How to keep your brewery centrifuge in tip-top shape
A beer centrifuge, or separator, is a key piece of equipment for commercial and craft brewers alike. Consistent performance is required when using centrifugation in brewing to meet production targets with consistent, high product quality, and long shelf life while also maintaining safety and managing energy cost.
DATE 2023-11-28A breakdown is a costly exercise, which can lead to high storage costs and even product spoilage. Most craft breweries would not be able to cope with more than a week’s downtime for their centrifuge, and falling back to your filtration unit carries its own set up challenges.
From leaks and improper discharge to mechanical seal failure, many issues can be prevented by a regiment of regular service intervals provided by a qualified technician, following proper Cleaning-in-Place (CIP) procedure and changing the oil regularly.
Follow best practice for centrifuge maintenance
One of the best early warning signs for more serious issues can be gleaned from monitoring vibration levels and bearing temperatures. Check regularly for leaks and any abnormal noise, and ensure operating water quality and pressure meet requirements. Stick to the recommended service intervals even if running the equipment under the average operation hours and follow the instructions for preventive maintenance including changing seals. If you can, invest in critical spare parts stock, and remember that only genuine Alfa Laval spare parts help achieve guaranteed performance, reliability and equipment life.
>> Get Ten top tips for disc stack separators
Predict faults before they occur with digital condition monitoring
The interconnection of machines, sensors and diagnostic programs brings completely new possibilities to increase efficiency and ensure consistent product quality. Alfa Laval offers a condition monitoring service called ConditionAlert™ which provides highly valuable insights into the condition of a separator and all its rotating parts.
Alfa Laval ConditionAlert™ detects faults at an early stage before major parts such as the bowl assembly are damaged beyond repair. This will make it possible for breweries to plan for service in advance, ensuring the right people and parts are available before a breakdown jeopardises production schedules and product quality, especially for craft breweries operating only one centrifuge without any backup option.
>> Learn more about ConditionAlert
Consider a service agreement
A Service Agreement ensures you have all the services and parts support you need to get the best possible long-term performance from your centrifuge, including training and maintenance planning. Alfa Laval field service engineers will visit your site, and perform intermediate service to check and clean all components, change the oil if needs be, replace the gaskets and check for vibrations and any other early signs of abnormalities. Field service engineers also carry out major services which involve the removal of major bearings and cleaning of the horizontal drive and disks inside the centrifuge.
>> Discover Service Agreements
Pro tip: Combine ConditionAlert™ with an Alfa Laval Service Agreement to maximize performance and reduce operating costs with full control over your maintenance budget.
Prevent downtime and protect profitability with Alfa Laval as reliable service partner
In beer and beverage production, uptime, performance and low maintenance costs are crucial for the centrifuges.
The services and solutions in our Alfa Laval 360° Service Portfolio help you get the best return on your equipment investment. We partner with you in every aspect, from start-up, maintenance and support to improvements and monitoring services across the entire product lifecycle with low total lifecycle costs. Our after-sales support and service with field service technicians around Australia is unrivalled.
Visit our separator service pages for more details on centrifuge (separator) services and access useful resources including product manuals and trouble shooting advice
Meet the expert
Saju Jose, Service Sales Engineer
Saju Jose is a Service Sales Engineer for Food & Beverage in Alfa Laval Australia, helping customers with technical and service proposals to optimise food and beverage processes and improve the efficiency of the centrifuge with sustainable solutions that save cost, add value, and bring environmental benefits.
Saju is a mechanical engineer with a master's degree in engineering management from Deakin University. He is currently based in Sydney (New South Wales) and working closely with brewery customers – both commercial and independent – around Australia providing service offerings and tips to ensure the maximum centrifuge uptime.
