Licher Brewery cuts yeast harvesting time by up to 7 hours per week with Certa Sine pump

Licher Brewery has reduced the time needed for yeast harvesting by 6-7 hours per week after replacing two centrifugal pumps with a Certa Sine^® pump from MasoSine.

A Certa Compact 300 pump now performs the work previously carried out by two centrifugal pumps, resulting in a quicker production process and lower energy consumption.

The Certa Sine pump is used in the production of Licher and Benediktiner beers brewed at Licher Brewery, near Frankfurt in Germany. It transfers yeast from 6-10 fermentation tanks to yeast storage tanks or waste handling systems.

The Certa pump provides strong suction to transfer thick yeast approximately 100 metres, while also protecting yeast viability with its gentle handling, low-shear sinusoidal technology.

Previously, transferring high-viscosity yeast with two centrifugal pumps took 8-10 hours. With the Certa pump, the same task takes just 2-3 hours.

The Certa pump handles yeasts with a dry solids content of 12-22% at flow rates of 20-40 hL/h.

Sascha Kläs, Master Brewer at Licher Brewery, said: “It is important for us to be able to handle both our bottom-fermenting yeasts with high viscosity and our top-fermenting yeasts with low viscosity equally well. This also allows us to flexibly control the speed based on other process parameters, such as temperature.

“Thanks to the Certa pump’s improved suction capacity, we can efficiently remove thick yeast even through our very long piping runs.

“With the centrifugal pump we used previously, a mobile auxiliary/booster pump was necessary just to achieve any flow at all in tanks with long piping runs. The Certa pump handles this task easily on its own without any issues.

“Since installing the Certa pump, we have been able to make our processes significantly more efficient. The entire yeast-harvesting process can be completed much more quickly and efficiently because the yeast is collected faster.

“In addition, the consistent pumping conditions make it possible to use automation.

“Overall, the new pump saves both time and labour hours within the process.”

A consistent flow rate of the Certa pump is also important for Licher Brewery, part of the Bitburger Brewery Group, which is one of Germany's leading brewery groups. If an accurate flow rate cannot be maintained, an additional pump must be installed in the system, requiring operator supervision. Maintaining a stable flow helps prevent interruptions to yeast removal and reduces the need for manual intervention.

During an initial evaluation period, Licher Brewery also recorded a 10-20% improvement in yeast dead-cell counts, and fermentations were completed more quickly.

Lars Lux, Sales Engineer, Food and Beverage and Clean Process for Watson-Marlow in Germany, said: “It’s impressive how big an impact the Certa pump has had on the yeast harvesting process for the Licher Brewery yeast.

“It used to take one fixed centrifugal pump and one mobile pump at the same time to do the job, but now only one Certa pump does the same job.

“The Certa has also saved Licher Brewery 6-7 hours within their yeast harvesting process, as well as reducing power consumption plus a better quality of yeast.”

Learn more about Certa pumps