Ah yes, the crisp clean taste of the most successful style of commercially produced beer. You're not alone in asking for the style that was all our our first! No we don't - and there is a good reason.
We're a small family-run passion project aiming to get more people making their own beer by showing that brewing doesnt have to be complicated or expensive. Making a good lager, however, is challenging - particularly in the warm South African climate.
If we ignore a number of advanced (but achievable) brewing techniques used in the commercial lager you love (including yeast starters, wort chillers, 'diacetyl rest' and precipitating proteins), the biggest challenge to making a good lager at home is temperature control.
Lagers are made with a special bottom-fermenting lager yeast that requires a long fermentation at precisely-controlled low temperatures. Depending on the specific yeast, you typically need to keep your fermentor below 13C (but above around 3C so that the yeast doesnt go dormant) for weeks with as little temperature fluctuation as possible. While homebrewers can certainly achieve this at home in some European basements, in South Africa it typically involves retrofitting a dedicated freezer with some sort of temperature control to get it operating slightly above its designed temperatures. Alternatively, you could maintain a water bath for the fermentor that you add ice to once or twice a day for weeks. That is most certainly a labour of love that can be an interesting challenge for more experienced brewers.
If you mess up your temperature control or skip all the 'advanced' techniques, you are going to mistakenly introduce flavours that are intentional in ales. So while we do encourage anyone who is taking their homebrewing seriously to eventually attempt a lager, we aim to help you make a good ale rather than an 'okay' lager.
If you are new to making your own beer and asked about lager because you haven't liked the fuller, more robust flavours in some of the craft beers you've tried previously, read on.
How to choose a suitable brewing equipment
Craft beer, without filtration or high temperature sterilization retains the original nutrients and active yeast components of the original fermentation solution. Its mellow body, strong malt flavor and unique flavor are quite different from the traditional bottled beer. It’s good for people’s health, and also provides strong wheat flavor, excellent taste- Specially in bars and BBQs. More and more consumers prefer this type of beer. Therefore, self-brewing equipment is becoming very popular. Read below how to choose your brewing equipment for your business.
1. Budget for craft beer consumption
Before choosing the equipment for the beer production you should view the stats of this particular beer’s consumption. You want to make sure that the consumption of beer has long seasons. Going with “one season” consumption will make it harder for you to survive financially.
2. Workstation and other limiting conditions
There are many cases where’s the workstation layout isn’t optimal and and restricted by water supply, drainage, electricity, ventilation, etc.. It is advised to provide the site drawings and the surrounding environment to the equipment supplier. If conditions permit, ask the other party’s personnel to visit the site first and provide appropriate solutions according to the site restrictions.
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A responsible craft beer equipment manufacturer (like us) will design the proper layout of your site after you purchase the equipment. The idea is to use the minimum land as possible for further expansion and making sure it’s functional in the highest levels.
3. Work out the variable costs
Cost of raw materials, water, electricity, personnel and other administrative will take their toll if not planned properly. It is the best to make a cost-benefit analysis in advance with the equipment manufacturer according to the local consumption level and equipment location. You can even provide us your business plan or investment plan and we can help you from our vast experience in the industry.
4. Liquor production calculation
Let’s go over the numbers here- From the initial malt crushing stage, wort and raw liquid are prepared in different tanks. The fermentation process of saccharification, filtration, boiling, swirling and sedimentation takes about 12-20 days. After fermentation, the raw beer pulp is obtained, which can be drunk and sold directly.
If equipped with fine filtration and sterilization equipment, beer can be bottled or canned to preserve longer. Brewing batch also determine the configuration of equipment, because the saccharification system and the capacity of fermentation system can be multiplied. Now try to understand the nitty gritty here- For example, once a day for brewing, saccharification and fermentation capacity are the same- Two times a day for brewing, fermentation is twice the capacity of saccharification; However, the maximum multiple should not be more than three times.. According to the general process, the saccharification time is generally 8-10 hours, and the maximum amount of brewing is 3 batches a day and night, while the maximum amount of brewing is 1-2 batches.
If you don’t understand the calculations here please contact us for help.
5. Brewing equipment – Sizes
The beer equipment models of small catering places are divided into different types of equipment such as 100 l, 150 l, 200 l, 300 l, 500 l, 1000 l and 2000 l. You can also browse our Probrewer to see the latest Brewing Equipment designs and suggestions; The configuration details are vary with any equipment specifications. The complete set of beer equipment mainly includes crushing system, saccharification system, fermentation system, refrigeration system, cleaning system, control system and other main components as well as many auxiliary components. Again, if you are not sure what’s suit you the best contact us for further consultation.
By the way, according to the operational requirements of beer brewing technology, the volume ratio of saccharification tank and fermentation tank is usually 1:1 or 1:2.
The company is the world’s best commercial beer brewing equipment supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.