Fast heating and cooling of beer wort in brewing applications achieved with SWEP´s brazed plate heat exchangers

Brazil is the third largest beer producer in the world, with an annual production of around 15 billion liters per year. An increase in the number of small craft breweries has boosted this production rate in the last 5 years and SWEP brazed plate heat exchangers have been a big player in brewing applications.

Around 2020, there were close to 8,500 craft beer brands released to the Brazilian market with the most popular types produced being India Pale Ale, Pilsen (with Manioc as main ingredient), and Fruit Beer (Cambuci as main ingredient).

 

Beer production process requires a reliable, fast heat exchanger

SWEP brazed plate heat exchangers are an important part in beer production because the process requires a reliable, fast heat exchanger to heat and cool the beer wort while maintaining the necessary quality standards. The main purpose of our brazed plate heat exchangers in brewing applications is to heat the beer wort with steam from 20ºC to 90ºC (68ºF to 194ºF). At the end of the process our brazed plate heat exchangers are used to cool the beer wort from 90 ºC to 20ºC (194ºF to 68 ºF) for storage. This stage is key to start off the fermentation process.It’s important for the beer wort to be heated and cooled as quickly as possible, so brazed plate heat exchangers are a perfect fit to provide the speedy heat transfer that is necessary for this crucial step in the beer production process.

Enables efficient heat exchange

Just in the last few years, SWEP has sold around 1,000 brazed plate heat exchangers for use in the craft beer production process. 

SWEP´s 5T and 8T models are supplied as optimized solutions in different materials to match customers’ needs for craft beer production. Both the 5T and 8T sized brazed plate heat exchangers enables efficient heat exchange in applications with small flows and extreme demands for compactness. Easy to install and use, the product is small yet versatile, which makes it a good choice for a variety of one-phase and two-phase applications in many industries.                                     

                                             SWEP B5T                    SWEP B8T

High production standards required

The brazed plate heat exchangers supplied by SWEP are available in various materials such as standard copper brazed, as well as our All-Stainless and Sealix ranges which are equipped to support the beer production and to also maintain the essential high production standards required.

The All-Stainless range is the ideal choice for a wide range of industrial and utility applications that impose high demands on corrosion resistance and have a low tolerance for contamination. Our durable stainless steel range is the optimal choice for high-temperature and high-pressure applications. This range is especially suitable for systems where the heat exchanger must withstand aggressive media and where contamination must be avoided at all costs.

SWEP’s Sealix® range protects the surface of the heat exchanger and increases corrosion resistance. Customized chemical compounds modify the surface energy and enhance the mechanical and thermal stability. This improves the surface behavior in terms of scaling, and maintains the high thermal and hydraulic performance of the BPHE.

All of the above mentioned SWEP brazed plate heat exchanger ranges provide advantages and benefits to the beer production process, helping to produce great tasting, quality beers for the Brazilian market.

 

SWEP brazed plate heat exchangers have all the vital qualities demanded by industrial process and production applications. Robust and compact, they offer long-term reliability with minimal maintenance. Their flexible design and our ability to customize both the plate and brazing materials bring unbeatable performance and lifetime cost compared with other heat exchanger technologies. Learn more here!