Lesson 6 - Design of Fermentation Vessels
This unit began with the principles that underpin fermentation. This lesson now explores how these are put into practice. It covers how fermentation vessels must be designed to suit the behaviour of the yeast strain being used, as well as the nature, scale, and sophistication of the processes available.
Continuous Fermentation
Most beer is brewed using a batch process. In this section we look at an alternative approach: continuous fermentation.
Fermentation as a batch process fits in well with the rest of brewing, which is also set up to deal with individual batches of wort and beer. However, there is no theoretical reason why the whole process could not be continuous, in which raw materials are fed in at the start and packaged beer comes out at the end.
This is not a new idea. The earliest designs for continuous fermentation were patented in the late nineteenth century. The growth of big-volume brands in the 1960s kick-started renewed interest, and commercial systems were developed in this period. More recently, the development of immobilised yeast reactors has promoted further interest.
What do you think are the main advantages of continuous fermentation and do you think there are any disadvantages?
Give yourself 5-10 mins to think about this and then click Next to continue with this lesson.