Brewing beyond beer

What started as the simple process of steeping grain in water and then fermenting the resulting liquid with yeast to create a refreshing, social beverage has evolved into a complex global
industry where only the most agile and innovative operators can survive and thrive.

Today’s successful brewer has to keep up with the market trends, operate with maximum water and energy efficiency, optimize yield, and all the while ensure their product retains the highest quality and great taste.

In Alfa Laval, brewers have an expert, finger-on-the-pulse partner who has developed its extensive portfolio of equipment through decades of supporting some of the finest beer-makers
around the globe, from brewhouse to packaging.

"The evolution in brewing over the last few years has been phenomenal, but here at Alfa Laval we have been across it, supporting our customers with their new challenges, from small craft brewers to global players," says Alexander Stogniy, Head of Brewery Systems at Alfa Laval. "

Our portfolio of products reflects the fact that we have been at the heart of the industry during these changes. We talk to our customers, we identify the issues and the pain points, and we leverage the expertise of our people to adapt and evolve our
technology to rise to the challenges.

To succeed, brewers need to look beyond the beer – whether that’s maximizing the resources they use to create their product, extracting value from by-products that would previously be considered as waste, or widening their own product offering. Alfa Laval can help them do all three.

In an industry that is heavy on water and energy use, Alfa Laval understands that any efficiency improvements that can be made in the fermentation process, the brewhouse, the
packaging, and even the on-site power generation, can have a significant impact.

Alfa Laval is at the heart of developing and implementing new game-changing technologies, such as beer concentration, which reduces transportation impacts and allows brewers to keep the extracted water for use in the brewery. This strengthens the circularity of their processes and allows brewers to operate
within their local limits and regulations for water use, which are becoming tighter and tighter in some areas of the world.

Customers can also discover new and innovative approaches in recycling and reusing separator cooling water, and this, together with the burst-clean mode control on valves that maximize water use during the cleaning phase, is part of a strong Alfa Laval offering.

When it comes to energy, the larger brewery sites of global operators can have footprints akin to small cities. Alfa Laval has the in-house expertise and knowledge to ensure its equipment is being used to maximum efficiency, and also works with a number of partners that are focused on energy reduction, green
hydrogen, long-term energy storage, and similar, offering huge opportunities in brewing, where a lot of power is self-generated.

An area that is really opening up and offering new opportunities for brewers is the drive to extract maximum value out of every ingredient and by-product to boost profitability and sustainability, and Alfa Laval brings unrivalled technology into the brewery to achieve this. In brewery streams, there are spent

materials rich in proteins that can be extracted for other uses, such as health products, and these can be expertly harvested with Alfa Laval’s separators and decanters for selling on.

With so much focus on health and wellbeing, diversification has become a watchword in the industry with brewers moving into other areas, such as non-alcoholic beers, soft drinks, and energy beverages.

Alfa Laval is ready to help them on that journey, but understands that diversification needs to come at an affordable cost and has solutions that are already in use across the globe. For example, it has worked
with customers to deploy technology such as state-of-the-art rotary jet mixing equipment that can broaden their operations into mixed beer or soft-drink manufacturing for minimal outlay and disruption.

From separation to heat transfer and flow control, Alfa Laval’s R&D
has driven product innovation in an industry that is no longer just
about beer,” says Alexander Stogniy. “Diversification and efficiency
are the key factors as consumer tastes shift and vital resources
become scarcer, with brewers trying to stay ahead of the curve
by delivering a broader range of products, and maximizing the
circularity of their operations to save on water and energy and cut
CO2 emissions and waste.

We have built up our expertise in this area over many decades and
our people share the passion and drive of our customers, whether
they brew the biggest brands or are small craft beer operators. We
understand the market, we understand the challenges and we look
to arm our customers with all the tools and insight they need to
differentiate and expand in this challenging environment.”