Home / Industries / Food and Beverage / Sample Project

Labatt Brewery Company Ltd., New Westminster, BC

Effective control of wort boiling in a brew kettle can have significant economic effect on a brewing operation. Such is the case at Labatt. The goal is to apply steam pressure to a percolator and, if required, to steam coils, to control the wort level during boil of a brew in order to maximize evaporation. Better brews are realized if the highest possible wort height is attained during a wort boil while avoiding an overboil situation. A "rolling boil" is attained when the percolator is used to bring up the boil height without the assistance of steam coils. This "rolling boil" is more effective at boiling off unwanted byproducts. Only through tighter control of wort height by predicting the correct amount of steam to the percolator can this be accomplished. Traditional regulatory controls would overshoot the desired wort foam height possibly leading to very costly overboil situations. Furthermore, traditional regulatory controls would not be able to predict the required steam to the percolator to obtain boil height and would require more heat addition through steam coils thus leading to a boil that is not "rolling".

Because the characteristics of brewed products vary significantly, reaction of wort level due to steam addition will change from brand to brand. To address this problem, multiple BrainWave^® models are used to control the foam height. BrainWave models will be switched automatically by PLC logic for the currently selected brand, no operator intervention will be required. Using a distinct model for each brand will provide for even tighter control of level, ensuring the fullest age of kettle capacity and thus maximizing production. Tighter control will allow for higher height set points while still avoiding an overboil situation.