How To Choose Mash Tun for Craft Beer Equipment?

The mash tun is one of the most important components in the beer brewing system and is also a key link that reflects the technical level of the equipment manufacturer. In large breweries, the mash tun is usually composed of multiple parts such as a mash kettle, a later tank, a filter tank, a boiling tank, and a whirlpool tank. Commercial brewing equipment is usually equipped with two to three mash tuns, and some mash tuns have multiple functions. According to the use of mainstream equipment on the market, craft beer equipment can be roughly divided into several types: traditional double-tank mash tuns, classic double-tank and three-tank mash tuns, three-tank split mash tuns, new three-tank mash tuns, large three-tank mash tuns, and large four-tank mash tuns. These types will be introduced in detail below.

Traditional double-tank wort tank

This type of equipment is one of the earliest equipment used in the beer industry, mainly consisting of a wort/boiler and a filter tank. The wort/boiler can also double as a whirlpool tank, or combine the wort/filter and boil/whirlpool functions.

The main advantages of this type of equipment include:

• The equipment is simple and the investment cost is relatively low.

• The pipeline is simple and easy to operate.

• The equipment height is low and the site height requirement is not high.

However, the main disadvantages of this type of equipment include:

1. When filtering the wort, only pumping can be used (i.e. pumping the wort from the filter tank to the brewing/boiling kettle), resulting in a slow filtering speed. The brewer needs a high level of skill to avoid mistakes, avoid compacting the grain bed, difficult filtering, and even deformation of the screen plate, which affects subsequent use.

2. This type of equipment usually has an agitator in the brewing/boiling kettle, but since the brewing/boiling kettle has a vortex function, the agitator may affect the vortex effect.

3. The spent grain water can only be prepared in advance and stored in vats, buckets or fermentation tanks (it is not recommended to store it in fermentation tanks because improper operation may cause vacuum formation or affect the operation of the ice water system). The operation is cumbersome and the heat loss is relatively high.

4. Usually only two batches can be brewed per day at most, requiring the brewer to work all night.

Classic two-tank three-tank mash system

The classic two-tank three-tank mash system usually consists of a mash/boil pot and a filter/sedimentation tank. The filter/sedimentation tank actually consists of two layers, the upper layer is the filter tank, and the lower layer is the sedimentation tank. However, this equipment has been replaced by the new three-tank mash system.

Its main advantages include:

• The equipment has a stylish and tall appearance, which conforms to the aesthetic taste of Chinese people.

• The heating area of the mash/boil pot is usually large and the temperature rises quickly.

• The filter tank is located at a high position, which can achieve natural filtration (wort is filtered by gravity), with a high filtration rate and clear wort. Even if the operation is wrong, there will be no tight wort layer or deformation of the plate surface.

• The sedimentation tank is designed as a vertical cylindrical shape, which is specially used for sedimentation, so that the hop residue and hot coagulants are well separated.

• During the wort filtration process, the mash/boil pot can prepare flushing water, which can be carried out simultaneously with filtration, shortening the mash time by 30-50 minutes.

• Usually two batches of beer can be brewed a day, and three to four batches of beer can be brewed a day if night shifts are considered. In the peak season of beer sales, more beer can be brewed in the shortest time.

Its main disadvantages are:

• The equipment is usually slightly higher than the traditional two-tank mashing system.

• The equipment investment is higher than the traditional two-tank mashing system.

• Separate three-tank mashing system:

• There are many combinations of separate three-tank mashing systems, including mash tank + lauter tank + boiling/whirlpool tank, mash/lauter tank + boiling/whirlpool tank + precipitation tank, mash/lauter tank + boiling/whirlpool tank + hot water tank, and mash/boiling tank + lauter tank + hot water tank. Although the combination methods are varied, the basic principles are similar.