Common Issues Of Beer Fermenter During Using

Conical fermenters have been widely used, but there may be some problems due to the design and manufacture of large fermenters, the arrangement of process piping, the use of instruments, and the improvement of other equipment and accessories, which may lead to abnormalities during production. It includes

1. Leakage in fermenters with large capacity
   Leakage is a common phenomenon in fermenters and mainly occurs at the top of the tank. The overpressure and vacuum valves are installed at the top with certain fittings. In the process of feeding, fermentation and filtration, if the seal is not good or the valve is not well sealed, it will lead to tank leakage. After the leakage, the tank pressure cannot be maintained and the amount of carbon dioxide becomes low. The solutions are: regular inspection, cleaning of overpressure and vacuum valves, and timely replacement of seals.

2. Beer freezing
   This is mainly affected by two points. One is that the temperature of glycol medium is too low, and the other is due to the unreasonable design of glycol jacket, which usually happens when the outside temperature is low. In order to avoid beer freezing on the tank shell, the glycol temperature should not be too low. According to the design standard and process requirements, the glycol temperature can be around 4℃ to -6℃, at most not more than -8℃. However, the glycol temperature in some factories reaches -15℃, which can easily make the stored beer freeze, thus affecting the quality and stability of the beer. Also the inlet of glycol should not be designed in the area where the tank temperature is low, otherwise it is also easy to make the beer freeze.
3. Gradient distribution
   The height of the tank is more than 10 meters, the convection is not smooth, the temperature difference between the upper and lower liquid is big, the density of liquid is different, plus the amount of carbon dioxide is more at the bottom and less at the top, so there will be signs of gradient distribution, which brings difficulties to the quality of beer.

This problem can be solved by the following methods.
1) Install a CO2 cleaning device at the top of the tank to promote adequate mixing of the beer during the process of flushing the fermentation liquid.
2) Design two sampling ports at the top and bottom to take and mix samples to make them representative.
3) Use glycol jacket reasonably on the fermenter.

4. Contamination of fermentation tank
   1）The surface area of the tank is large, so it will cause contamination if it is not cleaned properly.
   2) There are more pipeline connections, which need attention to cleaning and disinfection.
   (3) During the production process, the material or air goes in and out many times, and if there are bacteria, it will cause pollution.
5. Instrument error of beer fermenter
   Due to quality problems or improper operation, it may make the instrument not come out wort well. This is mainly shown in the temperature, liquid level, pressure and cleaning effect. The solution is to use instruments of good quality and to maintain and check them regularly.
6. CIP cleaning of beer fermenter is not complete
   There are two reasons. One is that the fittings are not suitable, and the other is that the cleaning agent is unreasonable.