Viscometer saves money for Japanese brewer

An in-line viscometer from Hydramotion is making considerable savings for a Japanese company in enabling the separation of beer and yeast in the discharge from the fermenter

An in-line viscometer from Hydramotion is making considerable savings for a Japanese company in separating beer from yeast.

Asahi Food and Healthcare Co, a subsidiary of the Japanese brewing giant Asahi, buys yeast slurry from its parent for use in the manufacture of its Ebios range of dietary supplements.

During the brewing process yeast settles at the bottom of the fermenter, from where it can be recovered for sale or re-use once fermentation is complete.

Asahi found that it was shipping a considerable volume of beer along with the yeast slurry because it was difficult to detect the boundary layer between the two.

The result was a significant loss of product for the parent company, and a lot of waste for the subsidiary.

Asahi realised that it would be possible to separate the slurry from the beer by exploiting the difference in viscosity between them.

The difference is not great, but well within the capabilities of an XL7 viscometer from Hydramotion, which can detect changes in viscosity of less than 0.1 centipoise.

The XL7 was installed in the fermenter and provides continuous viscosity measurement as the slurry is drawn off.

The system works perfectly.

Monitoring the viscosity in real time enables the brewers to shut off the flow at just the right moment, so the tanker is loaded only with slurry and the beer stays in the fermenter.

The XL7 needs no on-site calibration, is fitted within minutes, and once in place needs virtually no maintenance.

Asahi Beer estimates that the system is now saving them up to GBP100,000 a year.

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