The aim of beer filtration is to obtain a bright beer, with optimum properties regarding colloidal stability, flavour, foam, colour and microbiological stability. Filtration is performed after maturation in order to remove any yeast, microorganisms and colloidal particles in suspension in the beer, thus ensuring final product stability and clarity.
The PROFI beer filtration plant from Westfalia Separator combines a high performance centrifuge with a membrane filtration system, allowing perfect beer filtration without kieselguhr. The unfiltered beer, containing fine and coarse solids, is fed into the rotating bowl and clarified in the disk set. The coarse solids slide into the solids space of the bowl and are ejected automatically. The clarified liquid, still containing fine solids, discharges either by gravity or under pressure by means of a centripetal pump. The pre-clarified beer is sent into the retentate-free operating membrane filtration system where it passes through hollow-fibre filtration modules. Then the clarified beer is sent to the filling station. There is no installation required for retentate-recycling into a tank. As soon as a certain trans-membrane pressure is reached and the filtration efficiency decreases, the system is purged by means of CO2. This is followed by a CIP cycle using alkaline solution and water. After the CIP, the modules are disinfected at 80°C.