Yeast flocculation using acoustic agglomeration

A major cause of haziness in beer is due to yeast suspended in the liquid. The most common methods used to flocculate the yeast and have it settle out of the liquid solution are to use various chemicals, cold temperatures, and/or extended time. This research considers using acoustic agglomeration to cause the yeast to flocculate as a means to clarify beer. Acoustic agglomeration uses high intensity acoustic standing waves to clump fine particles together in order for them to become large enough to settle out of the fluid. In this work, an ultrasonic acoustic transducer will be implemented to achieve standing waves in the beer. In theory, these standing waves will cause the yeast particles to clump together and settle. The results from this approach will be compared to the traditional methods of yeast flocculation. This approach may lead to an increase in efficiency in clarifying beer without the use of undesirable chemicals. The preliminary work considered here is a proof of concept and will use visual inspection as a means of clarity comparison. Future work will use more in-depth laboratory analysis as a means of comparison of clarity.

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