Lesson 4 - Gas Transfer
This lesson focuses on transferring gases into and out of solution. It looks in particular at carbon dioxide dissolution in water and beer, and explores how to manipulate pressure, temperature, and gas composition to influence the saturated gas concentration (as well as the rate of gas transfer). It also looks at some tabulated data that are widely used in the industry. The lesson concludes by describing gas transfer technology.
Preface
Within beer, we manage to perform the seemingly magic trick of dissolving more than twice the volume of carbon dioxide in a given volume of beer! If you doubt this, stay tuned, as we will look at carbonation in some detail later in the lesson. In fact, dissolving, or transferring, gases into or out of solution is a common requirement in brewing and it takes place several times in the lifetime of a brew.
In order to control gas transfer, we need to consider what governs gas transfer behaviour, including pressure and temperature, amongst other parameters. It’s time to dissolve ourselves in…gases!