What it a HEBS? It is short for High Efficiency Brewing System.
What does that all mean? Well one significant difference is the use of a mash filter rather than a lauter tun.
What is a mash filter? A mash filter replaces a lauter tun. During the brewing process, the brewery sugars are created by mixing hot water with the grains which makes malt sugars. The sugars need separating from the grains. A lauter tun allows the sugars to drain and be pumped away. A mash filter acts as a pneumatic press to squeeze the malt, just like you can do with a tea bag. This means higher extract of sugars from the malt and less water usage; which kinda means we’re able to maximise every part of the process and make it lean.
Mash filters are nothing new to brewing, Meura developed the technology at the beginning of the nineteenth century and they are a widely adopted system in big breweries. It was not till 2011 when our brewery supplier – IDD in California – started building systems for craft brewers that they were available for guys like us. And we jumped at the chance to be the first craft brewery in Australia to order and install the system.
The decision was a relatively easy one for us. We’ll get more extraction and therefore use less malt, we’ll use less water – close to 70,000 litres in the first year – we’ll use less energy, and we’ll spend less time making sugar and more time focusing on making our beer better down the production line. We’ll also be making the sugar component in about four hours, compared to the usual seven-nine hours. We can also run multiple batches, which means we can run multiple brews simultaneously.
We’re pretty chuffed to be the first craft brewery in Australia to purchase and install this type of equipment. It is good for us as a company, better for the environment and great for our customers – it means lots of fresh beer. All round it’s a great looking piece of equipment, and her name is Connie just in case I didn’t mention that before.
