A case of clarification

For small to mid-sized breweries, concepts like ‘streamlining operations’ and ‘doing more with less’ are necessities not nice to haves.

At foodpro, the Thermaflo  team is showcasing a piece of equipment that helps breweries achieve both – the ArtBREW craft beer clarifier by Frautech Separators.

The power of using a centrifuge like the ArtBREW to clarify beer lies in its filtration/clarification and speed.

The immediate benefit to any brewery is tank bottom clarification, where the mix of beer, solids, and sediment at the bottom of the fermentation tank is passed through the clarifier.

“There’s a significant amount of beer left in the bottom of every fermentation tank,” says Kevin Gilbert, Thermaflo’s business development director.

The ArtBREW’s larger separation bowl means fewer discharges of the collected solids, so even more beer can be extracted from each tank.

“We’ve seen anywhere from a six to 10 per cent increase in yield out of a tank that is run through an ArtBREW.

“Before installation, that beer was going down the drain. After installation, it’s in the bright beer tank ready to be packaged and sold,” Gilbert says.

The second advantage is speed. The clarifier’s centrifugal forces gently separate the heavier yeast and hop particles, leaving bright beer behind, a much faster process than relying on gravity to settle the sediment, which typically takes days.

Gilbert says, “An empty fermentation tank means room for another brew, i.e., free capacity without the cost of buying and installing new tanks. We think every growth-minded brewery should have a clarifier installed. It’s a piece of kit that starts paying for itself from day one, and the brewery is producing less waste.”

The ArtBREW technology is proven with over 120 installs in breweries around the world.  The first Australian install was completed in May 2023, and another unit, for a New Zealand brewery, is due in August.