Russia's burgeoning brewing industry has received another boost. Buhler's malting facility in Voronovo, which processes 100,000 metric tons of barley into malt each year, has now entered the test phase after only five months' installation time.
The speedy development has resulted in additional contracts in Russia being awarded to the technology group. Another large-scale project is the development of new malthouse in Voronezh, and the group recently completed a malthouse project in St Petersburg. In addition, this involved handling all the complex permit-obtaining procedures.
Buhler has therefore become a major foreign supplier of malthouses to the Russian beer industry, and as such has developed an intimate knowledge of the needs of the local market. The company claims that one of its specialities is knowing how best to achieve a uniform temperature in Russian malthouses.
The continental climate of Moscow with its wide variations places tough demands on the material and the engineering of malthouses. Temperatures can be as high as +30 degrees Celsius in the summer and as low as -30 degrees in the winter. In Buhler-supplied malting facilities, temperatures are uniform throughout the year, which helps to ensure a consistent malt quality.
For example, one and the same device cools the germination box air in the summer and heats it in the winter. It is also important to heat gates and louvers in order to prevent the condensate-saturated exhaust air from icing up. On the other hand, the air for the kilning air heaters must be preheated under process conditions.
These functions also have to be taken into account in the fully automatic control system. The energy costs account for a large portion of the total cost of operating a malthouse. As a result, the engineering solutions supplied by Buhler are essential for achieving profitability.
Beer is becoming increasingly popular in Russia. Per capita consumption has doubled over the past ten years, but is still no higher than about 45 litres per throat and year. German beer drinkers on the other hand manage 120 litres annually, while Czechs top the top table (or are under the table?) with 160.
Buhler is a global technology group and system partner for plant and equipment. The company operates in the fields of food processing, chemical engineering, and die casting.