Spirits & wine

Whisky

The world of whisky is one of subtle aromas, flavors and textures. It’s also one of tradition: whisky production was first documented as early as the 15th century. Even today, the production process is seen as a fine art, with each distillery making whisky in its own special way. It’s a key challenge for modern mashing and distillation technologies to maintain the unique characteristics that this brings out.

GEA whisky distillation solutions
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Whisky

Blending copper with steel.

GEA's process lines for whisky

Key steps for malt whisky spirit production

GEA Nu-Con powder silos

Barley malt and cereal grains are received in bulk and transferred to silos for storage. A sample from each batch is analyzed to determine cereal moisture and starch content. Malt cleaning and de-stoning occur prior to milling.

MILLSTAR®: the endosperm is extracted from the husk and ground by a pair of crushing rollers.

Barley malt is milled in conventional roller mills to produce grist. Alternatively, GEA provides wet-conditioned milling by MILLSTAR®, offering improved lautering efficiency. Milling and mashing-in can thus be combined in a single, non-ATEX dust-free and hygienic step.

Agitator

Grist and water are mixed in a grist hydrator or pre-masher. The addition of a Mash Conversion Vessel increases mashing flexibility or can be added as a de-bottlenecking upgrade. Gentle mash transfer by low-shear Mono type pump is a novel feature of GEA mashing systems.

LAUTERSTAR® Lauter Tun Technology

The lauter tun is the heart of the mash house, responsible for the extraction of sugary wort from the cereal mash. The system offers flexibility and is optimized to manage conversion yield, wort gravity and clarity, oxygen pick-up, cycle time and extraction efficiency.

Fully automatic pipe connection system - ECO-MATRIX®

Wort is combined with yeast in fermenter washbacks to convert sugars to alcohol containing wash. Hygienic fermenter design is enhanced with jacketed or external coolers – for attemperated fermentation control, improving alcohol yield while reducing energy and water use.

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Wash is distilled in wash stills to produce high wine. This distillate is further concentrated in spirit stills to produce new make spirit. Energy savings by TVR or MVR heat pump techniques are used, while waste heat recovered from the condensers aids sustainability.

Efficiency and sustainability go hand in hand at Wipasz

Thermal energy is recovered from the still condensers and stored as hot water in an energy recovery tank-accumulator. Heat is therefore provided as sustainable energy for mashing and sparge water preheating along with other uses like CIP and syrup evaporator heating.

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Thermal energy is recovered from the still condensers and stored as hot water in an energy recovery tank-accumulator. Heat is therefore provided as sustainable energy for mashing and sparge water preheating along with other uses like CIP and syrup evaporator heating.

GEA Codex®

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GEA Insights

A new recipe for indulgence

What if your favorite chocolate didn’t require cocoa beans and your coffee was locally produced? As climate disruption, price hikes and ethical concerns hit two of our most beloved indulgences, scientists are reimagining how we produce them – using microbes, not monocultures. The goal: preserve the flavor and properties of coffee and chocolate while minimizing carbon emissions and improving food resilience.

Fueling the circular economy in shipping

Ports now compete not just on logistics, but on sustainability. At Greece’s Piraeus port, an advanced processing and recovery facility recycles ship waste oil into fuel. Equipped with GEA’s high-performance centrifuges, it sets a new benchmark for state-of-the-art, environmentally responsible port operations.

OeTTINGER GETRÄNKE, CO2 recovery

Closing the loop: key lessons for breweries from OeTTINGER

The 2022 CO2 shortage forced breweries to review their dependency on global supply chains. Many were forced to close, unable to carbonate their products. At its breweries in Germany, OeTTINGER GETRÄNKE is turning its own CO2 into a powerful lever for independence and sustainability – with the help of CO2 recovery technology from GEA.

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