Lesson 6 - Wort Clarification, Cooling and Oxygenation Final SAQ
This lesson allows you to test yourself on the material covered in all previous lessons on Wort Clarification, Cooling and Oxygenation, and determine the level to which you have attained the outcomes.
Suggested Response - Q2
**What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a centrifuge for wort clarification?
Response:
The centrifuge can achieve all of the main objectives of wort clarification by effectively removing all of the hop debris and trub from the wort in a relatively short amount of time. This is because the rate of settling is enhanced by the use of very high centrifugal forces. Although there are many different types of centrifuge, breweries typically use disc-bowl centrifuges.
Other key objectives can also be met with the use of a centrifuge, including the maintenance of both hygiene and wort specifications (quality) standards. We do have to be aware that this could potentially increase the following two undesirable parameters:
- Heat.
- Oxygen.
Both colour and flavour reactions can be catalysed by heat and oxygen. Thus, centrifuge manufacturers design their products to minimise the pick up of these two parameters.
Centrifuges also successfully dispose of trub. This is a difficult process to achieve and is certainly not as simple as it is with a whirlpool, for example. This is because it is more difficult to remove trub from a closed bowl that has the ability to revolve 6000-10,000 times that of gravitational force! The design is also required to meet specific hygiene standards, as the trub discharge port can be a point of infection.
The downside of using centrifuges includes their very high power requirements, especially when compared to a whirlpool. They also present additional safety and noise management issues for the brewery to manage.