Integration of AHOP at
De Brabandere Brewery
De Brabandere Brewery, known for beers such as Petrus, Bavik, Kwaremont, and 1894, was looking for a high-quality dosing system for large volumes of hop pellets on behalf of a foreign client. Many brewers find it a challenge to carry out the dry-hopping process smartly and efficiently. The West Flanders brewery looked at many different, often quite complex systems on the market, finally opting for Agidens’ compact and affordable AHOP. This solution for dosing solids and liquids in beer soon turned out to be a winner.
De Brabandere Brewery needed a smart solution for dosing 350 to 450 kg of hop pellets on batch volumes of 600 hl. Yves Benoit, Automation Maintenance & Facility Manager at De Brabandere Brewery says: “We were about to invest in a complex and costly system that required the hop pellets to be fed manually into a separate pressure tank. Fortunately, we saw Agidens’ presentation about their AHOP at the Fermentatio workshop, and realized it could be done easier and better.”
Highly successful test
After using the AHOP test unit for two weeks, the brewery was entirely persuaded by the dry-hop solution. Yves Benoit: “Our customer was delighted with the quality of the hopped beer. In fact, the independent end customer tasting panel rated the flavor tests even better than the original finished product. What’s more, the AHOP scores better in terms of operator ergonomics, offers continuous dosing, and fulfills specifications in terms of quality and oxygen pick-up. Moreover, this solution is both flexible and mobile because you can use the same unit for different batch volumes and to dispense quantities of hops.”
Following the positive test, De Brabandere Brewery continued to use the test unit to produce hopped beer in anticipation of its own AHOP 200. Agidens made some technical adjustments to fully tailor the AHOP to the brewery’s needs.
“Agidens soon convinced both us and our end customer of the high quality of their dry-hopping solution. They were also happy to help us find a solution for our interim needs for dry-hopping capacity. Agidens’ fully automatic AHOP 200 is a very compact unit that enables our operators to process large volumes of hop pellets efficiently, quickly, and ergonomically, without additional oxygen pick-up in the finished beer.”
Fast and efficient dry-hopping
Complete dry-hopping solution
The entire AHOP unit is fully cleanable (CIP) along with the beer line or beer tank, ready to use, and can be easily integrated into the existing cold block, all without any costly modifications to the tanks or top plates.
The dosing unit works according to the dynamic dry-hopping principle and has a centrifugal pump for recirculating the contents of the tank after dosing. This helps to speed up the dry-hopping process and to homogenize the beer’s flavor profile.
There are various process integration solutions:
- Dosing during or after beer transfer.
- Circulation over small tanks with a riser pipe.
- Circulation over large tanks with AJET mixer
Agidens can design a total solution depending on the customer’s specific needs.
AHOP’s added value
- Fully automated solution based on Siemens TIA portal
- Continuous dosing process
- Unlimited hop volumes
- Fast hop dosing (5-10 kg/min)
- Very limited oxygen pick-up
- Reduced hop-beer contact time
- Efficient hop usage and better aroma uptake
- Versatile additive dosing (coffee, herbs and spices, dried fruit, etc.)
Why AHOP by Agidens?
Agidens is different from other industrial service providers because of its in-depth process knowledge. We are a total solutions provider committed to offering purpose-built, ready-to-use systems for the brewing and beverages sector. The design, realization, and implementation are all done together with the customer, with extensive consultation on the choices regarding technical lifespan, maintenance aspects, and economic considerations in order to make the right investment decision.
We developed AHOP on the basis of over 30 years’ experience in the brewing industry to address our customers’ needs for greater efficiency and quality in their brewing processes.