During the beer brewing process, except for the need to oxygenate the wort before it enters the fermenter, oxygen ingress must be avoided in all other steps. Dissolved oxygen in water reacts with polyphenols, alcohols, and other components in beer, leading to flavor deterioration (e.g., cardboard-like off-flavors), oxidation of the malt's natural color (causing beer to change from golden and bright to cloudy and dull), and providing a breeding ground for spoilage microorganisms — reducing shelf life or even causing spoilage.

In recent years, high-gravity brewing and dilution technology has been increasingly adopted in the beer industry. High-gravity brewing dilution refers to producing wort with a concentration above 14°P during mashing, fermenting it into high-gravity beer, and then diluting it with sterile deoxygenated water to produce beer with a lower concentration (below 12°P). Controlling dissolved oxygen during the brewing process plays a critical and decisive role in the flavor stability of the finished beer.

Deoxygenated brewing water refers to water that has been specially treated to remove oxygen during beer production, preventing microbial growth and oxidative reactions, thereby ensuring beer quality and taste. Deoxygenated water technology, a hidden factor, is gradually becoming a key competitive advantage in the industry. This technology not only extends beer shelf life but also preserves the flavor profile of the beer.

Among traditional deoxygenated water preparation methods, thermal deoxygenation has high operating costs because it requires heating water to high temperatures and then cooling it back to room temperature, placing a significant energy burden on breweries. Although vacuum deoxygenation performs well in energy savings, its equipment is complex and initial investment costs are high. More critically, these processes struggle to precisely control dissolved oxygen levels, leading to oxidation browning and flavor loss in beer.

Guochu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. adopts a novel membrane deoxygenation technology. This physical separation process requires no chemical additives and can efficiently and continuously produce oxygen-free water with extremely low dissolved oxygen content (as low as <1 ppb), thereby ensuring beer flavor quality. Its working principle is based on water flowing on one side of a deoxygenation membrane while a vacuum or gas sweep (or both) is applied on the other side. The deoxygenation membrane contains numerous micropores that allow gas molecules to pass through but block water molecules. Under the negative pressure of vacuum or gas sweep, dissolved gases in the water on one side continuously migrate through the micropores to the other side and are carried away by the vacuum or sweep gas, achieving the removal of dissolved gases from the water. The deoxygenation membrane contains a large number of hollow fibers that increase the gas-liquid interfacial area, thereby enhancing the gas removal rate. This membrane deoxygenation technology can reduce dissolved oxygen concentration to below 1 ppb, achieving over 99.9% deoxygenation efficiency.

In addition to deoxygenation, Guochu Technology's deoxygenated water technology can use carbon dioxide as the sweep gas. The sweeping CO₂ can rapidly and completely dissolve into the process water, saving a significant amount of CO₂ gas compared to traditional carbonation processes, and allows precise control of the desired CO₂ concentration.

The application of the novel membrane deoxygenation technology effectively removes dissolved oxygen from water, stably produces oxygen-free water with extremely low dissolved oxygen content, and can simultaneously produce oxygen-free carbonated water as needed. Its advantages are as follows:

Compact and versatile

Can be installed in space-limited locations

Reduces or avoids related construction costs and expansions

Portable, suitable for multiple process steps

Fast online gas control

No need for storage tanks or pumps

Reduces construction workload and simplifies production processes

Reduces gas absorption hold time, thereby increasing production speed

Predictable performance, high precision

Enables precise control of gas concentration to meet relevant specifications

Bubble-free gas injection method helps improve product and beer stability

Excellent performance, high efficiency

Can reduce oxygen content to 1 ppb, helping ensure product quality and reduce corrosion risk

Smaller pumps, effective utilization of sweep gas, reducing operating costs

Modular design

Skid can be expanded to meet future capacity needs
 

 
 

Since its establishment, Guochu Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. has focused on membrane separation technology, dedicated to promoting novel separation technologies. The company continuously explores new applications of membrane separation in food, beverages, dairy, biopharmaceuticals, microelectronics, metallurgy, chemicals, machinery, environmental protection, and other fields. It provides tailored filtration and purification solutions to meet the highly differentiated needs of various customers, improving product quality and satisfying customer requirements.