Brewery

Brazil is among the four largest beer producers. China leads the ranking, followed by the United States and Germany. The production in Brazil has been standing out and every year there are records of its growth. In 2007, for example, the consumption of the beverage grew compared to the previous year, totaling 10.34 billion liters.

The sector currently has 60 small and medium-sized breweries and employs more than 150,000 people, between direct and indirect positions, and is constantly investing. In the last five years, the brewing industries invested more than R$ 3 billion.

SMAR, through SYSTEM302 and a wide range of instrumentation, has solutions that guarantee the quality and homogeneity of the products. A unique solution from SMAR is the Grade Plato measurement and control system through its density and concentration transmitter, DT300 Series (4-20mA/HART, FF and Profibus).

These instruments measure Grau Plato continuously and in real time during the beer fermentation process, representing a major evolution over the conventional system that relies on laboratory sampling and analysis.

Fermentation is the process by which fermentable carbohydrates are converted by yeast into alcohol and other by-products. Several factors influence the beer fermentation process, especially wort composition and fermentation conditions. The composition of the must modifies fermentation by the presence and concentration of various nutrients, pH, degree of aeration and temperature.

These factors can affect the rate of fermentation, the extent of fermentation, the amount of yeast produced and the quality of the beer. Fermentation conditions are influenced by time, wort temperature, volume, fermentation tank design, pressure, agitation and currents in the wort.

As can be seen, the beer fermentation process is quite complex, being influenced by several factors. To monitor this process, the Grade Plato is used, which is a unit of concentration, which, by definition, is the mass percentage of sucrose present in a solution. Therefore, knowing the Grau Plato it is possible to monitor and control the beer fermentation process.

The DT density transmitter, designed and patented by SMAR, is the only density transmitter on the market that delivers Grade Plato continuously, in real-time and with laboratory accuracy, throughout the fermentation process. This sanitary model density transmitter is suitable for installation in breweries as it uses a tri-clamp sanitary connection for process coupling. The surface finish of your probe follows the recommendations of the 3A standard and its format was specially designed to allow CIP cleaning, without the need to remove the equipment from the process. In addition, its installation can be done in existing fermentation tanks, as SMAR has developed an adapter to receive the density transmitter, which is installed in the tank without the need for soldering and, therefore, without the need to redo the internal polishing. in the tank.

The DT indicates the exact moment that the fermentation process ends and, therefore, the moment when the tank is ready to be cooled, initiating the beer maturation process. This feature allows the optimization of energy consumption, reducing costs. In addition, with real-time Grade Plato measurement, the operator knows the current state of the process, allowing an immediate reaction should any unwanted process change occur. This reduces errors and losses commonly associated with taking samples.