Do we need flash pasteurizer in a brewery
- Sep 06, 2025
- 104
- tiantai
General Introduction of Tiantai flash Pasteurizer
Tiantai flash pasteurizer is a highly efficient beer sterilization system, specially designed to ensure product stability and extend shelf life while preserving the original flavor of craft beer. This equipment adopts a plate heat exchanger structure, combining preheating, heating, holding, and cooling in one continuous process. By rapidly heating the beer to the pasteurization temperature and then cooling it down to packaging temperature, it effectively kills harmful microorganisms and prevents secondary fermentation after filling.
With PLC automatic control and precise temperature regulation, the Tiantai flash pasteurizer guarantees accurate pasteurization units (PU) while minimizing thermal impact on beer aroma and taste. The system also features energy-saving heat recovery, compact design, and easy integration with bottling or canning lines.
It is an ideal solution for both medium and large-scale breweries that require consistent product quality, microbiological safety, and longer distribution shelf life.
Do we need a flash pasteurizer?
Whether a flash pasteurizer is needed in a brewery depends on the brewery size, beer style, packaging, and shelf-life requirements. Here’s a breakdown for you:
When Flash Pasteurization is Needed？
Mass production / large-scale breweries: If your beer will be distributed widely (supermarkets, export, long-distance logistics), pasteurization ensures microbiological stability and long shelf life.
Unfiltered / unpasteurized risk beers: Beers with residual sugars, fruit beers, or sweetened products are more prone to re-fermentation and microbial spoilage.
Regulatory or market requirements: Some countries or distributors demand pasteurized beer for safety and stability.
When It’s Not Strictly Needed？
Craft breweries / small-scale: If your beer is sold locally, consumed fresh, and stored cold, many brewers skip pasteurization to preserve aroma and flavor.
Bottle-conditioned or keg-only beers: If the brewery relies on natural conditioning (secondary fermentation in the package) or keeps beers in cold chain, flash pasteurization is usually not applied.
Focus on "fresh" or "live" beer: Some craft breweries promote unpasteurized beer as a quality feature.
What alternatives we can have?
Tunnel pasteurizer: Used for packaged beer, but higher cost and slower than flash pasteurization.
Sterile filtration: Removes microbes before packaging, often used in smaller breweries instead of pasteurization.
Strict cold chain + short shelf life: Works for fresh/local craft beer.
Son In general, Industrial, large distribution → Yes, a flash pasteurizer (or tunnel pasteurizer) is important.
Small craft / local consumption → Not strictly needed, unless making sensitive products like fruit beers.
The heating and cooling process of flash pasteurzier
1. Beer Inlet & Preheating
Cold beer from the storage tank enters the system.
It passes through a plate heat exchanger, where it is preheated by already-pasteurized hot beer (energy recovery step). This reduces energy consumption.
2. Heating Phase
The beer then flows into a second section of the heat exchanger, heated by hot water. The hot water will make heat exchange with steam in a tube heat exchanger.
The temperature quickly rises to the pasteurization range (typically 60–72 °C depending on beer type and target Pasteurization Units, PU).
3. Holding Tube
Heated beer travels through a holding tube for a controlled time (usually 30 seconds or more).
This ensures microorganisms are deactivated, achieving the desired PU (a measure of pasteurization).
4. Cooling Phase
After holding, the hot beer passes back through the plate heat exchanger.
Here, it transfers its heat to the incoming cold beer, same stage as beer preheating. Here the hot beer with cold beer make heat exchanger.
Final cooling is done with chilled glycol water, bringing beer down to packaging temperature (0–4 °C).
5. Beer Outlet
Pasteurized, cooled beer will transfer to buffer tank for stabling and ready to be filled into bottles, cans, or kegs.
Tiantai provides complete turnkey solutions for breweries, offering a full range of equipment from brewhouse, fermentation, cooling, and CIP system to packaging line. With rich experience in design, manufacturing, and installation, we customize solutions according to each customer’s capacity, beer style, and budget. From craft microbreweries to large commercial plants, Tiantai ensures stable performance, easy operation, and reliable after-sales support, helping brewers focus on creating excellent beer.
Feel free to contact Derrick to get your proposal.
Derrick
Sales Manager
[email protected]
Tiantai Beer Equipment
Tiantai flash pasteurizer is a highly efficient beer sterilization system, specially designed to ensure product stability and extend shelf life while preserving the original flavor of craft beer. This equipment adopts a plate heat exchanger structure, combining preheating, heating, holding, and cooling in one continuous process. By rapidly heating the beer to the pasteurization temperature and then cooling it down to packaging temperature, it effectively kills harmful microorganisms and prevents secondary fermentation after filling.
With PLC automatic control and precise temperature regulation, the Tiantai flash pasteurizer guarantees accurate pasteurization units (PU) while minimizing thermal impact on beer aroma and taste. The system also features energy-saving heat recovery, compact design, and easy integration with bottling or canning lines.
It is an ideal solution for both medium and large-scale breweries that require consistent product quality, microbiological safety, and longer distribution shelf life.
Do we need a flash pasteurizer?
Whether a flash pasteurizer is needed in a brewery depends on the brewery size, beer style, packaging, and shelf-life requirements. Here’s a breakdown for you:
When Flash Pasteurization is Needed？
Mass production / large-scale breweries: If your beer will be distributed widely (supermarkets, export, long-distance logistics), pasteurization ensures microbiological stability and long shelf life.
Unfiltered / unpasteurized risk beers: Beers with residual sugars, fruit beers, or sweetened products are more prone to re-fermentation and microbial spoilage.
Regulatory or market requirements: Some countries or distributors demand pasteurized beer for safety and stability.
When It’s Not Strictly Needed？
Craft breweries / small-scale: If your beer is sold locally, consumed fresh, and stored cold, many brewers skip pasteurization to preserve aroma and flavor.
Bottle-conditioned or keg-only beers: If the brewery relies on natural conditioning (secondary fermentation in the package) or keeps beers in cold chain, flash pasteurization is usually not applied.
Focus on "fresh" or "live" beer: Some craft breweries promote unpasteurized beer as a quality feature.
What alternatives we can have?
Tunnel pasteurizer: Used for packaged beer, but higher cost and slower than flash pasteurization.
Sterile filtration: Removes microbes before packaging, often used in smaller breweries instead of pasteurization.
Strict cold chain + short shelf life: Works for fresh/local craft beer.
Son In general, Industrial, large distribution → Yes, a flash pasteurizer (or tunnel pasteurizer) is important.
Small craft / local consumption → Not strictly needed, unless making sensitive products like fruit beers.
The heating and cooling process of flash pasteurzier
1. Beer Inlet & Preheating
Cold beer from the storage tank enters the system.
It passes through a plate heat exchanger, where it is preheated by already-pasteurized hot beer (energy recovery step). This reduces energy consumption.
2. Heating Phase
The beer then flows into a second section of the heat exchanger, heated by hot water. The hot water will make heat exchange with steam in a tube heat exchanger.
The temperature quickly rises to the pasteurization range (typically 60–72 °C depending on beer type and target Pasteurization Units, PU).
3. Holding Tube
Heated beer travels through a holding tube for a controlled time (usually 30 seconds or more).
This ensures microorganisms are deactivated, achieving the desired PU (a measure of pasteurization).
4. Cooling Phase
After holding, the hot beer passes back through the plate heat exchanger.
Here, it transfers its heat to the incoming cold beer, same stage as beer preheating. Here the hot beer with cold beer make heat exchanger.
Final cooling is done with chilled glycol water, bringing beer down to packaging temperature (0–4 °C).
5. Beer Outlet
Pasteurized, cooled beer will transfer to buffer tank for stabling and ready to be filled into bottles, cans, or kegs.
Tiantai provides complete turnkey solutions for breweries, offering a full range of equipment from brewhouse, fermentation, cooling, and CIP system to packaging line. With rich experience in design, manufacturing, and installation, we customize solutions according to each customer’s capacity, beer style, and budget. From craft microbreweries to large commercial plants, Tiantai ensures stable performance, easy operation, and reliable after-sales support, helping brewers focus on creating excellent beer.
Feel free to contact Derrick to get your proposal.
Derrick
Sales Manager
[email protected]
Tiantai Beer Equipment
.jpg)