Technical Session 15: Cleaning & Packaging Session
Lars C Larson, Trumer Brauerei, Berkeley, CA, USA
Co-author(s): Darren Moser, Trumer Brauerei, Berkeley, CA, USA
ABSTRACT: Trumer Brauerei recently installed a system to
generate ozone for sanitizing product lines during CIP. Ozone has long
been recognized as an effective sanitizer due to its extremely high
oxidative power. Typically when used as a sanitizer it is used for
surfaces and not in CIP systems. The primary impetus behind the
installation was the energy savings provided by the sanitizing method.
Trumer was conducting hot water sanitizing on its wort line. With the
new method, ozone is created on demand and injected into cold/ambient
water circulating through the line. Ozone degrades rapidly at higher
temperatures and stays effective longer the colder the water, therefore
cold sanitization is desired and most effective. The energy and cost
savings are due to the reduction in natural gas consumption. Cold
sanitizing would also be possible with chemicals; by using ozone there
are the additional benefits of generating only the amount of sanitizer
needed on demand, and the reduction of chemical usage, which is
beneficial both from handling and cost perspectives. The cost of the
installation was subsidized in part through grants from PG&E (the
natural gas provider) and from the city of Berkeley, which had funds
available through a federal program called Money for Energy Efficiency.
This novel approach required an installation with a high degree of
precision control of the ozone levels generated, as well as a high level
of process automation, so the operator would not be required to spend
much time monitoring the process. The system was installed in one area
of the brewery and once proven will be utilized in additional areas,
increasing the savings benefit. This presentation will discuss the
cost/benefit calculations, design elements of the system, commissioning
issues, operation, and results.
Lars Larson studied brewing
science at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, and received a
Diplom-Braumeister degree. He has worked in breweries ranging in size
from small brewpub to microbrewery to regional, as well as large
national, on three continents. Since 2004 he has been master brewer at
the Trumer Brauerei in Berkeley, CA.
