Lesson 4 - Clarification – Centrifugation
This lesson discusses beer clarification via centrifugation. Clarification removes yeast and solid particles from the beer in order to make it ‘bright’ or reduce the amount of haze. Centrifugation is one method that we can use to clarify beer. This lesson looks closely at the physics of centrifugation and the concept of accelerated gravitational force. By the end of the lesson, you should understand the importance of this process and its impact on final beer quality.
Lesson Sign-off
This lesson looked at centrifugation and explored its use within the brewing process. It discussed beer clarification via centrifugation. It also examined the physics of centrifugation and the concept of accelerated gravitational force. You should now understand the importance of this process and its impact on final beer quality.
It explained how brewers can use centrifuges to maximise the gravitational speed in Stokes’ Law. In the next lesson (Processing Aids and Additions), we will look at how we can increase particle size in order to increase sedimentation rates.
You should now to able to:
-
Identify the key requirements of a centrifugation system in processing and recovering beer.
-
Explain centrifugal sedimentation principles.
-
Explain the design and operational principles of centrifuge technologies.
-
Describe the principles of process control during centrifugation and identify their impact on beer quality parameters.
A self-assessment lesson now follows, which will allow you to assess the level to which you have attained the outcomes of this lesson.