Making beer nine times faster

I'd like to find out what the actual process they use is before passing any judgments. Of course, I couldn't help but think while reading that... There goes Budweisser trying to brew it the hard way again...

 

that long?

 

I can definitely see how this would benefit large-scale breweries from a cost standpoint, but definitely wouldn't effect us as homebrewers. Either way, I'm intrigued.. I'd be a little weary if a macro like Sierra Nevada utilized a method like this, but if Budweiser did I could give 2 shits! It's still mass-produced crap either way.

 

Well if they say that "[Fermentation] typically takes up to three weeks" they're off to a good start in manipulating their numbers. That's "in a standard batch reactor setting"... whatever that is. Unless I'm mistaken, Budweiser is finished start to finish in 16 days. English ales take less time. Somehow their math doesn't add up to me.

The argument is that "by increasing the surface area of liquid sugars exposed to yeast..." they were able to "accelerate the rate at which yeast converts sugar to alcohol by 70 percent". - Now I could be wrong, but adding more yeast would also "increase the surface area of liquid sugars exposed to yeast", so maybe that'd work just as well. Of course there are other problems associated with that in the real world that perhaps these young scientists haven't looked into.

Or maybe they haven't calculated the cost of the additional stainless steel in manufacturing a vessel that would allow for this additional surface area. Perhaps we should just go back to the "continual fermentation" that was tried in the 60's because that really took off, right?

I just see this as another ride-the-craft-brew-angle article about a university technological contest that won't yield any results that the big brewers haven't already assessed and shot down. Just my 2 cents.

 

It sounds like the students invented a device or a piece of hardware that allows for an increase of surface area that is exposed to yeast.

 

I've been thinking of a way to speed up fermentation significantly, which would apply to homebrewers. It's quite simple, and I'm not sure why this hasn't been tried yet. I came up with this idea while thinking about yeast starters and stir plates. Remember that stirring the wort increases exposure of the yeast to the wort.

Why couldn't a mechanical device (or by constantly circulating the beer with a pump) be used to stir the beer while it's fermenting? Not during active fermentation (or it would froth over), but after initial fermentation has slowed down? On a stir plate, the fermentation is often complete after 24 hours. So, why couldn't the wort be "stirred" in a similar manner to speed up the inactive pat of the fermentation? Should be able to cut days off the fermentation process.

 

The point of a stir plate is to help keep O2 in the wort so the yeast will increase in number and be healthier. Doing that during or after fermentation would be bad, and if you could somehow ensure a layer of CO2 was always there so there was no O2 introduced I don't think the stirring would really do anything.

Still a really new brewer so that could be off some.

 

Yes, you would have to stir it gently (no whirpooling for sure), ensure CO2 on the surface and stop before it was fully fermented. But it might be possible to save several days while stirring it immediately after active fermentation and before fermentation is over. Not sure why anybody would bother, but at least worth exploring.