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The fermenter is a container of a closed type, usually cylindrical in shape. Inside this reservoir, the medium (product) and bacteria are mixed, and the process of fermentation (or, in scientific terms, fermentation) takes place. Air saturated with oxygen is passed through the medium, and during mixing the mass becomes homogeneous.
A very important factor in this process is the continuous maintenance of a specific temperature, which is controlled and maintained by water or steam passing through the tubes of the heat exchanger.
What is a fermenter for?
The direct purpose of fermenters is the fermentation of various materials. In this case, fruit, sugar or grain raw materials are used. Actually, the quality of the current fermentation process directly depends on the enzyme unit.
The characteristic features of the device device guarantee the impermeability of the container, the stability of the fermentation process, and, above all, practicality in maintenance.
What is a fermenter made of?
The quality of the produced alcoholic beverage is directly affected by the quality of the tank in which the fermentation process takes place directly. For these purposes, various materials are used, the main of which are:
Heat resistant glass.
Quality food grade plastic.
Stainless steel.
Stainless steel fermenters received the biggest recommendations. And all because stainless steel is very widely used in the food industry and meets all generally accepted sanitary standards, and, in addition to this, it is also used in medicine.
Standard fermenters are vertical or horizontal (depending on the customer’s needs) containers of various capacities (small from 1 to 10 liters, medium 35–150 liters, large-tonnage more than 1000 liters) with a minimum number of fittings and transmission devices.
Use of a fermenter in the production of alcohol
The fermenter was invented with the aim of obtaining drinks with natural carbonation. With the help of an effective fermentation process, drinks such as beer and kvass are obtained. And fermenters are also intensively used in the manufacture of wines, more precisely for the production of sparkling wines. Fermentation of grape juice takes place in fermentation tanks, and after that the resulting material is poured into bottles for subsequent champagne.
Also, fermenters are considered a very important and significant attribute of any experienced moonshiner. Directly in this kind of containers, the fermentation (fermentation) procedure for moonshine takes place.
What should be equipped with a basic fermenter
In the diagram above, the a high-quality fermenter (to buy a ready-made one, focus on it), but if you don’t have enough money, you can get by with just the necessary set:
Scale, knobs and tap – to measure and adjust the temperature, the amount of blown air and pressure from the inside.
The cylindrical tank must be equipped with spherical lids and auxiliary cooling jackets.
Also, a water seal is needed in the lid, which makes it possible to get rid of excess gas, and at the same time not to disturb the future drink, and, in addition, prevents air from entering inside. However, it is necessary to carefully ensure that moisture that may accumulate on the water seal does not end up in the tank. This can cause contamination of the drink and, as a result, deterioration of its quality.
In the fermenter, during the fermentation process, one cannot do without such special equipment as a rubber seal and a rubber cover with a hole for a water seal.
For a continuous process of cultivating bacteria, fermenters are additionally equipped with tanks for storing the components of the nutrient medium, as well as pumps, in order to constantly supply them to the device.
Shake it reminds you that all this equipment must be sterile clean, otherwise the pleasure of your favorite drinks will be spoiled: either the taste will not be the same, or the drink will fail at all.
Relevance: 11.12.2019
Tags: Vodka, mash, moonshine, Moonshine stills and accessories