After 40 years and 25 million hectolitres of beer, European brewer Forst needed something new to get up-to-date with modern energy requirements and emissions considerations.
It designed an entirely new brewery, and cut costs while doing it.
The new brew house, powered by NORD Drivesystems, aided the brewer in reducing primary energy consumption by 30 percent.
Five large vats, a newly designed water supply, and a malting plant with twelve silos (and three separate storage vats) needed to be built in a space of just 16 months at the 154 year old brewery in Algund, in the Germanic region of Italy.
NORD Drivesystems assembled the geared motors for all the vessels according to the specific requirements of the various applications, from the grinding mill, which gently grinds the malt at the start of the brewing process, to the screw conveyor removing the spent grain.
Mixing malt and spring water in mash tuns and heating involves thermally optimised conducting surfaces at the bottom and the frames of the tun.
A frequency-controlled NORD helical bevel gear motor, equipped with a temperature sensor, drives the agitator inside the vessel.
In turn the liquid is pumped into the lauter tun, where liquid and solid parts are separated in a fully automated process.
As the spent grain settles on the floor of the vat pressure sensors at the bottom of the vessel detect the spent grain’s consistency, and the drive adjusts the machine’s speed accordingly, with flow rates between nine and 14 litres per minute.
To check whether the system is running smoothly, speeds, current consumption, and the motor temperature are centrally monitored continuously a custom-tailored NORD drive unit, a combination of a motor, industrial gear unit, and a helical bevel gear unit, with a maximum torque of 96,000 Nm.
Later stages are handled by various NORD drive motors and drives.
Dr. Walther Unterthurner, Technical Director at the Forst brewery, says the various measures have already reduced the consumption of primary energy by 30 percent.
