Inline Dosing CO₂ Skid – Brewery

The Rotamass TI Prime Mass Flow Meter provides precise and reliable measurements to Trappist Monks.

Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks, but the "Authentic Trappist Product" label is assigned to just a few breweries that meet the strict criteria set by the International Trappist Association (ITA). As of January 2022, fourteen Trappist monasteries, also members of the ITA, have beers named after them — six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, Spain, and the United States. 
 

Figure 1. A Trappist monk pouring Trappist beer.

The Trappist beer is submitted to what they refer to as a second bottle fermentation. This means that additional sugar and yeast, also called liquor, are added to the bottled beer to increase the alcohol content and meet the dissolved CO₂ concentration that gives the sparkling effect to the beverage.

Challenges

To meet the increasing demand for their beer, the Trappist brewery required an increase in the bottling speed. At a certain speed, it is impossible to add enough liquor to reach the necessary six to eight grams of dissolved CO₂. The customer needed a solution that allows the additional CO₂ to be precisely added before the addition of liquor.

Solution

The customer contacted a company that specializes in inline dosing, more specifically inline dosing in the beer industry. After discussions with the customer, a carbonation skid was constructed to supply additional CO₂ in the brewed beer to complement the CO₂ dissolved in the refermentation in the bottle after the addition of the sugar and yeasts.

At first, the skid builder suggested a thermal mass flow meter, but these instruments are too sensitive to impurities. The skid manufacturer contacted Yokogawa for their expertise in flow measurement, and the Coriolis flowmeter was recommended. The skid was then designed with the Rotamass TI Prime Mass Flow Meter in a redundant configuration to provide a precise and reliable measurement.

Figure 2. A carbonation skid built for Trappist Brewery.

Key Benefits

Rotamass TI - Prime

• Mass Flow measurement provides accurate measurement over a broad flow range
• Precise and reliable
• Total Insight capabilities and diagnostics enables predictive maintenance