Two-vessel beer equipment, also known as a two-tank two-body equipment, consists primarily of a
mash/lauter tank and a kettle/whirlpool tank
.
The mash/lauter tank’s function is mashing and lautering.
The kettle/whirlpool tank’s function is boiling and rotary sedimentation. If you add another hot water tank, work efficiency can increase by 50%.
The advantages of the two-vessel beer equipment system:
The equipment is simple and requires a small investment.
The pipeline is uncomplicated and easy to operate.
The equipment has low height requirements, making it suitable for sites with limited height.
The main disadvantages are:
In wort filtration, only suction filtration can be used (wort is extracted from the lauter tank by a wort pump and then pumped into the kettle/whirlpool tank), which results in a relatively slow filtration speed. It also requires highly skilled operators. Mistakes can lead to compacted grain beds, filtration difficulties, and even sieve plate deformation, affecting subsequent use.
To minimize the impact on spin sinking, these devices typically lack anti-rotation crosses. Anti-rotation crosses are mainly installed in the mash tank to prevent eddy currents during pouring. Without an anti-rotation cross/cooker in the mash tank, pouring the mash tends to create a vortex, causing gas to enter the wort pump and potentially combining with the wort. This can cause cavitation due to a large amount of gas entering the wort pump, reducing its service life.
In the beer equipment manufacturing industry, a stirrer is commonly equipped in the kettle. However, since the kettle also serves as a whirlpool tank, the stirrer can impact the effectiveness of the whirlpool tank.
The washing water needs to be prepared in advance and stored in a container or fermenter (although storing it in a fermenter is generally not recommended as improper operation may cause a vacuum in the fermenter or affect the ice water system’s operation), making the process cumbersome. Additionally, there is significant heat loss.
During mashing, only a specific mashing method can be used, requiring fewer temperature steps but higher malt quality requirements.
Typically, only two batches can be brewed per day, necessitating winemakers to work overtime and stay up late.
