MODULE: Materials and Wort

UNIT 1.9: Wort Boiling and Cooling

SECTION: 1.9.1: Wort Boiling

ABSTRACT: Wort boiling is a key operation in the brewhouse, where

a number of brewing or process functions are carried out that are
essential to produce a quality product through the downstream
processes of fermentation and conditioning. These may be
considered under three main headings: boiling, clarification and
cooling. The reactions involved in these processes are not totally
understood, and as a result are rarely quantified in the performance
specification for a wort boiling system, which is usually limited to
achieving certain percentage evaporation only. As a consequence of
this there is perhaps more variation in the type of plant installed for
wort boiling than in any other area of the brewery.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: On completion and comprehension of this

unit you will be able to:

1. Understand the reasons for boiling wort in beer production.

2. Appreciate the different equipment and technology used for
wort boiling.
3. Understand the changes to wort during wort boiling.

PREREQUISITE UNDERSTANDING: To have studied Unit 1.8

 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling ____________________________ 2

1.9.1. Wort Boiling ___________________________________ 2
1.9.1.1 Introduction__________________________________ 2
1.9.1.2 Overview ___________________________________ 2
1.9.1.3 Boiling Process_______________________________ 3
(a) Enzyme De-activation ___________________________ 3
(b) Sterilisation ___________________________________ 4
(c) Evaporation ___________________________________ 4
(d) Trub Formation pH Reduction ___________________ 6
(e) Using Kettle Finings ____________________________ 7
(f) Hops and Bitterness Extraction ____________________ 8
(g) Removal of Volatiles ____________________________ 8
(h) Colour and Flavour Development _________________ 10
1.9.1.4 Wort Boiling Equipment ________________________12
(a) Heat Transfer and Boiling ___________________13
(b) Modes of Wort Boiling Heat Transfer 15
(c) Fouling 17
1.9.1.5 Wort Kettles_________________________________ 18
1.9.1.6 Direct Fired Kettles 18
1.9.1.7 Internal Heater (Calandria)______________________19
1.9.1.8 External Heater (Calandria)_____________________ 21
1.9.1.9 Merlin System________________________________24
1.9.1.10 Other Wort Boiling Systems____________________ 25
(a) Overpressure Wort Boiling_______________________ 25
(b) Continuous Wort Boiling_________________________ 25
(c) Wort Boiling using Microwaves____________________ 26
1.9.1.11 Energy Saving______________________________ 27
(a) Condensers___________________________________27
(b) Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR)___________27
(c) Steam Thermo-recompression____________________ 28

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

1.9 WORT BOILING AND COOLING

1.9.1. WORT BOILING

1.9.1.1 INTRODUCTION
Wort boiling is a key step in the production of quality beer.

[ NB This process stage is missing in the production of whisky, where

sweet wort is passed direct to fermentation without being boiled. ]

The main purposes of boiling are:

1. To halt enzyme activity.

2. To sterilise the wort.
3. To concentrate the wort by evaporation.
4. To develop colour and flavour.
5. To remove unwanted volatile flavour compounds.
6. To achieve the required colloidal stability.
7. To extract bitterness from the hops (isomerisation of bitter
substances).

Wort boiling is a major usage of energy in the brewery and can

account for 39% of the brewerys total energy. Steps are taken to
make this process as energy efficient as possible by using heat
recovery systems.

Boiling is carried out in a wort kettle also known as a wort copper

because early vessels were made of copper.

1.9.1.2 OVERVIEW
Sweet wort from the mash tun, lauter tun or mash filter is run into the
wort kettle and slow heating is applied so that the temperature of the
wort approaches boiling point as the run-off completes.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

The wort is boiled for 1 to 2 hours and it is both intensive and

vigorous. The efficiency of the boil can be expressed in terms of:

The boiling time;

Temperature;
Pressure;
Evaporation rate;
Trub formation.

There is no single parameter to judge a good boil although

% evaporation and evaporation rate are the most common
parameters used.

Malt quality Hop additions

Mash conversion Wort composition Boil Hot wort

Liquor/grist ratio Wort strength Trub formation clarification
Temperature Mash Wort clarity Hop isomerisation -acid
profile, pH, SMM Flavour isomerisation
Oxygen Carbonyls development SMMDMS
Soluble nitrogen Volatile removal Maillard by-
Stabilisation products
Water Lipidscarbonyls

Figure 1. External factors influencing the wort boiling process.

1.9.1.3 BOILING PROCESS

(a) Enzyme De-activation

During wort boiling, the few enzymes that are still active after
mashing are completely destroyed and play no further part in altering
wort composition. This means that the carbohydrate spectrum of the
wort is now fixed.

If subsequent alteration to the wort is required, for example to

produce a light beer, or to rectify a problem such as starch haze,
microbial enzymes can be used.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

A few exogenous enzymes that can be added are:

-glucanase to aid wort filtration.

Amyloglucosidase can aid wort fermentability.

(b) Sterilisation
Up to the point of kettle filling, the wort temperature will not have
exceeded 75oC and the wort will contain many micro-organisms
(bacteria, spores, yeasts and myeclial fungi). If not destroyed, they
could pass through into the fermentation and will compete with the
culture yeast, causing flavour and haze problems in the beer.

The boiling process will destroy all micro-organisms with the

exception of some spore formers, which are of no threat in brewing.
Standard beer is a poor growth medium for these types of organisms
and even then they do not represent a health hazard. However,
these organisms are more of a problem in low alcohol beer due to
the lower %abv and unfermented sugar. Remember that the finished
beer is also pasteurised prior to sale, again providing an opportunity
to kill any lingering micro-organisms.

The boiling process will produce sterile wort, ready for inoculation
with the culture yeast.

(c) Evaporation
During boiling, typically 5 to 10% water is evaporated from the kettle
causing a corresponding increase in concentration (original gravity)
of the wort and a decrease in the volume.

It is customary to target, and record % evaporation per hour and/ or a

total evaporation during the period of the boil. The % of evaporation
can be measured by checking volume in the kettle before and after
boil, or inferred by measuring specific gravity before and after boil.

KEYPOINT: If syrups are being added to the kettle as an

adjunct, measuring the SG will not work as a means of calculating
evaporation, due to the gravity uplift from the syrup.

Alternatively, measuring the steam supplied to the kettle, both as an

instantaneous flow and the total quantity, can be used as a measure
of evaporation and as a means of controlling the boiling rate. This of

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

course assumes that all the steam supplied is used in boiling and
that there are no heat losses due to radiation, leaks or faulty steam
traps. Although the steam flow is now often used as the process
control for wort boils it is normally cross-checked by a gravity or
volume measurement.

The boiling also evaporates volatiles that can condense with water
on the inside of the kettle stack and these need to be collected by a
channel at the base of the stack, to prevent run-back into the kettle
and cause unsatisfactory flavours.

Evaporation requires a lot of energy and it is therefore desirable to

boil no more than is required for quality, but to be mindful that low
evaporation and non-vigorous boils can cause major product defects.

Energy can be recovered from the kettle stack by condensing the

vapours in a water-cooled heat exchanger (HE). This hot water can
be used either directly in the brewhouse or for other purposes, such
as keg or cask cleaning. The condensed vapours are not normally
collected since they contain hop resins and volatiles.

In high gravity brewing the same energy input produces more wort (in
extract terms) and is therefore cost beneficial. When considering the
profitability resulting from high gravity brewing then fixed and variable
costs must be defined. If the capacity of an existing brewery were to
be extended then installing additional plant equipment would cost
considerably more than introducing high gravity brewing. Savings
can be made from fixed and variable (operating) costs. The figures
shown below are based on data that aims to give a general overview
of the process; however, figures will differ depending on a particular
operation.

Possible savings gained by high gravity brewing include:

Energy in the brewhouse 38%

Wort cooling 25%
Space cooling 15%
Product pumping 20%
CIP 20%
Personnel 20%
Depreciation in the fermenting room and storage cellar 22%

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

(d) Trub Formation pH Reduction

The formation, and resulting precipitation, of protein-polyphenol
complexes during and after the boil is essential for subsequent beer
haze stability. The material formed is called trub.

The polyphenols, from malt and hops, are present in oxidised form
and will form a whole range of different products by complexing with
the proteins present in the wort. These complexes are insoluble in
hot wort and will precipitate during boiling to form hot break.

Trub formation is helped by the vigorousness of the boil and would

be almost complete after a two hour boil. Protein denaturation is
affected by time, boil temperature, heater surface temperature, and
turbulence on the heater surfaces in the boiling vessel. The more
intensive the boil, the more steam bubbles are formed, and proteins
are enriched on the gas/liquid interface. This results in higher
coagulation rates. Larger hot break particle sizes are required for
effective trub separation and counter-productive shear forces must
be minimised in the boiler design.

The pH optimum for hot break formation is 5.2. The wort pH drops
during boiling from 5.8 5.9 to 5.2 5.4 due in part to melanoidin
formation and hop acids, but mainly as a result of precipitation by
calcium phosphates and calcium-polypeptides complexes and
release of hydrogen (H+) ions.

Calcium phosphates:

3Ca2 + H2 PO4 - 2H + + Ca3 (PO4 )2

ppt

Similarly with polypeptides:

Polypeptide - H + Ca 2+ polypeptide - Ca + 2H +
ppt

Polyphenols will also complex with protein degradation products

during the boil and these remain in solution in hot wort and will
precipitate as cold break once the wort is cooled.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

Table 1. Changes in pH during wort boiling.

pH of wort
Before boil After boil
After 3 hours After 6 hours
6.06 5.69 5.46
5.63 5.39 5.22
5.09 4.99 4.96

To aid the fall in pH, extra calcium ions in the form of calcium
sulphate or calcium chloride are sometimes added to the kettle. An
alternative method to decrease pH is through the direct addition of
acids such as phosphoric or sulphuric acid. In Germany, where the
addition of mineral acid is prohibited under the Reinheitsgebot law
the product of an acidified mash fermentation using lactic acid
bacteria is sometimes added to the kettle to assist in dropping the pH
and improving beer flavour.

It is important to achieve the required decrease in pH (generally

around pH 5.0) as it affects wort and beer character. In particular a
lower pH:

Improves protein coagulation.

Improves beer flavour, in particular VDK (diacetyl) reduction.
Encourages yeast growth.
Inhibits the growth of many other contaminating organisms.
Results in poorer hop utilisation.
Results in a reduced colour formation.

(e) Using Kettle Finings

The precipitation of break, and the subsequent clarity of the wort, can
be improved by the addition of kettle (copper) finings. Finings are
made from carrageenan (derived from seaweed), either in its raw
form known as Irish Moss, pun feed, or processed as a powder or
pellets.

The active ingredient is K-carrageenan, which is a negatively

charged polymer containing sulphate glucose and galactose units. It
is soluble in hot wort but gelatinises on cooling. In its raw form as
Irish Moss, it is partly insoluble.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

The finings are added at the end of boil to the kettle, or to the
whirlpool. They interact with the positively charged proteins, aiding
their precipitation. Finings work better at lower pH since proteins
become more positively charged. The timing, place of addition, the
dose rate and product form, are all key factors in fining addition. The
process needs to be frequently optimised due to changes in malt
variety, type, specification, polyphenols, salts and many other
factors. By taking freshly boiled wort samples and adding finings at
different rates and comparing the subsequent wort clarities,
comparisons are made to set the dose rate to be used in brews for
the next period.

(f) Hops and Bitterness Extraction

Hops and Hop Chemistry are covered extensively in Section 1.6.3.

In summary, the hop -acids readily dissolve in boiling wort, but the
isomerisation (hop utilisation) to iso--acids takes considerably
longer. Basically, the higher the boil temperature, then the more
rapid the isomerisation.

At 100oC 40% isomerisation takes 2 hours.

At 135oC 40% isomerisation takes 3 minutes.

However, for quality reasons it is desirable to limit the time that wort
is exposed to temperatures >80oC usually a boil of 60 to 90
minutes achieves approximately 40% isomerisation. Remember that
the type of hop product also influences the isomerisation rate:

Hop cones need more boiling to extract -acid from lupulin

glands.

The -acids are easier to access in pellets and extract and so

isomerisation happens quicker.

Pre-isomerised hop have increased isomerisation and so

require less boiling time.

(g) Removal of Volatiles

During the evaporation stage of wort boiling undesirable volatile
compounds are driven-off with the steam. The design of the kettle,
including the design of the spreaders, plays an important part in
promoting the escape of volatiles, ensuring good circulation and
minimum paths of diffusion. The use of cold air down draughts to

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

inhibit foaming may encourage condensation, thereby reducing the

rate of escape of volatiles.

A principal malt derived volatile lost during wort boiling (particularly in

lager malt) is dimethyl sulphide (DMS) which gives lagers a taste
described as "sweet corn". It is produced by thermal decomposition
of its precursor, S-methyl-methionine (SMM).
The DMS released during boiling is rapidly lost through evaporation.
However, the breakdown of SMM to DMS continues during the
period between the end of boiling and wort cooling. This DMS is not
lost and persists into the finished beer. The breakdown of DMS
during boiling depends on time and temperature, raising the boil
temperature from 100oC to 110oC reduces the half-time of
destruction of SMM from 70 minutes to 22 minutes. It is, therefore,
possible to control the level of DMS by varying the duration of boil
and whirlpool stage.

Considerable amounts of free DMS can be formed during the hot

wort stand in the whirlpool if SMM is still available. This free DMS is
not evaporated and survives in the final beer and may cause flavour
problems (final DMS level in the beer is also influenced by the ability
of the brewers yeast strain to transform SMM to free DMS.)

Ways of reducing DMS levels in beer:

Use malt with low SMM levels.

A long wort boiling time to decompose precursor and vaporise

DMS.

A short whirlpool stand time to reduce decomposition of the

precursor.

Rapid wort cooling - reducing the time the wort is held hot.

For example it was found that by reducing the boiling time from
60 minutes to 45 minutes, with the same level of absolute
evaporation, the survival of DMS precursor increased by 16% for
standard wort corrected to 1039o original gravity.

The hop aroma components, particularly the terpenes, are volatile,

and virtually all are lost during evaporation (within 20 minutes).
Volatile carbonyls are also removed by evaporation. Their presence
in the boiled wort can be used as an indicator of the effectiveness of
the boil.

The principal hop volatiles that are lost during wort boiling are the
hop oils discussed in Section 1.6, which if present at a high
concentration will contribute a bitter, vegetable grassy-like flavour to

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

the beer. Most of the hop oil volatiles are lost during a standard 60 to
90 minute boil. Where late hop character is required in beer, a small
amount (up to 20% of the total hop charge) of selected aroma hops
can be added to the kettle 5 to 15 minutes before the end of the boil.

To Summarise, the principal factors which will effect the evaporation

of volatiles include:

Temperature of wort.
Vigour of boil.
Surface tension.
Condensation of volatiles in the vapour stack.
Duration of boil.

The kettle design will have a major influence on the factors listed
above and it is found that more late hop character persists in gently
agitated systems such as isometric kettle, than in more vigorous
boiling systems with turbulent flow such as kettles fitted with an
external wort boilers.

(h) Colour and Flavour Development

The colour of wort increases during the boil. The reactions
responsible for colour development fall into three broad categories:

1. Maillard reaction between carbonyl and amino compounds.

2. Caramelisation of sugars, which is relatively limited in steam

heated coppers.

3. The oxidation of polyphenols.

Reactions 1. and 2. Are also involved in the development of flavour

compounds. Details of these reactions are given overleaf.

Oxidation during wort boiling increases the colour particularly with

oxidation of the polyphenols, which also has the effect of decreasing
the reducing power of the wort and beer. Mash and wort produced
with low oxidation produces wort and beer with lower colours and
improved flavour stability.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

Maillard Reactions

Reducing
Sugars Maillard Condensation
+ -Diketone Reductones
Amino Acids
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Polymerisation
Melanoidins (Colour)
-Diketone
Reductones - H2O
Furans (Oxygen Heterocyclics)

+ H2S
Thiophenes (Sulphur Heterocyclics)

+ NH3
Pyrroles (Nitrogen Heterocyclics)

+ Amino Acids
-Aminoketones



Pyrazines (Nitrogen Heterocyclics)

Strecker Degradation

NH2 O O
I II II
R CH CO2H + R1 C C R2
Amino Acid Reducing Sugar
NH2 O
I II
R CHO + R1 CH C R2 + CO2
Aldehyde Strecker Aldehyde

Phenolic Enzyme Reactions

Polyphenol Oxidase
Polyphenols & Flavanoids Oxidised Polyphenols
active up to 55 C

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

Table 2. A summary of physical and chemical processes that occur

during wort boiling.

Process Mechanism Boil Parameters

Trub formation Protein denaturation Temperature, time,
turbulence
Flocculation
Heater surface
temperature.
Low shear
Bitterness extract -acid isomerisation Temperature, time
Flavour and colour Maillard reactions Temperature, time,
development oxygen
Strecker reactions
SMM free DMS
Stabilisation Enzymatic Temperature, time
Microbiological
Ionic
Volatile removal DMS Evaporation,
turbulence
Carbonyls & Maillard
by-products Heater surface area
Hop oils

1.9.1.4 WORT BOILING EQUIPMENT

The wort boiling equipment comprises a vessel, (called a wort kettle
or sometimes wort copper, due to early vessels being of copper
construction), a heating device called a calandria, either internal to
the vessel or external, and a vent stack to atmosphere. The vent
stack is sometimes fitted with a heat exchanger to recover energy
from the vapour into hot water, which can then be used for other
purposes such as CIP and cleaning around the brewery.

Pumps are required for circulation and vessel emptying, as well as

instrumentation to follow and control the process.

In order to conserve energy, the vapours can be reused by

increasing their pressure either by mechanical vapour
recompression (MVR) or by thermo-recompression using steam
and then used for vessel heating.

By positioning the wort return from the external calandria tangentially

into the vessel side, the kettle can also function as a whirlpool at the
end of boil, thus saving on one vessel. However this will be
conditional on vessel utilisation and the required turn-round time
between sequential brews.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

However, before looking at the detailed design of wort boiling

systems, we need to discuss heat transfer and the mechanisms of
boiling.

(a) Heat Transfer and Boiling

The rate of heat transfer (Q) by the wort heater depends upon its
surface area (A) in contact with the wort, the temperature difference
(T) between the heating medium and the boiling wort, and the
resistance created by the wall and its boundary layers (overall heat
transfer coefficient, U). These factors are represented by the
formula:

Q = UAT

The units for the above terms could be: -

Q = kW
A = m2
T = 0C
U = kW/m2/0C

The greater the overall heat transfer coefficient (U) the less
resistance to heat flow. The overall heat transfer coefficient is made
up of a number of coefficients as shown in Figure 2.

Points to note about heat transfer coefficient:

hs is the film coefficient for the condensing steam.

hfs is a coefficient for fouling on the steam side.

The copper or stainless steel vessel wall of thickness, x, and

thermal conductivity, k, is usually of little resistance to heat
transfer since it is relatively thin (typically 1.6 mm).

The heat transfer on the liquid (wort) side may be hindered by

fouling (hfl) and the frequency of calandria cleaning on the
wort side will be discussed later in this unit.

The heat transfer coefficient (hl) on the wort side is determined

by the mode of heat transfer. It may be forced convection,
nucleate boiling or film boiling.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

Steam boundary Fouling Wort boundary

layer layer layer

Heater wall

Steam x Wort

T2 T1

hs hfs k hfl hl

The heat transfer coefficients are related as described in the

equation below:

1 1 1 x 1 1
= + + + +
u hs hfs k hfl hl

Figure 2. Heat transfer coefficients in Wort Boiling

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

(b) Modes of Wort Boiling Heat Transfer

This section discusses briefly forced convection, nucleate boling and
film boiling each of which will require a different approach to boiler
design. Each of these heating methods will exert different effects on
wort quality and heater surface fouling performance.

Forced convection the wort is pumped at high velocity with

turbulent flow which picks up the heat readily from the tube
wall. Such forced convection is perfectly acceptable from a
heat transfer point of view, but is of some concern to wort
quality. The high shear forces imparted by high velocity and
passage through the backpressure device are detrimental to
trub formation. Lack of two-phase flow will hinder trub
formation, -acid isomerisation and volatile removal.

Nucleate boling the formation of bubbles creates

turbulence and the bubbles move away from the wall taking
heat with them and allowing fresh liquid to contact the wall and
be heated. This is the ideal regime for good effective heat
transfer and the rising bubbles can cause enough upward
movement to initiate what is called thermosiphon where the
wort moves itself through the calandia without any extrnal
pumping. Nucleate boiling is also reported to aid trub
formation, as no shear forces are present due to the absence
of a pump.

KEYPOINT: A thermosiphon is defined as the

method of establishing circulation in cooling liquid by
utilising the slight difference in density of hot and
cool portions of the liquid.

Film boiling is to be avoided whenever possible. It occurs

when there is a high temperature difference, that is a very hot
tube or wall heating surface, or when the surface of the wall or
tube is not wettable. This is a problem with stainless steel.
The bubbles cling to the surface and join up to totally blanket
the surface with a vapour film. Since this film acts as an
insulator and a resistance to heat transfer, the surface gets
hotter and hotter since the heat cannot escape. This causes
rapid burn-on of wort solids and fouling when the wort
retouches the very hot surface.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

Forced Nucleate Film Boiling

Convection Boiling

Figure 3. Modes of wort-side heat transfer/ boiling.

Referring back to the equation Q = UAT. If the area of the

heating surface is made large, then the same heat flux can be
achieved with a smaller temperature difference. This is where
the designer plays a vital role in keeping the temperature
difference low to prevent film boiling and burn-on, but not
having too large a heating area. Since heating area affects
the capital cost and, in the case of a calandria, the velocity in
the tubes might be too low so that turbulence is not achieved.

Copper wettable Stainless Steel non-wettable

Vapor bubbles released Vapour bubbles cling to surface

Figure 4. Surface wettability.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

(c) Fouling
The key factor in reducing heat transfer is fouling, particularly of the
wort surfaces. The factors that reduce fouling include:

Soft water (i.e. low hardness/ carbonates). The precipitated

minerals from hard water will be deposited on the heating
surface building up a fouling layer.

Whole hops (rather than pellets or extract).

Lower wort original gravity.

Lower differential heating temperature (hence moderate heat

flux)

Avoiding excessive energy input, especially short term peaks.

Ensure thorough mixing of liquid adjuncts prior to entering the

heater.

Use turbulent nucleate boiling (rather than film boiling).

The effect of wort gravity and interval between CIP on fouling is

shown in Figure 5.

10
9
8
% evaporation/hour

7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Numer of brews after cleaning

Figure 5. The fall off in % evaporation between kettle cleans

(%evaporation from a standard boil for each brew as
measured from the weight of steam supplied).

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

1.9.1.5 WORT KETTLES

There are many different types of kettle available to the brewer for
boiling wort several examples will be discussed in this section.

1.9.1.6 DIRECT FIRED KETTLES

Traditionally, wort was boiled in direct-fired kettles, with a coal or
peat fire directly below the vessel base. The vessels were often
made of copper, hence the name wort copper. Copper also has a
very good thermal conductivity.

Direct fired kettles were normally small in size, less than 320 hl, due
probably to the difficulty of stoking a fire under larger vessels. In
later years, the coal fire was replaced by gas burners (methane,
propane or butane) that are much cleaner and more controllable.
There are still a few direct gas fired coppers in use. Recently there
have been some interesting developments for the smaller brewery,
where the gas flame is fired into a stainless steel coil that is wound
round inside the wort kettle and then out of the side or top to vent the
flue gas to atmosphere.

Cover (optional)

Currents

Wort

Firebox
enclosure

Figure 6. Traditional bottom fired copper.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

The difficulty of controlling the applied heat means that there is

always wort caramelisation and burning onto the copper base, which
causes a characteristic flavour in the final beer.

1.9.1.7 INTERNAL HEATER (CALANDRIA)

Internal calandrias were the common means of heating a kettle with
steam until the advent of the external calandria in the 1960s. The
internal calandria superseded the steam-jacketed kettle, which were
difficult to keep clean and thermally efficient (see Figure 7).

Vapour stack

Agitator

Outer steam jacket

Inner steam jacket

Figure 7. Steam jacketed kettle (dimpled kettle circa 1960s

with two heating zones.

KEYPOINT: A calandria is a closed vessel penetrated by pipes so

that liquids in each do not mix.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

Internal calandrias are still commonplace in the USA and are often
the preferred heater for many brewing companies. They are efficient
from the standpoint that all the heat supplied to the calandria is
delivered into the wort, except for that leaving as condensate (see
Figure 8).

The disadvantage of the internal calandria is the need for the

calandria tubes to be covered before heating can begin, which
means that the kettle must be almost full. This causes delay in the
process cycle time. Also fouling of the calandria can be quite high
and the CIP of the calandria is not easy, requiring the kettle to be
filled with the cleaning solution.

It is also not easy to cope with short brew lengths due to the need to
cover the tubes. The tubes are often very short for this reason.

The boiling regime for internal calandrias is nucleate boiling.

Vapour Stack

Back Pressure

Manyway door

CIP

Sight glass

Wort in

Internal Heater

Steam Condensate
Wort outlet

Figure 8. Internal calandria kettle.

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 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

1.9.1.8 EXTERNAL HEATER (CALANDRIA)

With the external calandria, it is possible to start the heating much
earlier, particularly if pumped circulation is in use, and part brews are
much more easily handled.

Once the kettle has been filled and boiling commenced, the pump
can often be turned off and the calandria will thermosiphon to
circulate the wort.

The design of external calandrias has taken two distinct routes:

1. The use of short-tubed calandrias that are pumped throughout

the boil and which will not thermosiphon. The pump provides
forced circulation and hence good heat transfer, although it
tends to cause high shear and possible damage to the trub
formation. There is also less stripping action to remove
unwanted flavours since there is no two-phase flow within the
calandria.

2. The other approach is to fit very long tubes with large surface
area but a low cross-sectional flow area. These features allow
for a much lower temperature difference to be used for the
same heating rate, and the low flow area promotes good tube
velocity and thermosiphon. A pump is normally fitted to
provide circulation during the heat-up phase, being taken out-
of-circuit once boiling starts.

A compromise design using a pumped (forced circulation) internal

calandria has been used, which is in effect an external calandria
installed inside the kettle. It overcomes some of the problems such
as coping with short brew lengths, and is able to start heat-up with a
lower kettle volume (see Figure 10).

Some advantages of external wort boilers are listed below.

Vigour can be introduced mechanically (by wort circulation)

and the classical 10% evaporation per hour with a 90 minute
boil has been reduced to 5 6% evaporation/hour with a 60
minute boil with no loss of beer quality.

There is general improvement in hop utilisation with increases

up to 15 20% over the percolator heating systems.

Once 15% of the total kettle contents have been collected,

pre-heating of the worts can commence allowing the kettle to
boil immediately if it is full, thus improving kettle use.

21
 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

With an enclosed system, fobbing is kept to a minimum, which

avoids some of the potential product defects, such as loss of
foam and haze stability.

The boiler can be cleaned independently of the kettle to

regenerate the boiling surfaces.

Because of the use of low pressure steam, high velocities and

nucleate boiling, caramelisation (or burning-on) should be
reduced. Hop products can also help to keep the heating
surfaces clean through a scouring effect.

The optimum heat transfer and turbulent conditions promote

self-cleaning of the tubes, allowing anything between 8 and 16
brews to be processed before a clean.

By reintroducing the wort at a tangent, it is possible to use the

vessel as a combined kettle whirlpool, which reduces the
transfer time between the kettle and whirlpool, and may
reduce damage to the trub.

Optional modulating valve

(set for pressure boiling at 1 bar)

Spreader

Entrance

Steam

Currents Evaporator
Condensation

Pump is required to prime the

system and for casting the kettle

Figure 9. An external calandria kettle.

22
 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

Over pressure valve

CIP

Wort in
Pump

Wort out

Steam
Condensate

Figure 10. Pumped internal calandria kettle.

23
 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

1.9.1.9 MERLIN SYSTEM

In recent years, Steineker has taken a novel approach to wort boiling
with their Merlin wort boiling and stripping system as shown in
Figure 11.

Vapour Condensor

Heating Area 1
Heating Area 2
Live Steam
Merlin

Circ ulation
Pump

Wortcooler
Whirlpool as
Collec ting Vessel

Hop-
dosing

Hopdosing
pump

Figure 11. Merlin wort boiling and stripping system.

Wort stripping has been carried out previously as a separate

operation after the wort kettle and whirlpool in order to remove
volatiles, but the Merlin system has combined the wort boiling and
stripping into a composite piece of equipment.

The heater consists of a conical surface that serves both for wort
boiling and stripping. The wort is stored in a separate vessel that
acts as wort receiver and later as a whirlpool. The heater acts as an
external boiler to the wort receiving/storage vessel.

The wort is pumped from the collection vessel across the heating
surface, which is fed with live steam at 0.6 to 1.5 bar, thus giving
steam temperatures of 110oC. The boiler is supplied with a large
heating surface area (about 7.5 m2/ 100 hl of wort).

24
 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

The heater operates by providing a large heating surface covered by

a thin film of wort allowing gentle boiling and rapid elimination of
aroma compounds. The system is able to produce good quality
worts with 4% evaporation in 40 minutes. The overall evaporation of
4% and similar wort quality provides opportunity for substantial
energy savings.

Table 3. Typical operating conditions for the Merlin system.

Wort boiling Time (min) Flow rate Steam Evaporation

(hl/h) pressure (bar) rate (%)
Heating up 40 650 1.5 1
Boiling 40 500 1.1 2
Whirlpool rest 15 - - -
Stripping 50 120 1.2 1

1.9.1.10 OTHER WORT BOILING SYSTEMS

(a) Overpressure Wort Boiling

Both the internal and external boilers can be operated with an
increased overpressure during the boil usually up to 1 bar. This
elevates the boiling temperature to between 106oC and 110oC, which
has the effect of accelerating the various wort reactions, and allows
the boiling time to be reduced. At the end of the boil, the excess
pressure is released allowing the escape of many of the volatile
compounds.

Overpressure kettles are often operated with some form of vapour

recovery energy systems. The advantage claimed from this system
is that it allows a shorter boiling time and lower evaporation rates
than might be considered necessary in a conventional boiling
system.

(b) Continuous Wort Boiling

Continuous wort boiling is carried out under pressure where the wort
is passed through a series of heat exchangers, and the pressure is
reduced to atmospheric through a series of flash-off vessels. The
vapour released is utilised to heat the incoming wort. It is interesting
to note that very little nucleate boiling can occur in the heat
exchanger and most of the protein coagulation takes place in the
flash-off vessel. Wort residence can be reduced to a few minutes,

25
 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

and the system can be run at any evaporation rate, relatively

independently of prime energy input.

The principal difficulties from operating a continuous wort boiling

system in a batch brewhouse are in handling and storing the sweet
wort.

If wort is stored hot (>85oC), then there are hazards

associated with oxidation resulting in the pick up of colour and
flavour changes.

If the wort is stored cool (<35oC) it is prone to microbiological

infection.

Continuous wort boiling works best when it is integrated into the

whole brewhouse and is designed to operate continuously. Several
attempts to design these systems have been proposed and trials
undertaken, but they have received limited industrial support
principally because of lack of flexibility, particularly when producing a
variety of wort streams.

(c) Wort Boiling using Microwaves

Just to introduce some definitions of microwaves it is an
electromagnetic radiation corresponding to a wavelength of
approximately 0.3 30 cm (frequency 1 100 GHz); and it lies
between infrared and radio waves on the electromagnetic spectrum.
Microwaves are able to heat up almost all compounds with a
polarized molecular structure (dipole) such as water. As the heat is
produced inside the molecule the entire volume heats up almost
uniformly. This is unlike conventional heating where temperature rise
depends on heat transfer and convection.

Successful trials with microwave wort boiling have been completed to

produce a satisfactory Pilsen style beer. Besides a conventional wort
kettle, the system consists of a microwave generator and the
appropriate electronics that are housed in a control cubicle. The
microwave generator requires approximately 60 kW of electrical
energy and cold water supply for cooling. The microwaves travel to
the wort kettle via a wave guide and pass directly into the solution.
There is no incidental radiation, allowing hops to be added directly
into the boiling kettle without risk. The average power input during
the boiling phase amounts to approximately 30 kW.

26
 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

1.9.1.11 ENERGY SAVING

The steam vapour from the kettle boil contains a considerable
amount of energy as latent heat of evaporation, even though the
pressure is atmospheric or marginally above. Various schemes have
been designed to recover this heat.

KEYPOINT: Specific latent heat is the heat required to change

the state of a unit mass of a substance from solid to liquid, or
from liquid to gas, without a change in temperature. Most
substances have a latent heat of fusion and of vaporisation. The
measurement unit is J/ kg.

(a) Condensers
A condenser fitted into the kettle chimney can recover this heat. This
can be done directly, using a water spray that combines with the
condensed vapour to give a hot water stream with fairly heavy hop
and volatiles contamination. Such water would only be suitable for
cask washing, or for heat interchange with fresh water.

A more common approach is to use an indirect heat exchanger such

as a spiral unit to heat up fresh water to 80oC for use in various
parts of the brewery, for example, as brewhouse hot liquor, boiler
feed water, CIP feed water, or general hot water.

(b) Mechanical Vapour Recompression (MVR)

If the steam vapour from the kettle is fed to a single stage
compressor with a compression ratio of 2, useful steam can be
created at a pressure sufficient to be used for further kettle heating.
A small amount of live steam can be fed into the system to top up
and to provide the initial energy charge.

KEYPOINT: In an internal combustion engine, the ratio of the

total volume enclosed in the cylinder at the outer dead centre to
the volume at the end of the compression is called the
compression ratio.

27
 Unit 1.9 Wort Boiling and Cooling Section 1.9.1

(c) Steam Thermo-recompression

In this system, a steam driven venturi is used to pull in the low
pressure steam vapour from the kettle, which combines with the live
steam to provide the heating medium for the kettle as shown in
Figure 12.

Warm Water Fresh water K Kettle plant

Fresh vapour
Brewhouse vapours 50-80%
Steam jet vapour
compressor

Wort Kettle
Compressed steam
1.101.4 bar absolute
Internal
boiler

Pump

Fresh water
Mixed steam condensate

Brewhouse condensate
cooler

Warm water
Wastewater

Figure 12. Wort boiling plant with thermal vapour.

28