As Bryggeriet Vestfyen

In the southwest of the Danish island of Funen lies the home of the Vestfyen brewery. Christoph Behnke is the master brewer who trained at VLB Berlin and is constantly on the lookout for innovations in beer quality and production processes. The investment in a fully automatic Pinpoint Carbonator from Pentair is an excellent example of this.

The Vestfyen brewery was founded in 1885 in the town of Assens, where it still produces today. With an annual output of around 200,000 hl, it is currently Denmark's fourth-largest brewery. Its portfolio includes a variety of brands such as Vestfyen, Willemoes, Frejdahl and Jolly Cola as well as creative beer specialities.

Manual means more fluctuations and effort

Until recently, their carbonization was a manual process - and not without problems. Because: Every beer and every soft drink has its own individual degree of carbonization. Christoph Behnke explains: “When they work manually, they simply have greater fluctuations. With a desired content of five grams of CO₂ per litre of beer, for example, they lie between 4.8 and 5.2 grams.

The static process is also quite time-consuming. Plus, they then have to monitor production and constantly make small adjustments to ensure that the right amount of carbon dioxide is dispensed.”

Vestfyen decided on a fully automatic Pinpoint Carbonator in order to solve the challenge of carbonization in a contemporary way. At the heart of this inline carbonator are microporous stainless steel injectors that enable gas-in-fluid dosage with bubbles as small as five to nine micrometres in diameter. Their homogeneous solution is then ensured by the turbulent flow within a so-called Venturi nozzle. In addition to carbonating beer and soft drinks, the Pinpoint Carbonator is also suitable for dissolving other gases. One example of this is wort aeration.

The carbonator is delivered along with a control unit and lines as a pre-wired and function-tested module. Accordingly, it was quick and easy to integrate into the Vestfyen brewing process and put into operation.

Since commissioning, the various disadvantages of static tank carbonization have become a thing of the past once and for all. "We simply enter the desired carbon dioxide content now - and that's it. We don't have to constantly check and adjust and still get a much more homogeneous end product. At the same time, we save up to one hour of work per day.

Time that can be used for other tasks. These are the two main advantages for us. Last but not least, we optimize CO₂ consumption, which also means savings," summarizes Behnke.

Interesting additional benefit to technological progress: Thanks to the precision and reproducibility gained in carbonization, the brewery is also breaking new ground in marketing. Vestfyen is known for an exclusive series of gourmet beers.

"Here, for the first time, I was able to include the exact amount of CO₂ in the list of ingredients. Normally, the carbon dioxide content is not mentioned explicitly - but we do now," explains Behnke. For Bryggeriet Vestfyen, this is nothing less than another genuine "unique selling proposition".