Global hop supplier the Barth Haas Group is preparing to open a new research and educational facility in the Chinese capitol.

The new Kaspar Shulz 2.5HL brewhouse and fermentation tanks are in their final stages of commissioning and it is hoped it will be able to open in the first quarter of 2021.

The new concept brewery for the Campus Asia in Beijing is a fully automatic 5-unit stainless steel brewhouse consisting of a mash tun, an adjunct cooker, a lauter tun, a wort kettle and a whirlpool.

Brewmaster Lennart M. Paul-Pax is on standby to commission the BarthHaas Asia Campus concept brewery in Beijing, working hand in hand with the BarthHaas China brewmaster Mr. Ding Ming Liang. He will remain in Asia for the foreseeable future to support BarthHaas customers in China and South East Asia with any technical questions or issues they may have as well as support brewing on the new system.

Below Lennart explains the workings of the new brewery being installed.

The output quantity per brew amounts to approx. 2,5 hl. All aspects of the brewing system fulfil any wishes a brewer can have. There is an overview of the technical details:

• In order to enable a fully automatic brewing process, a high degree of measuring technology has been installed at each vessel and product path. For example, all containers and pumps were equipped with empty detectors.
• The water for brewing is treated by means of ion exchangers and thus offers an optimal possibility for brewing, especially for hop-intensive beers.
• Steam generators provide heating for the system.
• An adequate supply of brewing water is ensured by two buffer tanks, each with 5 hl for hot water and cold water.

Due to the limited space available, the entire brewhouse was arranged in an L-shape (see illustration below).

Technical layout of the Barth Haas Beijing Campus brewery

Background to the project

During the modernisation of the BarthHaas headquarter building in Nuremberg in 2019 a concept brewery was installed in the basement as part of a new BarthHaas Campus. This  campus in Nuremberg offers a variety of customer care options like raw hop bonitation, guided brewery tours & tastings or diving into the world of hops.

The Nuremberg brewery is a semi-automatic brewhouse with an output of approx. 1,0 hl and manufactured by Kaspar Schulz Brauereimaschinenfabrik & Apparatebauanstalt GmbH from Bamberg.

The introduction of the concept brewery was a great success. Because of this, and since our friends from John I. Haas has a similar facility in Yakima, USA, the shareholders of the company BarthHaas decided, in order to extend the same services and support around the globe, to open another concept brewery in Beijing.

The task of the Beijing brewery is to provide the same professional range of services for Chinese and Asian customers as BarthHaas does in Europe and the USA. Due to our previous very positive cooperation, Kaspar Schulz was again chosen as the equipment supplier.

Specifics of the Beijing brewery

The mash pan has a capacity of 2.5 hl and an optimal heating of the mash is made possible by a steam-heated frame heating. The adjunct cooker is equipped with an additional hot zone in the bottom as well as a stronger agitator to meet the increased requirements for processing raw grains varieties such as rice or maize. In addition to a sight glass, a turbidity meter was installed in the lauter tun to enable the lautering process to be assessed precisely.

The brewery during production at Kaspar Schulz in Bamberg, Germany. L to R: Lauter tun, Adjunct Cooker & Mash Tun

Heating and boiling of the wort in the wort kettle is carried out by an external boiler. By manual throttling, the wort can also reach temperatures above 100 °C.

Another special feature of the brewhouse are the three integrated hop dosing devices. These are directly connected to the wort kettle and thus enable a fully automatic process.

One of the dosing units has been designed larger to allow the use of whole hop cones. In addition, the installation of so-called SchoKolino nozzles in the wort kettle offers the possibility of boiling the wort as gently as possible with very good DMS evaporation. The whirlpool and wort kettle each have a capacity of 3.3 hl.

The hot wort is cooled in the classic way using a plate heat exchanger which is operated with glycol and/or cold water in countercurrent.

Once the wort has been successfully produced and cooled to pitching temperature, four 2,5 hl and six 1,0 hl pressure-resistant fermentation and storage tanks provide sufficient space for subsequent fermentation and storage.

Another icing on the cake of the brewery is the mobile Schulz Rocket S-10, which enables dynamic hop hopping of the beers. By using the Schulz Rocket S-10, the aroma substances contained in the hops can be optimally transferred into the beer and at the same time minimising possible beer losses. Both pellets and cones can be used for this process.

The tanks are cooled by glycol jacket cooling.

Cleaning of the fermentation and storage tanks described above is ensured by a mobile CIP station, which can be connected to the respective tank as required.

A filler is installed so that we can also send samples of our beers to customers, in bottles or kegs. This is equipped with a filling device and achieves very good results regarding possible oxygen ingress into the bottled beer.

The mission of the Barth Haas Campus

As mentioned earlier, the primary mission of the campus is to extend the same service that BarthHaas offers in the rest of the world to Asia, including all components of the Hop Academy (https://www.barthhaas.com/en/academy), the various levels of the accredited Hop Flavourist courses, and all the way to hands on brewing courses for aspiring home brewers.

Mr. Ding Ming Liang has already started to line up joint brewing trials with some existing Barth Haas customers, and while the facility does not yet have a confirmed official opening due to delays caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, work has started with customers to define objectives and trials.

As BarthHaas (Beijing) Trade Co., Ltd. also represents Weyermann specialty malts and Fermentis dry yeasts in China, they are also able to offer advice and brewing trials focussing on the beer raw materials in combination with hops and hop products offered by BarthHaas.

For any further questions or comments please do not to hesitate to contact:

Lennart Paul-Pax: [email protected]

Ding Ming Liang: [email protected]