Application of Glycol System in Beer Brewing Equipment

The most effective way to maintain a stable process temperature is to use a beer chiller, usually a glycol chiller. It is an indispensable part of the brewing equipment.

A glycol chiller in a brewery provides the tight temperature control required for the brewing process. It is a special refrigeration system used to cool a variety of liquids. It extracts the brewing process by using propylene glycol or a mixture of propylene glycol and water. remove excess heat and dissipate it into a heat exchanger or refrigeration system.

Glycol chillers are suitable for specific cooling applications in the beer industry. This mainly includes the cooling of the wort. Breweries and the beer industry have high demands on chillers because they need to reduce the boiling wort to a temperature where the fermentation process can take place in a short period of time.

Wort cooling requirements vary widely depending on the size of the brewing system, cooling time (minutes) and target wort temperature. In many cases, the choice of chiller depends on the type of beer being brewed, so choose the right wort chiller.

• Cold liquid tank (CLT) and single stage wort heat exchanger

CLTs are usually stainless steel tanks with cooling jackets or external heat exchangers. It will be filled with water and cooled to a temperature of about 35°F between brewing cycles, then cold water will be pumped in at a 1:1 ratio to remove the wort from the boiling wort through a wort exchanger, Cool down to desired fermentation temperature. The drained water is diverted to a hydrothermal tank for brewing the next batch of beer. CLTs are usually sized to hold enough cold water to serve the brewing cycle. For example, if you have a 1000L beer equipment and need to brew 3 times a day, then the size of the CLT is 3000L.

• Two-stage cooling with city water and refrigerated glycol

The two-stage wort cooler has a two-stage cold zone wort: uses city water in a 1:1 ratio and removes as much heat as possible. Depending on the efficiency of the heat exchanger, the wort will leave the first stage within 7-10°F of the incoming water temperature, transferring the remaining heat to the cooled glycol and exiting at the desired fermentation temperature. This heat load is enormous compared to the cooling load provided by the cooler. Typically, this requires the winemaker to isolate the fermenter from the cooling loop and dedicate all of the cooling system's available cooling capacity to the process.

• The city water is pre-cooled before entering the single-stage wort heat exchanger

This method of wort cooling is a good low-cost option, but it does not clean brazed plate stainless steel heat exchangers. If the heat exchanger is contaminated or clogged, it usually needs to be replaced with a new one.

• Use of three-stage heat exchanger

This case is actually a combination of the second and third cases. The wort is cooled using a combination of cold liquid, chilled glycol and city water using a tertiary heat exchanger or many individual heat exchangers. This usually happens in breweries that brew a lot of beer and have exceeded the design capacity of the brewery equipment.

• Glycol cooling during fermentation

The next step in brewing beer is fermentation. The wort is introduced into the fermenter, yeast is added, and fermentation begins. A cooling jacket is used on the fermenter, and the chilled glycol keeps the beer at the ideal fermentation temperature throughout the process.

The above is the process of using the ethylene glycol system, I hope to help you.