Craft brewers often struggle to find reliable, scalable, and efficient brewhouse equipment that matches their production needs. This can lead to inconsistent batches, wasted materials, and unhappy customers. The solution? Choosing a high-quality, customizable brewhouse system built by an expert manufacturer that understands real brewing needs.
Brewhouse equipment forms the core of any beer brewing operation, ensuring control, consistency, and efficiency in every batch. This guide explains what brewhouse systems include, how they function, and what to consider when choosing the best solution for your brewery.
What Is Brewhouse Equipment?
A brewhouse is the central brewing equipment where the essential steps of brewing take place. It combines vessels such as the mash tun, lauter tun, kettle, and whirlpool, often supported by a hot liquor tank (HLT) and control system.
High-quality brewhouse equipment ensures consistent brewing results, optimizes raw material usage, and integrates with other brewery components like fermentation tanks and brite tanks. At our factory, we design customizable brewhouse systems for craft breweries, microbreweries, and commercial production lines, offering complete flexibility in size, function, and automation level.
How Many Types of Brewhouse Configurations Exist?
Different breweries require different system layouts. The most common brewhouse configurations include:
- Two-Vessel Brewhouse: Combines mash/lauter tun and kettle/whirlpool. Ideal for small to medium craft breweries.
- Three-Vessel Brewhouse: Features separate mash tun, lauter tun, and kettle/whirlpool vessels. Suitable for breweries aiming for higher efficiency and faster cycle times.
- Four-Vessel Brewhouse: Each process has its own vessel (mash tun, lauter tun, kettle, whirlpool). This is perfect for large commercial breweries requiring non-stop batch brewing.
Each configuration can be electric, steam, or gas heated, and customized in 5bbl, 10bbl, 15bbl, up to 30bbl sizes or larger for scalability.
What Are the Key Components of a Brewhouse?
An efficient brewhouse system typically includes:
| Component | Function |
|---|---|
| Mash Tun | Mixes crushed malt with hot water to extract sugars (mashing) |
| Lauter Tun | Separates wort from the grain bed (lautering) |
| Boil Kettle | Boils wort and sterilizes it; hops are added here |
| Whirlpool Tank | Helps clarify the wort by separating hop particles and trub |
| Hot Liquor Tank (HLT) | Stores and heats water for mash and cleaning |
| Control Panel | Regulates temperature, timing, pumps, and automation |
| Wort Pump & Heat Exchanger | Transfers and cools down the wort before fermentation |
These components are engineered using 304/316 food-grade stainless steel, ensuring hygiene, durability, and ease of cleaning.
What Are the Benefits of Stainless Steel Brewing Systems?
Stainless steel is the gold standard in brewery construction. Here’s why:
- Corrosion-resistant and easy to sanitize
- Maintains flavor integrity and prevents contamination
- Strong and long-lasting even with acidic mashes and wort
- Compatible with CIP (clean-in-place) systems for fast, water-saving cleaning
- Available in polished or brushed finishes for hygiene and appearance
Whether you’re running a 3.5 bbl electric brewhouse or a 30 bbl steam-heated brewhouse, stainless steel offers unmatched performance.
How Important Is System Automation?
Automation in a brewhouse system affects product consistency, brewery workflow, and staffing needs.
There are three main automation levels:
- Manual: Great for homebrewers and very small craft operations
- Semi-automatic: Uses programmable controllers for heating, pumps, and timing
- Fully automatic: PLC and HMI control systems manage the entire brewing process
At our plant, we design both semi-automatic and fully automated brewhouse systems to fit our customers’ scale, budget, and future expansion needs.
How to Choose the Right Size Brewhouse?
Selecting the right brewhouse size depends on your target production volume, available space, and growth plan. Here’s a quick breakdown:
| Brewhouse Size | Ideal For | Daily Production |
|---|---|---|
| 3.5 BBL | Small brewpubs, test batches | 100–200 L |
| 5–10 BBL | Medium-size craft breweries | 500–1000 L |
| 15–30 BBL | Large craft breweries | 1500–3000 L |
| >30 BBL | Commercial and export-scale breweries | 3000+ L |
Our team helps customers model their expected batch cycles and provides 3D layout drawings to visualize space and production flow before manufacturing begins.
What Support Equipment Complements a Brewhouse?
A complete brewing system includes more than just the core vessels. These supporting components optimize production:
- Glycol chillers: For fermenter cooling and temperature control
- CIP system: For automated cleaning of tanks and pipelines
- Grain mill: For crushing malt with consistency
- Steam boiler or electric heaters: Depending on heating method
- Keg washer and filler: For packaging efficiency
- Control panel with PLC: To automate the entire process
The better the supporting equipment, the smoother and faster your brew cycles will be.
What Is the Role of the Hot Liquor Tank (HLT)?
The hot liquor tank (HLT) stores and heats the water used in mashing and cleaning. It’s essential for controlling mash-in temperature and sparging efficiency.
A high-efficiency HLT:
- Reduces water heating time
- Improves thermal efficiency using glycol jackets or direct steam
- Connects to control panels for programmable temperature management
- Helps sanitize CIP lines using hot water or caustic solution
Most breweries opt for an HLT capacity 1.5x that of the mash tun to maintain flexibility.
What Brewing Configurations Are Best for Craft Breweries?
For startup and growing craft breweries, the two-vessel or three-vessel brewhouse configurations are most popular.
- Two-vessel systems save space and cost, ideal for brewpubs producing up to 1000L/day
- Three-vessel setups allow higher efficiency with better parallel process flow
- Additional whirlpool or HLT tanks increase flexibility for double batches
Craft breweries also benefit from modular design that allows for upgrades over time—something we offer as a standard feature.
What Makes Our Brewhouse Systems Different?
As a global brewhouse equipment manufacturer, we offer:
- Customizable designs from 3.5bbl to 30bbl and beyond
- Full integration with fermentation tanks, CIP, packaging, and glycol systems
- Use of certified food-grade stainless steel
- High-precision TIG welding and passivation finishing
- Full documentation and global certifications (CE, UL, ISO)
- On-site installation, remote commissioning, and long-term technical support
Our clients include top craft breweries in the US, Europe, South America, and Asia, many of whom have scaled with our brewhouse systems over the years.
Why Is Automation a Smart Investment for Growing Breweries?
Automation doesn’t just reduce manual labor—it ensures consistency, safety, and repeatability.
Here’s what automated brewhouses allow you to do:
- Record and repeat recipes with consistent results
- Automatically control temperature, time, and agitation
- Track key parameters like pH and wort gravity
- Run brewing remotely via touchscreen or mobile app
- Reduce operator fatigue and errors
Our brewhouses come with optional Siemens/Delta/Schneider PLC and HMI controls, tailored to your technical and language preferences.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a 2-vessel and a 3-vessel brewhouse system?
A 2-vessel brewhouse typically combines mashing and lautering in one tun and boiling and whirlpooling in another. In contrast, a 3-vessel brewhouse separates each function—mash tun, lauter tun, and boil kettle—to allow for more efficient batch brewing and greater control over the brewing process, which is especially important in professional brewing setups.
How does sparging affect brewing efficiency?
Sparging is a key step where hot water is sprayed over the grain bed to extract remaining sugars after mashing. Effective sparging improves your brew house yield, ensuring you get the most out of your grain bill. Techniques like fly sparging and batch sparging differ in approach but both aim to improve wort extraction before moving into the hot liquor tank.
Why is sanitary design critical for brewhouse equipment?
Maintaining a sanitary brewing system is essential for producing high-quality craft beer. Features like sanitary welds, CIP (Clean-in-Place) systems, and smooth pipe interiors prevent bacterial growth and make cleaning more efficient. This is particularly crucial for systems with automation where manual inspection is less frequent.
What size brewhouse should I start with for a new microbrewery?
It depends on your goals, but many startups begin with a 5 BBL brewhouse or a 100L system for pilot batches and recipe development. These systems are compact, cost-effective, and offer flexibility. As your brewery grows, you can scale up to larger BBL systems (like 15 or 30 BBL) based on demand.
What is the function of the hot liquor tank (HLT)?
The hot liquor tank (or HLT) stores heated water used during mashing and sparging. It plays a vital role in temperature control and brewing consistency. Some advanced systems use recirculation from the HLT to maintain precise heat levels during multi-step mash rests.
How does automation benefit brewhouse operations?
Automation improves consistency, reduces human error, and allows brewers to focus on recipe design and quality control. Automated systems often feature programmable control panels, temperature sensors, and vfd pumps, offering full control over each stage of the brewing cycle—from mash to fermentation.
Do I need keg washers and bottling lines?
If you plan to distribute your beer, keg washers, bottle fillers, or canning lines are essential for efficient packaging. These machines ensure cleanliness and proper carbonation levels, and they integrate seamlessly with automated filling equipment or manual solutions for smaller operations.
What brewery equipment is needed for a complete setup?
A full brewery includes:
- Brewhouse system (mash tun, lauter tun, kettle, whirlpool)
- Hot liquor tank (HLT)
- Fermenters and brite tanks
- CIP systems and pumps
- Automation panel and pipework
- Packaging equipment like keg washers, bottling or canning machines
All components should be made from sanitary stainless steel and sized according to your desired batch size and brewery scale.
Conclusion: Why Our Brewhouse Equipment Is the Smart Choice
A well-built brewhouse is the heart of your brewery. Whether you’re crafting artisanal ales or scaling a commercial production line, we deliver the engineering precision, material quality, and process expertise needed for success.
From startup brewpubs to multi-national distributors, we tailor every system with your workflow in mind. Backed by global technical support, OEM service, and industry certifications, our brewing systems are made to scale with your vision.
Key Takeaways
- Brewhouse equipment includes mash tuns, lauter tuns, kettles, whirlpools, and hot liquor tanks.
- Choose between 2-vessel and 3-vessel setups based on batch size and workflow.
- Automation enhances process control, consistency, and labor efficiency.
- Supporting systems like glycol chillers, CIP units, and control panels complete the brewery.
- Customization, certification, and after-sales service are critical for long-term value.