Multi-objective Optimisation of Flavour and Processing Time in Beer Fermentation via Dynamic Simulation (original) (raw)

Fermentation is an essential step in beer brewing: when yeast is added to hopped wort, sugars ferment into ethanol and higher alcohols. Progression is highly sensitive to the temperature manipulation invoked, influencing batch time and product quality. A novel computational implementation of a published kinetic model has been produced, rapidly generating temperature manipulations and simulating the operation of each candidate profile. Ethanol and key harmful by-product (diacetyl, ethyl acetate) concentrations are monitored in order to minimize fermentation time while ensuring product quality is maintained. Visualisation of the entire operational envelope clearly illustrates Pareto fronts and trade-offs among these design objectives. Comparing these simulation results with those of an industrial operational profile reveals that batch time can be reduced by as much as 15 hours when an acceptable sacrifice is made to by-product concentrations.