Estudo de um trocador de calor para produção artesanal de cerveja

Abstract

This work assess a heat exchanger for cooling the wort after boiling in the brewing process. The main stages of the small-scale production process are discussed, pointing out the inputs and equipment used to produce beer, besides presenting the study of the physical phenomena that involve the cooling of the must. The reduction of the temperature of the must is considered a very important step in the brewing process, because it is part of the set of factors that directly influence the speed of the process, besides being directly linked to the final quality of the product. Small-scale production is justified by the significant increase in the consumption of so-called artisanal or specialty beers and the increasing search for improvement in beer production, whether commercial or home-made. The choice of the type of construction of the heat exchanger and its dimensioning were the main topics discussed in the course of the work. After the design and the choice of the plate type heat exchanger, the validation experiments were carried out, which showed a mean logarithmic temperature difference (LMTD) of 20 °C, with a global heat transfer coefficient of 1111 W/m²K. For lager beers, the experiment showed 24.8 °C as LMTD and a global heat transfer coefficient of 1049 W/m²K. The heat exchanger used has 30 plates, exchange area of 0.360 m² and meets the applications suggested in this study.(sic)