Process technology
HopGun
customized dry hopping
The HopGun was developed primarily by Friedrich Banke and has become successfully established around the world as a highly effective dry hopping system.
banke GmbH offers this technology tailor-made to the needs of individual breweries.
The banke HopGun was developed as a response to our customers’ wishes and has culminated in a system which is not only simple to operate but is also capable of conveying the compounds responsible for the delicate aromas desired by brewers in their beer.
Modifying the system based upon our customers’ feedback has meant that in addition to hop pellets, other materials can be utilized in the system to impart aroma to beer such as wood chips, whole hops, lemon peel or other ingredients.
The HopGun is mounted on a frame as a single unit. The unit is particularly operator-friendly and also allows the process to be fully automated.
Key facts
- for pellets, whole hops, lemon peel, wood chips and more
- partial or total retention of the solids
- quantities of pellets over 200 kg are possible
- operator-friendly units mounted on a frame
- simple discharge of the solids
- flexible application
- capable of full automation, including cleaning without disassembling the candles
- the height can be reduced
- savings of 25–40 %
Function
Once the hop pellets or other ingredients imparting their aroma to beer are placed into the HopGun, the air is purged from the system, and it is pressurized with CO2 prior to being filled with beer.
The beer is then pumped from a tank and fed tangentially into the HopGun, whereupon it flows back into the tank and continues to do so in a circuit. The pellets in the HopGun are set in motion, being subject to the turbulent flow of the beer. As the constituents from the pellets dissolve in the beer, a filter cartridge retains the solids in the HopGun, allowing only the finely dissolved particles to pass into the tank. This is the means for the highly effective extraction, thus reducing the amount of hops or other ingredients necessary for imparting aroma to beer.
Compared to static dry hopping, savings of 25–40 % are possible.
Depending upon the which ingredients are used, the solid material can either be partially or completely retained in the system. The individual filter cartridges determine the extent of the retention.
Automation
The process of imparting aroma to beer using the HopGun system has been designed in such a way that it can be integrated as a manual process or installed with partial or even full automation.
A discrete unit
In order to increase flexibility in production and enable the system to be employed throughout the brewery, the HopGun is available as a frame-mounted mobile unit, complete with its own pump and control system.
Contact
We would be glad to assist you with any questions. Please contact us for an individualized quote!
