurastream can be implemented in a batch
brewhouse as well as a Meurabrew.
The following diagram shows the principle of the MeuraStream:
The following table compares the Meurastream
with a brewhouse without energy recovery and
one with the conventional vapour condensation
technology (often called the “pfaduko” system). The
calculations are made under the same conditions and
recalculated to 15°P cold wort.
This Meurastream consist of 2 major technologies:
Brew
water recovery at high
temperature with energy re-use
The principle of the Meurastream is very
straightforward to explain. Part of the energy from
the wort cooling process will be used to pre-heat
the wort. Instead of heating the brew water in the
wort cooler to 80-85°C, the water will be heated
to about 96°C. This means that the volume of this
hot water will be smaller than at the usual lower
temperature. The energy from the steam injected
into the Ecostripper is partially recovered and heats
this water further to 97°C. The hot water is than
temporarily stored in a very hot water vessel. For
The MEURABREW:
Meura’s Continuous Brewhouse
In the last two decades, major advances in performance have been achieved
in batch brewhouses mainly by using fine milling technology. Despite these
improvements, breweries keep asking for further productivity increases
together with a reduction of utilities consumption and waste disposal. The
likelihood of further improvements using the current method of batch brewing
is limited. Only a conceptual change can respond to the current and future
demands of the brewing industry. In 1998, Meura, Traditionally a Pioneer,
thus started a research programme to develop a continuous brewhouse, called
the “MEURABREW”. The first industrial plant was successfully started up
in May 2007. A second plant was commissioned in Suzhou (China) in April
2008. To date, 4 Meurabrew have been sold worldwide.
History of the meurabrew development
CONTINUOUS versus BATCH
In 1998, Meura started the development of the
continuous brewing concept. A complete pilot plant
was installed in 1999. Based on these successful pilot
trials, Meura’s engineering department began designing
an industrial plant in 2004. With information gained,
it was possible to start looking for a “first mover”.
In general, continuous processes are more energy
efficient, easier to control and consequently lead
to a lower production cost. As far as the brewhouse
process is concerned, here are the main specific
reasons to develop a continuous brewhouse:
In 2005, the discussions started with Jan Martens
in Belgium, leading to an order in June 2006. The
first operation of the Meurabrew on an industrial
scale of 200 hl/h wort (up to 20°P) took place
on 12 May 2007. In January 2007 a similar order
was obtained for a plant in Suzhou (China).
formation vessel, the wort is kept at 100°C with almost
no evaporation (less than 1%). In this step all processes
that involve heat treatment are performed (formation
of DMS, sterilization, enzyme deactivation, hop
isomerisation etc.) After this formation step the trub
is eliminated by a whirlpool or Clarisaver (wort settling
tank). The final step, in-line with the wort cooling, is
the ECOstripper, a wort stripping technology. Wort is
pumped on top of the stripper and in counter-flow 0.5%
steam is injected to eliminate the unwanted volatiles.
The overall evaporation rate is thus only 1,5%!
Reduced peak consumption of utilities
The most important utilities consumed in the
brewhouse are steam and cooling liquid. In a
batch brewhouse, different batches are processed
at the same time and consequently lead to a
large steam peak. The wort cooling takes place
normally within 50-60 minutes, which means
peak consumption during that period.
Editor-in-Chief : Bénédicte Everaert, Meura S.A., Rond-Point J.-B. Meura 1, B-7600 Péruwelz (Belgium), P: +32 69 88 69 88, sales@meura.com
the next brew, this 97°C water is heated to 103°C
with an in-line steam booster and is used to pre-heat
the wort to 99°C, when pumped to the wort kettle
(or formation vessel). The temperature of the brew
water will be lowered from 97°C to 82°C, which is
then used for mashing-in and sparging. Summarized
a part of the energy from the wort cooling is used for
the wort pre-heating.
ECOstripper technology
With the Ecostripper, the heat treatment of the wort
and elimination of volatiles is separated into two steps
(in a classic brewhouse the wort kettle performs these
processes at the same time). In a first vessel, called the
Reduced energy and extract losses
All pipes and vessels stay continuously filled
with mash or wort, which makes it possible to
avoid the heat and extract losses experienced
in batch processes.
Reduced waste disposal
During the production no drainage occurs, which
considerably reduces the wastewater volume.
L imited space requirements
The most state-of-the-art batch brewhouses only
brew about 14 batches a day. About every 100 minutes one batch is produced, which consequently
requires vessels that can handle the necessary
volumes. Brewhouse vessels of a large size also
mean large piping diameters, large-sized valves
and pumps at the high flows. A continuous flow
significantly reduces the plant dimensions.
E asy process control
In practice, it is difficult to have the same process
conditions between similar batches. The fouling of
the mash tun(s) and wort kettle during production
change the heating performance of these vessels and
thus change the process conditions. Consequently a
significant variation in for example colour or bitterness
is noted between batches of the same brands. These
fluctuations are avoided with a continuous process.
Classic
Brewhouse
Pfaduko
Brewhouse
Meura
Stream
26,0 MJ/hl
19,4 MJ/hl
12,6 MJ/hl
37,8 l/hl
37,8 l/hl
15,6 l/hl
Thermal
energy
Excess in
hot water
The table shows that the Meurastream reduces
by 52% the thermal energy of a brewhouse without
energy recovery and 35% for a brewhouse with
pfaduko! Excess hot water is reduced by 60% thanks
to the Meurastream! These figures make the
MeuraStream most probably as the most energy
efficient brewhouse concept available on the market.
The MeuraStream concept can be easily implemented
More details on page 4.
in an existing brewhouse. Table I
Batch
brewhouse
Continuous
brewhouse
12 brews/day
of 400 hl cold
wort at 20°P
200 hl/h
of cold wort
at 20°P
Mash
1 500 hl/h
– 15 KW
180 hl/h
– 5.5 KW
Wort
3 600 hl/h
– 30 KW
225 hl/h
– 4 KW
Steam peak flow
14 T/h
3T/h
Water peak flow
650 hl/h
220 hl/h
Electricity
installed
375 kW
250 kW
Electricity peak
300 KW
200 KW
Peak cooling
power
4,650 kW
2,200 kW
Capacity
Pumps
Utilities
Meura’s Continuous Brewhouse
Table I shows a comparison between a batch brewhouse at 12 brews/day and a continuous brewhouse
for a brewery with 3 million hl final capacity.
© exnihilo.be
02 | M EUR A n e ws
SPecial issue — DRINK TEC 2013
CERVECERIA COSTA RICA
A Meura 2001
Junior Hybrid filter
installed in Belgium
A successful project at Cerveceria Costa Rica
Belgium, the country of the beer,
has more than 100 breweries on
its territory – of all sizes.
The Huyghe brewery, located in Melle near
Ghent, is one of the oldest breweries in
the North of Belgium. The first brewing
activities in the Huyghe brewery date back
to 1654!
The Huyghe brewery is renowned worldwide
for its Delirium Tremens beer, which was
awarded the gold medal at the World Beer
Championship in Chicago in 1998, and for
its Guillotine, a high fermentation beer that
won the gold medal at the prestigious Brewing
Industry International Awards in 2011.
In 2010, faced with continuously increasing
demand, the brewery decided to modernise and to double its capacity to reach
300,000 hl!
Costa Rica (which means “Rich Coast” in Spanish) did not get its name by coincidence. It is indeed a beautiful country
with a unique, rich variety of fauna and flora. The country is aware of the importance of its wildlife and, in 2007,
the government decided to become the first carbon neutral country in the world by 2021!
Located on the outskirts of San Jose, Cerveceria
Costa Rica is the main brewery in Costa Rica.
The major brand is Imperial and it is the most
representative beer on the national market. In
2006, the brewery’s installed capacity was about
1.7 million hl. With the quantity of beer increasing continuously, the brewhouse was becoming a
bottleneck due, in particular, to the lauter tun. For
this reason, the brewery started to think about
a brewhouse modernisation. After having closely
analysed all the technologies available, they
finally entrusted this new challenge to Meura.
The main equipment installed by Meura:
Milling line with a CLM 4 (classic hammer mill)
Grist case on load cells.
Mechamasher 60t/h
M eura 2001 double Mash filter with
80 chambers capable of being extended up to
MEURA 2001
(previous version)
Note: with the Meura
2001 a filter chamber
was defined as having
two filter beds formed
on two cloths including
2 membranes. One
chamber could have a
load of 175kg of malt or
malt equivalent.
MEURA 2001
Hybrid
Note: with the Meura
2001 Hybrid, one plate
has one cloth and one
membrane and thus
contains one filter bed.
One plate is designed
for a nominal capacity
of 90kg malt or malt
equivalent.
100 chambers. Maximum load of 19.2 tons of
malt equivalent.
CIP Station
Electricity and automation (Braumat supervision)
Since 2008, the brewery has been working with
their brand new equipment.
Brewery’s new figures
Today, with the new Meura equipment, the brewhouse
capacity has been increased by 74% compared to the
original output. An average increase of the extract yield
of about 1.5% compared to the previous lauter tun brewhouse is observed. This increase will give Cerveceria
Costa Rica a quick return on their investment.
It is possible to increase the production up to
14 brews per day at 16 °P. With the membrane
compression the Meura 2001 mash filter provides a
very dry spent grains with a dry matter of 25-30%.
Quality beer
Some other parameters have also been taken
into account like the organoleptic beer profile.
Several tests have been carried out among their
customers and brewmasters regarding the beer’s
taste, and no difference was found from the beer
brewed in the old equipment. Keeping the organoleptic beer profile was one of the main targets
for the brewery in order to avoid any consumer
comments and complaints. Meura completely
fulfilled this requirement!
Meura as a real partner
Another success for the project was the delivery
time. Between the order and the first brew, only 4
months had passed. The Meura 2001 mash filter
is a standard item of equipment where only the
length is variable from one project to another,
which enables a short production process and thus
a short delivery time.
Always giving customer communication high priority, Meura has, among others, a Spanish speaking
team with high-level skills able to take on projects
in Spanish speaking countries. This was a great
help for communication and cooperation, no t only
with the managers but also for all site personnel.
Full training was delivered in Spanish, avoiding any
misunderstandings with operators and allowing a
much more open and flexible communication.
We thank Cerveceria Costa Rica
for choosing Meura as a partner
and we wish them every success
for the future!
Brewhouse suppliers are continuously
challenged to develop technologies that
improve the extract yields, the productivity,
the wort quality and increase the HGB.
The Meura 2001 is recognized worldwide
as the leading technology in the field of
mash filtration.
A solution was found by keeping only the filter bed in the
direction of the best sparging efficiency. The Meura 2001
Hybrid was born, which has filter plates of one single identical
design. The plate is now called the “hybrid plate” and no
longer a “filter plate” or a “membrane plate”. Each hybrid
plate is equipped with one cloth AND one membrane (compared to the Meura 2001 which had plates equipped with two
membranes OR 2 cloths).
In 2006, with a wealth of experience in mash filtration
(280 Meura 2001 mash filters installed all over the world),
Meura decided to rethink the Meura 2001 technology and
modify the design of the filter chambers. The main objective
was to further reduce the sparging water ratio, and this
could only be done by improving the flow pattern inside
the filter chambers. In 2007, a first prototype hybrid plate
was installed in our pilot filter at Meura Technologies. The
initial results were very promising and test plates were subsequently installed in an industrial filter, which confirmed
and even exceeded the pilot results. At the end of 2008,
the hybrid plates were ready for industrialization and the
first Meura 2001 Hybrid (for the hybrid design of the filter
plates) was installed in Palm Breweries.
This leads to a wide range of advantages:
The major improvement with the Meura 2001 Hybrid lies
in a conceptual change in its filter plate design. Previous
internal research showed an irregularity in the sparging efficiency of the filter bed cakes. The reason was a different
filling pattern from one cake to another (see drawing).
Filtration chambers are filled with an improved regularity,
thus with an optimal homogeneity of the cake.
Shear forces during filling are reduced
The wort quality is improved thanks to a reduced sparging
ratio (below 2.2 l/kg while maintaining 100% of extraction yield)
Thanks to the improved flow pattern the filters can now be
equipped with up to 160 plates (15.5 tons) compared to
the previous filter equipped with maximum 65 chambers
(12 tons).
Reduced sparging time and thus shorter occupation time
All these advantages currently make
the new Meura 2001 Hybrid the best and most
efficient mash filter in the world!
The wide variety of beers, combined with
an improvement of the brewhouse yield and
wort quality, logically lead the brewery to the
fine milling technology and subsequently to
the Meura 2001 technologies.
The main equipment supplied by Meura
consists of:
A Meura 2001 Hybrid Junior filter
for 3.2 tons of malt equivalent
Classicmill CLM1 Junior with
A
a capacity of 1.8 tons of malt
per hour
A grist hopper
A Mechamasher of 15 tons malt
grist per hour
To cope with the unique variation in raw
materials, the Meura 2001 Junior filter has
been supplied with an intercalary plate that
enables it to modulate the filter capacity to
the desired level.
It is the first time a Meura 2001 Hybrid
Junior filter has been sold and installed in
Belgium. This filter was specially developed
for smaller-sized breweries like the craft
brewers in the USA, Belgium and elsewhere
in the world.
With this article we wish to thank the
Huyghe brewery for its trust in our technologies and its cooperation throughout
the implementation of the project!
M EUR A n e ws | 03
SPecial issue — DRINK TEC 2013
Frankfurter Brauhaus Knows
the best mash filter supplier
In the mid-1990s the brewery decided to modernize
the brewhouse with the installation of a mash filter.
Supplied by one of Meura’s competitors, this filter
was originally equipped with a membrane technology. But the concept failed and the supplier had to
retrofit the filter to a conventional mash filter. This
mash filter was never able to meet the brewer’s
requirements and showed low yield, high wort turbidity, CIP required every 15 brews, etc.
In 2009 the brewery needed to increase its brewhouse
capacity and, because of their bad experience with the
mash filter, a new lauter tun was the first option. But
their need to be the most cost efficient brewer finally
made them decide in favour of the only filter combining
the highest quality and the highest cost efficiency: the
Meura 2001 mash filter.
The order was signed on 13 September 2009, at our
booth at the Drinktec fair in Munich.
Challenge
The Meura technology installed
in Frankfurter Brauhaus consist of:
a Classicmill (CLM4 of 13.2 tons malt per hour)
a Mechamasher (60 tons malt grist per hour)
a sparging water tank
Feed-back
Today the brewery is extremely satisfied with its
new state-of-the-art equipment. The performance of
the Meura 2001 are incomparable to the previously
installed mash filter and even exceed by far the
expectations of the brewery.
The project was thus a complete success for both
Frankfurter Brauhaus and Meura. Meura wishes
great and continued success to the brewery and
thanks them for their outstanding collaboration
during the project.
a double Meura 2001 mash filter, each equipped
with 43 chambers extendable to 53 chambers and
producing brews of 770 hl cold wort.
Maintaining your filtration efficiency
During the commissioning of a mash filter, MEURA
carries out the fine tuning of process parameters in
order to achieve the best possible performance level.
Later on, changes in external factors such as the
wort recipe, loading, types and characteristics of raw
materials, modification of brewing conditions, etc.
may lead to deviations from the optimum level. As
with all other technologies, the user should adapt the
process parameters to the new situation.
The following chart shows typical changes in
the yield over a three-year period. The blue line
indicates a possible decrease in the yield under
the assumption that none of the parameter
settings is modified.
This double mash filter is equipped with the new
Ilobox technology, which enables it to perform continuously with an optimized parameter setting.
For the mechanical and electrical installation, Meura
collaborated with the Polish subsidiary of Boccard
Enterprises, Meura’s parent company, called Boccard
Polska.
Commissioning
100
Yield
Less than two months after the signing of the contract, the installation started on 2 November 2009.
On 4 January 2010 (less than four months after the
contract was signed), the first brew was performed.
The time period was thus very short but nevertheless
all performance guarantees were fulfilled.
Performance Service
Level Agreement
Meura 2001 Mash Filter
UNITED BREWERIES:
the CHA MUNDI Brewery
Another Success Story for the Meura-Praj partnership and United Breweries.
India, with its population of 1.23 billion and its low
annual per capita beer consumption, close to just 2
liters, is an attractive market for International Brewers.
United Breweries (UB), the largest brewer in
India with 55% market share, and the proud owner
of India’s number one beer brand, ‘KINGFISHER’,
has been the undisputed leader in the Indian
brewing industry for years.
In 2011, UB decided to build a state-of-the-art
greenfield brewery in Mysore in the state of
Karnataka, which is also the home state of UB
head office. The new plant was named The
Chamundi Brewery.
Already familiar with and convinced by the
Meura-Praj partnership’s successful demonstration of the technology in three of its owned
and contract breweries, UB entrusted them with
the responsibility of building this complete brewery
process section. The prestigious brewery, set on 75
acres of lush green land and with a brewery foot
print of 4 million hl, is India’s largest, ‘greenest’
and will also be its most efficient brewery.
Praj is supplying the complete process section
right from malt reception to bright beer tanks
with 400hl high gravity brewhouse consisting of
the following MEURA equipment:
A Classicmill CLM 2 PCV with a capacity
of 5 tonnes of Indian malt per hour
A Meura 2001 Hybrid filter for 7 tonnes
of malt equivalent
With its three MEURA 2001 mash filters already
installed in United Breweries, UB enjoys the lion’s share
of beer produced by the Meura mash filters in India.
Currently Praj and Meura are executing a brewery
expansion project for UB at MBIL-A, Maharashtra
with 400 hl brewhouse and a fourth MEURA 2001
Hybrid mash filter to produce UB beer brands such
as Kingfisher, Kingfisher Ultra, Kingfisher Blue
etc. During 2010-2011, India’s beer consumption
surpassed 240 million cases (a case is 12 bottles
of 650 ml), 23% of which was produced using
Meura mash filters.
Thanks to a strong focus on improving efficiencies
and economics in brewing, today Meura-Praj has
installed and successfully commissioned more than
eight mash filters in India. Another two mash filters
will be commissioned by the end of 2013.
Today 14 Meura 2001 filters are operational or under
commissioning in India. With its 80% market share
for mash filter breweries in the Indian brewing industry, Meura-Praj is the preferred partner for mash filter
brewhouses in India. The partnership continues to
strive to achieve excellence and elevate the renewed
pleasure of the high quality, high efficiency beer
making experience in India and the sub-continent.
“ O n behalf of the United
Breweries team, I would
like to convey my sincere
appreciation to MeuraPraj for being our valued
technology partner in the
brewery business and for
their invaluable support
and cooperation.
We highly appreciate the
expertise and cooperation
provided by Meura-Praj
alliance in the Chamundi
Project and our various
brewery installations.”
Mr Cedric Vaz,
Executive Vice President –
Manufacturing United Breweries
98
New malt
harvest
New malt
harvest
99
New malt
harvest
0
Today Yield
1
Year
SLA Yield
2
3
Optimal yield
Extract losses represent a major extra cost. This
is one of the main reasons why our customers
invest in the purchase of a Meura 2001 filter. As
an example, for a brewery using 30,000 T of malt
per year (about 2 million hl/year) with a malt
price of 400 €/T, a loss of 1% extract represents
120,000 € on a yearly basis. In order to assure
a constant high extract yield over the years,
Meura has developed a Performance Service Level
Agreement (Performance SLA). The red line in the
figure above shows the objective to be reached with
a Performance SLA.
The Performance SLA consists in 3 parts :
1) The Ilobox technology
The optimization software developed on the
ILOBOX (Iterative Logic Box) recalculates and
delivers new process parameters to the PLC after
each brew in order to maintain the optimum
efficiency while respecting the user’s temporary
priorities. The ILOBOX is able to evaluate the
performance by measuring the wort density during
the last compression cycle. Indeed, thanks to the
Meura 2001 filter equipped with membranes,
the density during final compression of the filter
cake is related to the washable extract of the
cake and thus indicates the performance of the
sparging cycle.
Besides the optimization of mash filter process
parameters, the ILOBOX also offers other
functionalities, such as archiving of performance
data over the last two years and remote connection
for a remote audit by MEURA.
The working principle of the ILOBOX is based
on a batch-to-batch optimization. The process
parameters of a brew are recorded and analysed,
and for the next brew (of the same beer type) a
new set of optimized parameters is generated by
the ILOBOX. The only two parameters that have to
be installed by the brewery are the requested total
cycle time and the volume of sparging water. The
ILOBOX will generate the parameters that produce
the highest extract yield.
Meura started with this technology in 2006 and
the results to date are impressive. A very regular
high level of performance is obtained which often
exceeds what a commissioning engineer is able
to do, since the ILOBOX manages 17 parameters
at once, whereas during commissioning just a
few parameters are optimized. The last running
has a density of 1-1.2°P and the density during
compressing is about 0.5°P, indicating excellent
results. In addition these figures were obtained
with a sparging rate of less than 1.6 l/kg! This is
a unique figure, which was never obtained before
with a Meura 2001 filter.
2) The Remote Services
In the event that a customer has specific questions
about the Meura 2001 or for example about a
specific filtration profile, the Meura technologies
department is able to connect remotely with the
Ilobox and have a look at the observed process
values stored in the system. In addition on a
monthly basis the Meura specialist will make
a report on the performance of the brews pass
during the month, and will further analyse any
brews that showed a specific filtration issue.
3) The On-Site Services
The ILOBOX is very efficient in providing the
optimal parameters set for the Meura 2001 filter,
but is not able to change process parameters
up-stream of the mash filter that influence the
filtration performance. For example, in the event
that the grist composition is not optimal, shearing
forces in the brewhouse are not under control,
mash oxidation occurs, or there is filter under or
overloading, parameters other than those of the
Meura 2001 filter have to be optimized. In order
to make the Performance SLA complete, a yearly
site visit by a Meura Mechanical Specialist and
a Process Technologist is scheduled. The Meura
Specialist will carry out a mechanical check of
the mash filter, supporting the production team so
they can perform the best possible maintenance
while helping prevent any mechanical failure. A
Technologist will mainly control the up-stream
equipment towards the mash filter and conduct
a training session for any new team members.
Conclusion:
Meura’s Performance SLA offers you the services
you need to keep critical production factors (like
savings in extract) and related costs under control.
The pay-back period for such an Agreement is
extremely short. Thanks to Meura’s Performance
Service Level Agreement you will keep your Meura
2001 mash filter at its top performance, which is
key for your success.
04 | M EUR A n e ws
SPecial issue — DRINK TEC 2013
2) B rewhouse with conventional
vapour condensation
As explained on the front page of this Meura
Journal, the MeuraStream consists of two
major technologies: a wort cooler, where the
cold brew water is heated to about 96°C, and
the Ecostripper.
FIGURE 1
Stripping
efficiency (%)
100
FREE-DIVIS (ppb)
200
90
180
160
148
144
140
120
The ECOstripper :
the central technology
of the MeuraStream
The principle of the MeuraStream is very
straightforward. The only technology used which
might not been familiar for every brewer is the
Ecostripper, a de-intensified hot wort treatment.
The technology was developed as early as the
1990s, but with rather limited industrial applications. In 2007, Meura presented at the E.B.C. in
Venice the latest findings based on a 600 hl/h
industrial installation. This study confirmed at first
the positive influence on the flavour stability of the
beer, which increased the interest of many brewers.
Conventional boiling with a wort kettle at the same
time performs the heat treatment (required, for
example, for the formation of DMS from SMM)
as well as the evaporation (required to eliminate
unwanted volatiles). With the Ecostripper both
processes are separated into two steps. In a first
vessel, called the formation vessel, the wort is kept
at 100°C with almost no evaporation (less than 1%).
In this step, all processes that involve heat treatment
are performed (formation of DMS, sterilization,
enzyme deactivation, hop isomerisation etc.).
The Ecostripper has a much higher stripping
efficiency than normal wort boiling. In a wort
kettle, the efficiency of free DMS removal is
in the 50-60% range, whereas the Ecostripper
is >90%. The figure below shows figures from
an industrial Ecostripper for 3 steam ratios
(1.5%/1.0%/0.5%) for a wort at 17.5°P. Since
the Ecostripper is installed just in front of the
wort cooler, there is no de novo synthesis of
unwanted volatiles as is the case with a whirlpool
in a brewhouse with a conventional wort kettle.
The Ecostripper also removes unwanted aldehydes
affecting flavour stability of the final beer and
70
115
112
60
111
100
50
80
40
60
30
40
20
10
0
1,5
17
5
1,0
maltA free-DMS pre-strip
maltA free-DMS post-strip
20
19
12
4
0,5
maltB free-DMS pre-strip
maltB free-DMS post-strip
10
0
Steam Ratio
(%)
maltA strip.efficiency
maltB strip.efficiency
Source : E.B.C. 2007 (Venice) “ Wort boiling – the Meura’s concept with wortstripping” by B. Bonacchelli , C. De Brackeleire, F. Harmegnies
FIGURE 2
100
Strecker aldehydes removal efficiency (%) – for malt B
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2-methyl-propanal
2-methyl-butanal
Wort stripping 1%
3-methyl-propanal
Wort stripping 0.5%
Class boiling
Source : E.B.C. 2007 (Venice) “ Wort boiling – the Meura’s concept with wortstripping” by B. Bonacchelli , C. De Brackeleire, F. Harmegnies
which are very difficult to remove with conventional wort boiling. The figure below shows the
removal of the 3 main Strecker aldehydes. The
figure above shows the positive effect of the
Ecostripper on wort quality.
Bench marking
of the MeuraStream
For the comparison we are considering a brewhouse
equipped with a Meura 2001 filter and a wort kettle
with vapour condensation with a total evaporation
of 4%. Although the evaporation energy is partly
recovered, the vapour condensation system has
some known disadvantages:
a) The need to evaporate at least 4%
To have sufficient energy to heat up the wort, at
least 4% evaporation (theoretically 3.6 to 3.8%, in
reality 4%) is needed. With 100% malt brews, and
thus quite a high concentration of DMS formed during
boiling, this evaporation of 4% is certainly required.
But this is not always necessary in the case of brewing
with unmalted adjuncts. Thus, in many cases, a 4%
evaporation is necessary not for wort quality reasons,
but for the operation of the heat recovery system!
90
Wort stripping 1.5%
After this formation step, the trub is eliminated by
the whirlpool or Clarisaver. The final step, in-line with
the wort cooling, is the ECOStripper. Wort is pumped
on top of the stripper and in counter-flow 0.5% steam
is injected to eliminate the unwanted volatiles. The
overall evaporation rate is thus only 1.5%!
80
137
The most common applied technology to reduce the
steam consumption is vapour condensation in the
wort kettle chimney (also called “pfaduko”). With
conventional vapour condensation, the vapours from
the wort boiling are condensed to prepare water up to
96°C. This water is stored in a so-called stratification
tank since at a certain stage water at 96°C will float
to the upper part in the vessel while colder water
at 76-80°C will be at the bottom. The wort of the
next brew will be heated with this energy to about
92°C (and potentially further heated to 99°C with a
steam booster). Compared with a brewhouse without
any energy recovery, where the wort is at 78°C in
the wort kettle, it represents an energy saving to
recover this additional 14°C from the wort boiling.
1) B rewhouse without
any energy recovery
For the comparison, we are considering a conventional brewhouse equipped with a Meura 2001
filter and a wort kettle allowing a total evaporation
rate of just 4%.
b) No solution for excess hot water
In a modern brewery, with wort cooling generating
water at 80-85°C, the brewhouse is making more
water than it needs for its own operation. Today
more and more breweries do not have further
consumers for this excess hot water. Vapour condensation does not influence this issue.
also the water booster and a condensate cooler).
In addition there are a few valves in the circuit,
as well as a fan to evacuate the non-condensed
vapours. To summarize: the system has a certain
complexity and will require substantial investment
costs (Capex), but also maintenance costs (Opex).
d) Space requirement
The heat exchanger to condense the vapour from
the wort kettle is very large, certainly when a
tubular exchanger is used. Also, large-diameter
piping is needed to connect the chimney to the
heat exchanger. Furthermore, there is the significant height of the stratification tank. In conclusion,
vapour condensation technology requires more
space for its implementation.
e) Energy losses
If the brewhouse is shut down over the weekend,
the water at 76-80°C and 96°C is stored in the
stratification tank. Over the weekend, this water
will mix and the temperature will go down, which
makes the system for the first 2 brews inefficient.
3) Comparison with the MeuraStream
The figure 3 shows the principle of the MeuraStream.
In the formation vessel, 1% evaporation is considered and
at the Ecostripper 0.5%. Total evaporation is thus 1.5%.
The red lines in the picture below show the energy streams
with the MeuraStream.
The following table compares the MeuraStream
with a brewhouse without energy recovery and one
with conventional vapour condensation technology
(often called the “pfaduko” system). The calculations are made are under the same conditions and
recalculated to 15°P cold wort.
Classic
Brewhouse
Pfaduko
Brewhouse
Meura
Stream
Thermal
energy
26,0 MJ/hl
19,4 MJ/hl
12,6 MJ/hl
Excess in
hot water
37,8 l/hl
37,8 l/hl
15,6 l/hl
c) Complexity of the system –
maintenance costs
In general , a vapour condensation assembly
consists of 4 heat exchangers (two large ones
for vapour condensation and pre-heating and
It means that the MeuraStream reduces by
52% the thermal energy required for a brewhouse
without energy recovery and by 35% for a brewhouse with pfaduko! Excess hot water is reduced
by 60% thanks to the MeuraStream!
These unwanted volatiles are stripped out thanks to a
steam counter flow (about 0.5% w/w of steam, i.e.
5 kg of steam per ton of wort). The Ecostripper is the
last unit prior to the wort cooling. It means that when
the stripped wort leaves the Ecostripper it is immediately
cooled down. This avoids de-novo synthesis of unwanted
volatiles present in a conventional brewhouse while
waiting in the trub separation step.
Bruno Bonacchelli (Meura) at the EBC convention in
2007, showed a clear reduction in staling aldehydes.
The Ecostripper consequently improves the flavour
stability of the final beer! It is clear that the economical
and ecological advantages combined with the product
quality improvement makes the Ecostripper, the technology that a state-of-the-art brewery needs today.
The complete Ecostripper technology from formation to wort stripping requires less than 1.5% of
total evaporation rate from which almost 0.5%
could be further recovered by installing a steam
condenser on the outlet of the Ecostripper.
We thank both breweries with the two new
Ecostripper orders for their trust in our technologies. We hope that the several ongoing discussions
with other breweries about the technology will add
new members to the Ecostripper users club soon!
FIGURE 3
What are the performances of the MeuraStream
concept compared to the two most commonly
used technologies?
In the following paragraphs, the MeuraStream
is compared with a brewhouse without any energy
recovery during wort boiling and with a brewhouse
with conventional vapour condensation.
Two more orders for the Ecostripper!
Meura is proud to announce that it started the year 2011 with two new
orders for the Ecostripper technology. Star brewery in Madagascar and
ATE brewery from Peru (SABMiller) decided to install a 300 hl/h and
1000 hl/h Ecostripper respectively.
Wort boiling represents 20% to 30% of the total
amount of thermal energy consumed in a brewery.
Today, it is a major concern for each brewer to
reduce their energy consumption and CO2 emissions
in the brewhouse. The Ecostripper is the most
efficient technology on that market and has several
industrial references.
Conventional wort kettles combine two main
operations in one step:
AB InBev, Povolzhe Brewery (Russia), 600hl/h Ecostripper.
a heat treatment required for sterilization,
enzyme deactivation and several chemical processes
(hop isomerisation, protein denaturation, …)
a n evaporation phase, required to remove
unwanted volatiles and, in the case of a
lauter tun, to reach the required wort density.
The most state-of-the-art conventional wort kettles need at least 4% evaporation to achieve the
required heat treatment and volatile removal.
Meura’s Ecostripper technology separates the heat
treatment from the volatile removal process. The
concept consists of 3 separate steps: formation,
trub separation and wort stripping.
During the formation step (could be adapted from
existing wort kettle), wort is kept at 100°C for
30-40 minutes with a minimum evaporation (about
0.75%). This is followed by a trub separation step. This
clarification can be performed using a whirlpool or, even
better, a Clarisaver. In the last step, the wort loaded
with unwanted volatiles passes through the Ecostripper.
It is clear that the Ecostripper provides a unique
economical and ecological solution to the brewing
industry. But there is more! An extended study on
an industrial level of the Ecostripper, presented by Mr
M EUR A n e ws | 05
SPecial issue — DRINK TEC 2013
Meura : World leader in the malt extract industry
All over the world the demand of
natural colorant and the general
demand of extracts originating from
malt, barley, oats, rye and wheat as
well as from other cereals, is continuously increasing. These extracts
can be liquid (at 80°P) or solid.
The malt extract’s applications are numerous in
the food & beverage industry. Indeed, the malt
extract is more and more often used in candies,
bakery products, sauces, brewing industry… It’s
also used in the pharmaceutical industry, dairies,…
Malt extract coming from high diastatic malt is used
as natural source of alpha and beta amylase, betaglucanase, and other enzymes mostly used in the
bakery industry. The advantages are multiple for
the consumer. The extract and the colorant coming
from malt are natural, healthy and are not coming
from genetically modifi ed raw materials.
The malt extract can be produced from several cereals like oats, rye, barley, wheat, malt or roasted malt
or from a cereal mix with rice, sorghum, millets, corn,
etc… The malt extract production plant consists of
a mash conversion vessel, a Meura 2001 mash filter
and a heavy and weak wort vessel. The next step
is the concentration stage.
It is important to define at the beginning the kind of
extract to be produced. Indeed, some modifications in
the milling and brewing equipment and changes in the
brewing process have to occur depending on the choice
and characteristics of the final product. Nevertheless
the equipment for the concentration stage can remain
the same (evaporator and spray dryer).
First step: The milling
More than 70 % of the extracts are produced
from malt or barley.
To guarantee 100% extraction yield (= laboratory
yield) as well as to guarantee the clearest possible
wort, the malt must be milled very finely. Meura,
having always been concerned about providing the
best technology to its customers, developed different
fine milling systems taking the specification of the
different used raw material into account.
Classicmill
For raw material having a moisture content of 4% and
more Meura proposes the Classicmill, which is
a ventilated hammermill with horizontal shaft. The
Classicmill affords several advantages. First of all, it
can fi nely grind malt, barley, sorghum, and some
cereals having a moisture content up to 15 %. Then,
thanks to the ventilated hammer mill, the risk of
having the mill blocked because of the accumulation
of gums due to the humidity can be overcome, as well
as the risk of burning or explosion. The fi neness of the
grist can be regulated by changing the sieves (several
sieve meshes are can be regulated by changing the
sieves (several sieve meshes are available).
Hydromill
For the milling of some cereals rich in cellulosic fibres
like oat, or for the production of extract from crumbly
products as dark malt or roasted barley, or else for
the production of enzymatic malt extracts from
green malt, Meura proposes the Hydromill. This
device has been developed to finely grind cereals
under water. It offers a perfectly controlled milling
process. A buffer-column is affixed vertically over
the Hydromill and makes sure the malt grains and
POVOLZHE Brewery
Situated in south-western Russia, along the Volga river, Volzhsky is a
small city founded in 1951. In 1982, the government decided to install
a complete new brewery with equipment from the Czech Republic. The
brewery was called the “Povolzhe Brewery”. Today the brewery is owned
by Sun Interbrew, a subsidiary of the Inbev group.
As is well-known, the Russian market is a fast-growing one. The original brewhouse with an installed
yearly capacity of about 750,000 hl became the
bottle neck of production five years ago. Povolzhe
brewery decided to modernize the brewhouse and
put its faith into Meura’s technology. The collaboration between Povolzhe and Meura spread over
several years and the modernization occurred in
two phases.
Phase 1:
A complete revamping of
the traditional brewhouse
In the year 2001 Meura received the first contract
to turn the traditional brewhouse into a state-ofthe-art Meura brewhouse.
In the milling section, Meura installed
a Classicmill and its complement, the
Mechamasher, in order to provide a non-oxidized
lump-free mash obtained from fine milling. Indeed,
this solution is the best one for producing the necessary thick mash (down to 1.8 l of water per kg
malt grist) to obtain high gravity wort.
In the mashing section, Meura replaced the
double jacket system on the existing mash vessels
with a direct clean steam injection system, the
Aflosjet system. Some of the main reasons why
the brewery chose to install this Aflosjet system
are the following:
Firstly, thanks to this equipment, the existing
mashing vessels could remain in use. This operation led to some important cost savings.
S econdly, the Aflosjet system has several major
advantages compared to the double jacket
system. There is no intermediary CIP required
during the week. For example, since it avoids the
fouling effect on the mash vessels and maintains
a perfect heat exchange capacity it increases the
productivity of the brewhouse. Further, it also
allows very low oxygen pick up and reduces
shear forces during the heating, resulting in an
improved filterability of the mash.
For the mash filtration, Meura supplied a Meura
2001 mash filter equipped for a 12 Ton malt equivalent throw. In its traditional brewhouse, Povolzhe
provided mash filtration with lauter tuns. The project
was supplied as a turnkey solution and Meura also provided for the complete automation of this brewhouse.
the brewing liquor are mixed at the right temperature and in the right proportion. The inside of this
equipment involves a stationary disc and a rotating
disc equipped with two hammers for malt distribution
over the periphery. Thanks to the flexibility of changing the gap between the two discs, adjustment in
grinding can be achieved in connection with the used
raw material. The Hydromill combines the process of
milling and mashing – in at the same time allowing
a perfect hydration even at high grist/water ratio.
Second step: Brewing Process
The Mashing-in
During the mashing-in process, a particular attention
should be paid to obtaining a wort with the highest
possible density after filtration and before evaporation
so as to reduce the investment cost of the evaporator
as well as the costs of evaporation itself. A thick mash
(between 25°P and 30°P) needs to be produced.
Weak wort coming from the previous brew can be used
for mashing-in and, if required, to achieve densities
of about 30°P partly also during the sparging cycle
of the mash filter. During the mix of the grist and the
brewing liquor some problems of lumps formation
can occur. To avoid this, Meura has developed the
Mechamasher, an ideal complement to the
Carbomill. The Mechamasher produces a lump
free mix of up to 30 to 35°P. The Mechamasher
achieves a ratio water/malt as low as 1,5 L/Kg.
By entering the mashtun from the bottom, Meura
takes care to avoid on one hand the oxygen pick up
and, on the other hand, shear forces during the brewing process thanks to special agitators. This technique
then enhances a better mash filtration due to the NON
double its production. Because it was very satisfied
with Meura’s technology, Povolzhe decided once
again to give Meura the task of upgrading the
brewhouse capacity. This second stage began in
2004 in order to ensure full capacity by April 2005.
The project consisted of a second new brewing
line, equipped with:
In the milling section: Due to the fact that
the Classicmill and the Mechamasher were able
to provide the milling step for both lines, Meura
simply connected them to the second line.
In the mashing section: To provide the mashing-in, Meura installed two mash tuns and one
cereal cooker. These three vessels were equipped
with the Aflosjet System. To make an industrial
comparison between the Aflosjets and a classic
double jacket heating, the two mash tuns were
also equipped with double jackets. All results
were in favour of the Aflosjets system and today
only this system is used.
For the mash filtration: Convinced by the
state-of-the-art Meura 2001 mash filter, the
brewery installed a second filter.
The Filtration
As the aim in the malt extract production is to obtain
the clearest possible wort as well as a wort with the
highest density, the filtration should be assured by
the Meura 2001 mash filter. The Meura
2001 mash filter is a thin bed membrane-assisted
mash filter which represents a lot of advantages for
the malt extract production.
One of these advantages is that the precompression
stage allows the recovery of more than 80% of the
total extract before sparging. Related to this fact, the
sparging liquor is only 2 litres per kg malt equivalent.
Even weak wort can be re-used in the first step of
sparging to obtain higher fi nal extract.So, in that
case the Meura 2001 mash filter assures a clear and
dense wort between 25 and 30°P before evaporation.
The Meura 2001 mash filter advantages
in the malt extract production:
Productivity
— Short filtration cycles with the highest efficiency
due to the high filtration surface.
— Perfect for high gravity brewing with first wort up
to 35°Plato (with the use of a weak wort tank).
— Flexible load: 80 to 110 % of the nominal capacity.
— Fully-automated process.
Both old lauter tuns were also turned into a
buffer tank.
The old whirlpools were taken off line and replaced
with two Clarisavers for the separation of hot trub.
Together with this second project the boiling process of both brewing lines was extended with
one Meura Ecostripper. The Meura Ecostripper
is a wort stripping system which provides significant energy savings and is able to control the
elimination of unwanted volatiles. It is installed
downstream from the two Clarisavers (hot trub
elimination) and it allows the reduction of the
evaporation rates in the existing wort kettles
(principle - see figure 1).
The Meura Ecostripper is located in-line just between
the Clarisaver (or whirlpool) and the wort cooler. The
function of the wort kettle then became: formation of
undesirable volatiles compounds, hop isomerization,
enzymatic destruction wort stabilization, sterilization
and hot trub formation. Proper evaporation is not
needed anymore. The second step is the stripping of
these unwanted volatiles by clean steam injection
crossing the wort flow in counter-current.
Thanks to this collaboration with Meura, Povolzhe brewery can be proud to offer the
highest quality beer to all its customers. We would like to take advantage of the
opportunity to thank our colleagues at the Povolzhe brewery once again for having
put their trust in us.
Phase 2:
A second new brewhouse
After the revamping of the brewhouse was finished,
the Russian market continued to grow. In order
to meet this increasing demand, Povolzhe had to
-Formation of large molecules responsible for a high
viscosity. Meura has experience with brews up to 35°P.
Further Meura has developed the Aflosjet system.
The mash is heated up by injection of clean steam
directly into the mash, this also avoids the burning
of the double jackets and its subsequent fouling.
Wort
boiling
kettle
Wort
Hot trub
settling
tank
Efficiency
— Extract yield equal to the laboratory yield resulting in savings of raw materials.
— Very dry spent grains up to 30% of dry material.
— Clear worts can be produced regardless of the
presence or absence of husk material (from 0
to 100%) in the mash.
— Easy filtration with many different kinds of raw
materials (malted or not).
— Acceptance of a high proportion of adjuncts (up
to 100% with the use of exogenous enzymes).
— No final rinsing between filtration cycles, which
is limiting the amount of wasted water.
Quality
— Bright wort (Imhoff cone < 2 ml/l) without
first wort recirculation.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, the malt extract, used in a lot
of different Food and Beverage sectors, has the
advantage of being one of the best natural products. The extract originating from dark malt or
roasted barley can be used as a natural product
to obtain different types of beer. It can be added
in the copper or, when it is specially produced,
it can also be added to the final beer. Showing
interest in the development of this market, Meura
decided to design and manufacture ‘tailor-made’
equipment in order to provide solutions to all
the malt extract producers. Meura’s equipment,
specially developed for all kind of raw materials,
assures our customers of the best malt extract,
whatever their requirements.
Major
advantages
of the tandem
ClarisaverEcostripper:
S ignificant energy savings due to reduced
energy consumption (less than 2% evaporation rate)
E fficient and flexible elimination of
unwanted volatile compounds in the
wort (reduction of up to 96% of DMS
concentration)
L ess final wort coloration (<1°EBC)
Fulfils the stricter and stricter environmental constraints regarding:
C O 2 emissions (Kyoto Protocol, 1997)
E mission of volatile organic compounds,
which are considered more and more as
a public nuisance.
Together the two brewhouses are able to
produce at least 24 brews per day with
an overall brewhouse yield equal to the
laboratory yield and a wort quality in
accordance with Inbev’s specifications.
wort
stripping
Wort
cooler
06 | M EUR A n e ws
SPecial issue — DRINK TEC 2013
Nestlé A Квас (Kvass) concentrate plant
Nigeria for Coca-Cola
Created in 1866 by Mr Henri Nestlé, today
the company is the largest food processing
group in the world, employing more than
370,000 people worldwide. In 1988
Nestlé decided to build for the first time
a factory capable of producing extract from
malted sorghum. It installed this factory on
its site in Agbara, Nigeria, the largest grain
extract factory in Africa.
The grain extract produced on the basis of
malted sorghum is used as primary ingredient for the chocolaty drink called Milo that
is produced by Nestlé in Africa, Australia,
Indonesia and Singapore. Milo is a powder
based on chocolate and grain extract which,
when mixed with water or milk, yields a
drink that is highly valued in many regions
of the world.
In 2010, in view of the growing demand in
Nigeria, Nestlé decided to build a brand-new
factory equipped with the best technologies.
The previous factory was too small and no
longer met the new standards imposed by
Nestlé. For this new factory, Nestlé Nigéria
PLC turned without hesitation to MEURA, by
far market leader in the extraction process
for the production of grain extracts. The new
factory, also located in Agbara, consists of all
the leading-edge technologies of Meura such
as for example a Classicmill, a Mechamasher,
a cereal cooker with mash cooler, mash tuns
and above all a Meura 2001 Hybrid mash
filter. The installation and the start-up were
a real success, and Nestlé can produce its
grain extract from now on with high-technology equipment for optimum quality of
the finished product.
Thanks to this project and the confidence of
the Nestlé company in the reliability and the
quality of its equipment, Meura was once again
able to demonstrate that, just like its customer,
our company has positioned itself as a true
world leader, not only in the manufacturing of
equipment for the brewing sector, but also for
the grain extract industry!
Nestlé’s confidence in Meura’s technologies
resulted in a new order in July 2012 for
2 mills, a mash tun and a Meura 2001 Hybrid
for their factory in Smithtown, Australia. Nestlé
Smithtown is the plant where the famous Milo
product was originally developped.
With this article we are eager to thank the
Nestlé group for their perfect cooperation in
the success of this project, and for once again
having entrusted to us the implementation
of their next project in Australia.
Meura’s technologies are now present
in the Nestlé plants of Agbara,
Smithtown and Singapore!
If you have travelled to Russia,
Belarus, Ukraine or the Baltic states
you have certainly discovered a typical local drink called “Kvass”. Kvass
is a fermented beverage traditionally
made from black rye bread. With an
overall alcohol content of 0.05% to
1.0%, it is classified as a non-alcoholic drink by Russian standards.
In May 2008, Coca-Cola launched its own brand of
kvass in Russia, “Kruzhka i Bochka”, with a unique
taste and aroma of crusty rye bread. “Kruzhka i
Bochka” combines the traditional taste of kvass
with the high quality of the Company’s beverages.
Coca-Cola was the first foreign company to make an
appreciable entrance into the Russian kvass market!
As a consequence of its success in Russia, in February
2009 Coca-Cola bought the famous local Kvass brand
“Yarilo” and started its production on its own facility
in Zaporizhzya. It was Coca-Cola’s first entrance on
the Ukrainian kvass market.
Besides the soft-drink “Kvass” itself, the plant at
the Zaporizhzhya is making a concentrated wort,
the main ingredient for kvass production.
In 2006 the R&D team of Coca-Cola contacted Meura
Technologies (Meura’s R&D department) to discuss the
development of a state-of-the-art “Kvass” extract production line. Both companies partnered in a program
of trials at the pilot facility of Meura Technologies.
Rye and especially dark malted rye yield a mash with
quite poor mash filterability. Starting from mashing-in,
special attention has to be paid to the processing
conditions in order to avoid negative impacts on the
filterability. The Meura2001 Hybrid turned out
to be most optimal technology due to its excellent
filtration of this specific mash, producing the highest
wort density in order to reduce the evaporation costs.
Alexander Borisenko
(Coca-Cola Technical Director RUB)
Victor Behrmann
(Coca-Cola Application Center Manager TCC R&D)
Why did you choose Meura for the project?
Why did you decide to work together
with Meura to develop the final product?
We knew that the company MEURA is a world
leader in the production of malt extracts. Indeed,
we consider MEURA on the highest level of expertise in this area.
How was the collaboration with Meura
during the project execution?
It was, indeed, a beautiful relationship.
I am satisfied and have the highest respect for the
Meura company. Thanks to Meura and we wish
the team all the best.
It was known that MEURA2001 would give us
the main target – a maximum density of a wort..
The combination of Meura’s brewhouse technology
together with the expertise of the Coca-Cola R&D
team in the selection of raw materials and process
parameters to achieve the desired flavour, could
only lead to success. Indeed, after about four years
of collaboration an optimal process was developed.
In 2010, Coca-Cola placed with Meura an order
for an industrial plant in Zaporizhzhya (Ukraine).
Meura was responsible for the entire processing
line from the intake of the delivered raw materials
(barley malt, rye malt, rye and barley) to the production of the concentrated Kvass wort, including
the evaporation plant unit. Certain process vessels
were produced locally based on Meura drawings.
In addition the electrical cabinets and automation
were part of Meura’s scope.
The project installation of the equipment started
after the winter of 2011. The first brew was made
on 08/10/2012 as planned and the acceptance
was already obtained by the
end of November. In less than
two months Coca-Cola fully
accepted Meura’s installation
– for a turnkey production
unit which is considered
an industrial prototype.
Meura would
like to thank the
entire Coca-Cola
team involved in
this project for
its confidence,
professionalism
and the fruitful
collaboration.
Other comments?
The project was complex and unusual.
As a turn key supplier, the Meura company showed
their professionalism.
How was the collaboration with
Meura Technologies?
The collaboration went very well. Most importantly,
even during the tests, we became friends. Special
thanks to the efforts of Laurent Marlé and
Didier Hooreweghe, who were doing their
utmost during start-up to achieve the desired results.
Full Sail Brewing co.
Full Sail Brewing Company is a craft brewery located in the Columbia
River Gorge in the city of Hood River, Oregon, USA, currently recognized
as the world capital for wind and kite surfing.
Conclusion
The brewery was launched in 1987 by Irene Firmat and James Emmerson,
who immediately took the option to invest in professional equipment
in order to produce top quality beers.
The mash filter’s well-known abilities to produce a
very bright wort with laboratory yield, using less water
and with a dryer spent grain, combined with increased
flexibility and productivity, all prove this to be a master
choice for the future of the Full Sail Brewing Company,
thereby confirming that a constant search for the best
equipment is rewarded in the end result.
Full Sail produces an impressive range of different brands, using a
diversity of raw materials and methods. And Full Sail’s Session was
named best lager at the 2010 World Beer Awards!
At the beginning of 2010, in order to increase their
extract yield as well as their production capacity,
Full Sail Brewing Company decided to retire its
old lauter tun and placed an order with Meura
for a 2001 Carbo+ mash filter equipped with 29
chambers and a Classicmill CLM1 hammer mill.
This technological choice required some major
modifications to the brewhouse layout, a challenge
that was met without problems thanks to excellent
coordination from both sides.
The equipment was installed in October and
commissioned in November 2010 with the help
of a local automation company, following Meura’s
functional description and assistance.
Even though the tremendous rapidity of filtration
achieved for most recipes offers new prospects
for capacity expansion, the main reason for
implementing the mash filter technology is rather
in the commitment to a sustainable and more
environmentally friendly way of producing beer.
As an example, “By current estimate, we’ll save
nearly 1,000,000 gallons (about 40,000 hl) of
water this year,” declared James Emmerson.
The commissioning offered the opportunity to test
the mash filter’s performance on a variety of brands,
including Indian Pale Ale, Amber, Session Lager,
Session Black, LTD#4, Henry’s Blonde and Hefeweize.
“The mash filter yields have consistently exceeded
98% (OBY values) of fine grind as-is extract, with
some brews coming in above 100%,” James
Emmerson explained. “The wort quality from
the mash filter is excellent, very clear and within
brewery specifications.”
The brewery is currently seeing an increase in
brewhouse efficiency across all brands.
Brand
cycle
time
Mash pump
filling speed
first run
gravity
last run
gravity
OBY
(%)
Amber
117 min
550 rpm
21.9 °P
1.1 °P
98
Ipa
100 min
600 rpm
21.8 °P
1.5°P
98
Session
92 min
600 rpm
22.0 °P
0.5 °P
100
Ltd#4
88 min
600 rpm
21.8 °P
1.0 °P
98
Henry’s blonde
86 min
600 rpm
21.7 °P
0.5 °P
102
Hefeweize
98 min
600 rpm
22.6 °P
1.3 °P
98
“D ealing with Meura was a pleasure,
and their Mash Filter is an excellent addition
to our brewhouse!”
James Emmerson, Full Sail’s Executive Brewmaster
M EUR A n e ws | 07
SPecial issue — DRINK TEC 2013
CIP
Hot water
Thanks to the recovery of a non-oxidised trub, Meura’s CLARIsaVer, a wort
settling tank, is the only trub separation technology advisable for trub
recycling. The trub from a wort settling tank is oxygen free during the wort
cooling sequence and thus not oxidised. This is an important qualitative
advantage in relation to trub recycling and compared with the trub from
the whirlpool. For quality reasons (trub oxidation) having the trub recycled
from a whirlpool should therefore be avoided.
Moreover, while the loss of yield with a good whirlpool represents an
average of 1 to 1.5%, the loss of extract with a wort settling tank when
recycling the trub is almost zero. In addition, an average of about 10% of
alpha acids from the hops can be recovered from the trub recycling. The
water consumption of the wort settling tank is much lower compared with
a whirlpool, where water is used to drain the trub cone out of the vessel.
So both qualitative and quantitative advantages can be gained with this
modern equipment. Thanks to the Meura 2001 mash filter working with a
fine grist and the CLARIsaVer making it possible to recycle the recovered
trub, the brewhouse has an outstanding extract yield.
LT
LE
Clarisaver
LE
CIP
LE
CO2
TRUB
TANK
LE
Turbidity
Wort
Wort
CIP
Trub
CIP
Possibility therefore of recycling this non-oxidised hot trub (not
recommended with a whirlpool where the trub cone is intensely oxidised).
This will increase the OBY (Overall Brewhouse Yield) with at least 1%
compared with a whirlpool system.
Limited Shear Forces due to gentle filling.
Allows the control of the fatty acids content of the clarified wort.
Main assets
xygen free recovery of hot trub during the wort cooling sequence
O
and not afterwards.
Low water consumption (compared with a whirlpool where water is
used to drain the trub cone out of the vessel).
Irish distillers Pernod-Ricard
Midleton Distillery, Ireland
Irish Distillers makes its new
brewhouse with Meura!
IDL’s core product is the famous Jameson Irish Whiskey.
Indeed Jameson is the No. 1 selling Irish whiskey in
the world, a consistent award winner and a truly global
whiskey brand. Loved for its great smooth taste and
style, Jameson is sold in over 120 countries worldwide.
Irish Distillers is a subsidiary of the world’s co-leading
wines and spirits company Pernod-Ricard S.A.
In 2008 the distillery contacted Meura to perform some
trials with raw materials. Meura, supported by its R&D
Center Meura technologies, carried out a three-day trial
and analysis that yielded very good results. After these
tests, convinced by the Meura 2001 technology, IDL
asked for a quotation for a brewhouse however the
project was put on hold due to other priorities.
Three years later, IDL contacted Meura for some new
trials in its R&D Center Meura Technologies. The results
were again excellent and IDL decided in favour of a
complete Meura brewhouse as part of its €100 million
expansion at Midleton.
Really enthusiastic about the IDL project, Meura,
thanks to its state-of-the-art technology, proposed
IDL a Meurabrew concept (Meura’s continuous
brewhouse), with a five-phase expansion programme.
The Belgian brewing industry is known worldwide
for its unique variety of beer types, and also for its
important suppliers to that industry. For many years
two major equipment manufacturers, the companies
“Meura” and “Les Ateliers de Monsville”, have been
supplying to breweries worldwide. Both companies
were created during the ninetieth century; Meura
in 1845 with a focus on large scale breweries and
Les Ateliers de Monsville in 1888, concentrating on
medium-sized and small breweries. In the 1990’s
Meura and Les Ateliers de Monsville joined forces and
are today working under the Meura name.
Over recent years Meura has been frequently contacted by Craft brewers asking for Meura’s technologies,
Very interested by this proposal, the IDL team visited
Martens Brewery in Belgium, already equipped with
a Meurabrew, and Heineken Den Bosch in The
Netherlands, equipped with a double Meura 2001
mash filters operating 14 brews a day. During those
visits, they were able to speak freely with the owners
and operators about the equipment performance. And
in August 2011 the order for a Meurabrew was placed.
The supplied brewhouse is a unique concept ellowing
to upgrade in the future with almost double of the
initial installed capacity.
In a first phase, two small batch brewhouses are
foreseen, which will be upgraded in the final phase
to a continuous brewhouse with a flow of 450hl/h.
The plant (for phase 1 & 2) comprises:
odifications to existing dry good screening and
M
transfer equipment.
2x Meura hammer mills, CLM1 & CLM4
1x Mashing in tank of 25t/h
1x Mash Preparation Vessel with AFLOSJet
2x Mash Conversion vessels with AFLOSJet
2x Meura 2001 Hybrid mash filters
with Meuraclean units
2x Spent grains hoppers and expellers
but adapted to their needs. This evolution led Meura
to rethink their successful large scale brewhouse concept for the Craft brewing industry. This brewhouse
concept has been named the “Monsville” brewhouse,
referring to the long experience of Les Ateliers de
Monsville in small and medium-sized brewhouses.
Two types of Monsville brewhouses have been developed: the Monsville 50 and the Monsville 100, being
able to produce respectively 50 and 100 hl of wort per
brew. Each brewhouse can make up to 4 to 5 brews a
day. Central to the Monsville brewhouse is the Meura
2001 mash filtration technology. A mash filter with
reduced dimensions, the Meura 2001 Junior, has been
developed, keeping all the advantages of the internationally renowned Meura 2001 filtration technology.
The installation is skid mounted and pre-tested
according to a “plug-and-play” concept which
In 1901, Mr. Philippe Meura from
Tournai, Belgium developed the
first mash filter application for the
brewing industry. More than 1,000
Meura filters have been installed
worldwide since that date.
In 1989 the Meura 2001 filter, a thin
bed filter equipped with membranes,
was developed. Today about 25% of
the world’s beer volume is produced
with a Meura 2001 filter!
More than 20 years ago when the industrial introduction of the Meura 2001 filter took place, only one
filter size, called the Meura 2001 Senior (from 4 to 30
metric T throw), was available, mainly sized for large
lager brewers. The end of the 1990s, as a consequence
of an increasing demand by medium-sized breweries,
Meura introduced the Meura 2001 Junior filter (from
0.5 to 4 metric T throw). In 2012 at the Craft Brewing
Convention in San Diego, supported by an increasing
demand from the U.S. Craft Brewing market, Meura
decided to introduce the Meura 2001 Micro.
Design
The Meura 2001 Micro can take a throw of up
to 1000 lbs. (500 kg) of malt. Meura has sized
its mash filters to fit the needs of the typical
brewhouse sizes in existence.
µ10
µ15
µ20
Brewsize at 12°P
10 bbl
(12 hl)
15 bbl
(17.5 hl)
20 bbl
(23.5 hl)
1 x Spent Grains discharger unit (for existing spent
grains silo)
Throw in pounds
of malt
450
650
1000
P rocess and service pipework, valves, pumps
and instrumentation
Throw in kg of malt
200
300
400
Number
of chambers
18
26
36
1x Strong wort tank
1x Weak wort tank
Control Software
Project planning, installation supervision and
commissioning.
The brewhouse was installed in a new purpose-built
building alongside the existing brewhouse and milling
area. The building works started in October 2011, with
the first Meura equipment delivered in January 2012.
The commissioning started in August 2012 and full
production was achieved by the beginning of September.
Thanks to Meura’s innovative equipment and thinking,
we were able to offer a superior technological solution
to IDL that will meet their demands for increases in
production well into the future.
allows the project to reduce the time of on-site
erection and start-up.
The Monsville brewhouse is a state-of-the-art brewhouse especially developed for the Craft brewing
industry and having the following unique advantages:
The Meura 2001 technology enables working
with all kinds of adjuncts and at high proportions, which gives craft brewers the possibility
to make the recipe of their choice.
Possibility to work at high densities, advantageous for high fermentation beers
Exceptional yields (at least 2 to 3% above
those obtained with lauter tuns)
Very dry spent grains up to 30% dry material
Clear worts can be produced regardless of the
presence or absence of husk material.
Like the other mash filters in the Meura 2001
family, the MircoMeura 2001 achieves the same
unique process performances.
Performances
The Meura 2001 Micro offers numerous advantages, which can be summarized as follows:
01)The Meura 2001 Micro saves raw materials.
The extract yield is at least equal to the
E.B.C. laboratory yield (fine grist). It is common for extract losses of Craft brewhouses
to be between 5 and 10%.
02)It opens up the possibility of brewing with
a wide variety of raw materials in any
amount. It is Belgian technology especially designed for Belgian beer styles! As
a matter of interest, nearly 90% of the beer
volume produced in Belgium is produced
with the Meura 2001 technology.
03)It provides increased productivity thanks to
a total cycle time of < 100 minutes. As a
consequence, a brewhouse with a mash tun,
a Meura 2001 mash filter and wort kettle
can produce three brews in a 10-12 hour time
period. This represents significant savings in
manpower compared to lauter tun brewhouses.
04)It yields dry spent grains of 26-30% dry matter
(lauter tun at 20% D.M.). This means cleaner
operation with essentially dry matter handling
versus liquid/matter removal of spent grains.
05)It leads to water savings. The recovery
of more wort and no false bottom rinsing
represents a general savings of between
0.25 and 0.50 gal/gal (l/l).
06)It enables High Gravity brewing. Thanks to a
thick mash at mashing in and reduced sparging
(<2,3 l/kg or 0,28 gal/lbs) of the wort before
boiling and without adding sugar it will be >
16°P without extract losses. This represents
a saving in energy and space and makes an
ideal set-up for brewing speciality beers.
07)It creates a very high quality wort, thanks to
a brighter wort (<5ml/l Imhoff solids) than
with a lauter tun. A reduced sparging water
ratio with less leaching out of unwanted
components is also achieved with the Meura
2001 Micro mash filter.
08)A hot trub volume that is approximately
30-50% lower is achieved because of the
bright wort.
09)There is lower hop consumption (ca. 5-15%)
with a better yield due to the lower hot trub
content.
10)The modular system allows an expansion
of the system for additional capacity in the
future. Intermediate plates allow almost
any size brew to be produced, whether for
production or low volume trials.
Case example
The high productivity of the Meura 2001 Micro ensures
a high yearly throughput of the brewhouse compared
with lauter tun brewhouses of the same size.
Let us consider the following factors. The brewmaster
produces wort during four days a week. He/she
can use the fifth working day to contact suppliers,
check fermentation etc. During a working day three
brews are produced. With a brewhouse where the
milling can start automatically this is not a problem.
µ10
µ15
µ20
Brewsize at 12°P
(no sugar)
10 bbl
(12 hl)
15 bbl
(17,5 hl)
20 bbl
(23.5 hl)
Daily production
3 brews/day
30 bbl
(35 hl)
45 bbl
(52,5 hl)
60 bbl
(70 hl)
Weekly production
4 days/week
120 bbl
(140 hl)
180 bbl
(210 hl)
240 bbl
(280 hl)
Yearly production
50 weeks/year
6,000 bbl
(7,000 hl)
9,000 bbl 12,000 bbl
(10,500 hl) (14,000 hl)
The Meura 2001 Micro makes it possible to produce
12,000 bbl (14,000 hl) or more of beer per year.
Conclusion
As the result of a strong demand from the market, the
Meura 2001 technology is available for Craft breweries
of all sizes. Meura’s long and extensive experience
since 1845 together with its Belgian brewing roots
provide Craft brewers with the best technological and
technical support in the development of their business.
08 | M EUR A n e ws
SPecial issue — DRINK TEC 2013
Meura Technologies : More than 15 years of research
Besides the development of technological innovation,
the mission of Meura Technologies is also to
partner with brewers that intend to make important
process changes (brew diagram, changing raw materials, etc.) on their Meura industrial equipment
and would first like to perform small scale trials.
From the very first day, Meura Technologies has made
several innovations, some of which can be considered
revolutionary for the brewing industry. The recent major
innovation is certainly the Meurabrew, a continuous
brewhouse. In its early beginnings Meura Technologies
started this development with the installation of a
4 hl/h capacity continuous brewhouse prototype.
After four years of validation trials the first positive
results were published at the EBC Conventions in 2001
and 2003. The process was fully approved in the
year 2005 (seven years after the project started)
and the first industrial Meurabrew of 200 hl/h at
20°P cold wort was ordered in 2006 by the Martens
brewery (Belgium). In the meantime three Meurabrews
have been ordered, and Meura Technologies regularly
carries out campaigns with potential customers to
demonstrate the advantages of the technology for
their products. As usual in the brewing industry, it
takes time before major technological changes are
accepted, but Meura is confident that the Meurabrew
will achieve its position in the industry.
Other technologies developed and patented thanks
to the R&D pilot plant are for example the Hydromill
and the Aflosjet technologies. The Hydromill features
a fine milling technology under water for special
applications such as the milling of green malt or of
roasted barley/malt. The Aflosjet is a direct steam
diffusion technology for mash heating. It replaces
the traditional double jacket heating.
The major focus the last three to five years has been
on the further improvement of the Meura 2001
technology, with as a final result the industrial introduction of the Meura 2001 Hybrid, an important
modification leading to a reduced sparging water to
grist ratio and thus producing a higher gravity wort,
shorter cycle times and an improved wort quality.
The pilot plant can also make batch brews of up to 20
hl/brew through to the final beer. Meura Technologies
thus has a complete brewery except for bottling facilities.
The brewhouse is equipped with a double Meura 2001
mash filter, allowing high flexibility for representative
tests, up to 175 kg for batch capacity and 87 kg for
filtrations in parallel in the continuous brewing process.
Hot wort treatment can be performed traditionally
with an internal boiler or with the three-stage concept
of boiling: “Formation – clarification – stripping”. The
pilot Ecostripper is often used to validate the impact of
Meura’s de-intensified boiling concept on the organoleptic quality of the wort. A falling film evaporator is
also part of the pilot brewhouse equipment for extract
production (up to 65-70 brix) as Meura’s customers
also include malt extract companies.
Meura
2001
Sieve 1: > 1250 μ
20 %
< 1 %
Sieve 2+3:
between 1250-500 μ
50 %
< 9 %
Sieve 4+5:
between 500-125 μ
20 %
> 55 %
Bottom: < 125 μ
10 %
< 35 %
Technical feasibility trials for new recipes,
products, projects.
Performance improvement.
Technological support to our customers.
Training for customers, brewing schools.
In addition to its own R&D activities, Meura
Technologies offers its customers valuable tech-
Top advantages of the Classicmill:
The Classicmill is an air ventilated
hammermill with a horizontal shaft.
The Classicmill description:
The classicmill consists of a hammermill
equipped with hardened steel hammers fixed on
a rotor, projecting the dropping malt against the
breaking plates at high velocity (100m/s). As a
result, malt grains are broken down into very fine
particles. A feeding rotary lock equipped with
steel blades and driven by a frequency converter
&
Since the development of the Meura 2001 mash
filter, fine grist is on an industrial scale obtained
mainly by the means of a Classicmill, a ventilated
hammer mill with horizontal shaft. Traditionnaly,
after milling the malt grist is falling by a top entry
into the mash conversion vessel with the oxidation of
the mash as a result. Several research (see further)
indicates that mash oxidation decreases the flavour
stability of the final beer. To prevent these problems, Meura developed a mechanical pre-masher,
the Mechamasher, allowing a bottom entry to the
conversion vessel(s). In combination with a hammer
milling technology under CO2 atmosphere, the Carbomill, an oxidation free mashing-in is guaranteed.
The figure shows the layout of a milling plant with
the Carbomill and the Mechamasher.
The Carbomill consists of a rotor made of
plates with pins to carry the hammers. Grinding is
During
milling there is forced ventilation
inside the milling chamber, which limits the
temperature increase observed with other
hammermills (vertical shaft type).
T hanks to this ventilation, the classicmill is
the ideal equipment for milling adjuncts with
a moisture content up to 15% (for example
barley).
Thanks to its expertise and experience in brewing
technologies, the R&D team is able to create solutions
that keep Meura’s customers ahead of the competition. More than just an equipment supplier, Meura
is a leading technical and technological partner.
T he hammers and sieves are easy to replace.
Symmetrical construction allows the mill to
run clockwise or counter-clock wise, which
increases the service life of the hammers.
Low initial cost and very low maintenance costs.
C an be integrated easily into an existing dry
goods line.
B ecause the milling chamber is ventilated,
there is no explosion risk in the event of a
spark produced by the shock of a small stone
on the hammer. Consequently a destoner is not
mandatory; a simple malt siever is sufficient.
Meura currently manufactures six types of classicmill, ranging from the CLM 1 to the CLM 6.
Types
Motor
power
(kW)
Rpm
Capacity
(tons malt/
hour)
CLM 1
37
3000
4
B reaking plates in the upper part of the mill protect the sieves against early wearing, reducing
maintenance costs.
CLM 2
55
3000
7
CLM 3
75
3000
10
CLM 4
110
1500
14
A wide range of sieve mesh from 1.8 to 4 mm,
suitable for malt and adjuncts.
CLM 5
160
1500
20
CLM 6
250
1500
30
a result of impact between the hammers and the
particles that are propelled on the breaking-plates.
Prior to start up, CO2 (or N2) is injected into the grist
bin to provide a gas blanket. During the milling, the
malt grist is falling into the grist bin and pushes the
CO2 back through the hammer mill and the malt
feeding system. By this way, the air surrounding
the malt grains is replaced by the gas protecting the
malt grains from oxidation before entering the mill.
The milling itself occurs also under CO2 atmosphere.
The malt grist is then falling directly into the grist bin
where it can be stored under CO2 between brews.
During the emptying of the grist bin CO2 is injected
into the bin to replace the grist.
Mashing-in consists of an extremely thorough mixing of the malt grist with water at a prespecified
mashing-in temperature and water to grist ratio, in
order to hydrate the starch of the malt. Traditionally a hydrator, directly connected to the top of the
mash conversion vessel is used for this process.
This method has however two main disadvantages;
a high oxidation of the mash occurs when the grist
falls in the conversion vessel and lump formation is
almost unavoidable especially when thick mashes
(less than 2,5l water per kg malt grist) are made.
O2
tC
Lauter
tun
For the classicMill and the CarboMill,
Meura uses the same grinding principle:
a hammermill with horizontal shaft where the first
impact of the grains is on the hammers and the second
impact is on the breaking plates. The sieves are therefore protected against early wearing or early damage
by the possible presence of stones. These are crushed
before they can reach the sieves. This principle allows
therefore economical savings. Indeed, with a CLM 3,
the replacement of all wearing pieces – namely the
hammers, the sieves and the breaking plate – costs
less than 1,500 € for 25,000 tons, which is equivalent
to a 1 year malt consumption in a 1.5 Mio hl brewery.
nological assistance in total confidentiality. Prior
to supplying equipment, Meura Technologies acts
as a partner that helps and advises the customer:
t le
Grist specifications (Pfungstadt-Mebak)
Although Meura has always installed and commissioned the classicMill, the manufacturing of this
equipment was originally subcontracted. Since 2006,
Meura has been designing and manufacturing its own
hammermills so that its customers benefit from all the
improvements resulting from its more than 20 years
of experience in using hammermils to grind malt.
From left to right:
Laurent Marlé, Ariane Dewulf
and
David Chauvier, R&D Engineers
and
Frédérique Harmegnies, R&D Mana
ger
Ou
The success was immediate and Meura started to
sell its filters all over the world. But the competitors
reacted with the criticism that our filter produced
a wort that was too cloudy. Meura, joined by the
defenders of the mash filter technology (like the
Piedboeuf Brewery in Belgium), then had to deal
with this weakness. Consequently research projects
were launched to produce a very bright wort while
guaranteeing the best extract yield as well as the highest mash filter productivity. By using an even finer
grist and a thinner bed (4cm), the result was not only
an excellent high filtration rate but also a very bright
wort. Nevertheless, with such a thin filtration cake,
it was of prime importance to avoid channelling that
could reduce the sparging efficiency. Quite quickly,
the inflatable membrane solution for homogenizing
the cake porosity became essential. The results were
very exciting: 100% of extract recovery (compared to
the laboratory yield) while using less water (< 2.5 l
H2O/kg grist), a high production rate (14 brews/day)
This table above shows that the Meura 2001 mash
filter works with fine milling. In order to obtain
this kind of milling, the traditional roll mills were
not suitable. Meura turned then to hammermills,
which already existed in the breweries for the
milling of adjuncts. Meura was the first company
in the world to use the hammermill industrially in
order to mill barley malt. Two types of hammermill
existed, one with a vertical shaft and one with a
horizontal shaft. Thanks to its experience, Meura
was able to select the most efficient technology,
which was the hammermill with a horizontal shaft.
Today, Meura offers two dry milling technologies:
the classicMill and the CarboMill.
Meura Technologies is not only a R&D centre for
Meura’s developments but also a real partner for the
players of the Food and Beverage Industry.
automatically controls the feeding of the hammermill, according to the nominal power of the
motor. The mill has a symmetrically constructed
milling chamber. During milling air is blown
through the milling chamber in order to avoid
heating of the malt grist and dust explosions.
Underneath this milling chamber, a bin equipped
with an automatic filter and a suction ventilator
separates the air from the grist.
… A Fine Milling History
and a bright wort (< 5 ml/l Imhoff). In 1987, this
new technology was presented for the very first time
at the European Brewery Convention in Zurich and in
1989, the first Meura 2001 mash filter was installed
in the Piedboeuf Brewery in Jupille (Belgium). It was
the very beginning of the Meura 2001 mash
filter’s adventure. Today, more than 220 Meura
2001 mash filters equipped with an ever improved
technology have been sold all over the world.
Meura Technologies also owns pilot equipment dedicated to trials on site in breweries. A pilot mash filter
with a capacity varying between 8 kg and 80 kg malt
equivalent can be rented for campaigns of tests on site
with the assistance of one of the R&D engineers for
the start-up. A yeast pre-oxygenation unit can also be
placed in breweries for trials enabling an immediate
evaluation of performances on the industrial product.
Besides innovation for the brewing industry, new
process or process fine tuning for the grain extract
industry, distilling industry, kvas production (Russian
rye-based soft drink), etc. have also been developed
in the R&D centre and have led to Meura obtaining
major orders for industrial applications.
Rental of pilot equipment.
The Meura laboratory is equipped for grist size distribution analysis (Pfungstad), lab brews (EBC or industrial
recipe), and a mash filtration unit (“Bomb” filter). The
“Bomb” filter is developed in-house and enables the
determination of mash filterability with the industrial
brewing recipe as well as extraction yield and malt
The Meura Dry
Milling Technologies
In 1901, Philippe Meura, looking for
a technology able to work with a
finer grist and to guarantee a better
extract yield than was possible with
a lauter tun, developed the first mash
filter for the brewing industry. The
yield was indeed much higher and
the filter technology using a thinner
bed under pressure allowed an increased rate of 8 to 10 brews a day
compared to the 4 to 6 brews a day
produced by the competitors. It was
a revolution for the brewing world.
equivalent evaluation of raw materials. This equipment
is very useful for testing the feasibility of new projects
using unknown raw materials or for trouble shooting.
For more analytical analyses samples can be taken and
sent to external brewing labs of Universities in Belgium.
Inlet Malt
A pioneer by tradition, Meura has
always promoted innovation. Fifteen
years ago, in 1997, in order to offer
its customers the best technological
solutions, Meura decided to create
Meura Technologies, its R&D division,
in the heart of the university city of
Louvain-La-Neuve and near its famous brewing school.
Inlet CO2
Malt Grist Bin
To Mash Tun