HOPSTAR Dry

A plug-and-play dry hopping skid for breweries wishing to optimize their processes and produce individual beers with a unique aroma profile in a more resource-efficient way.

Dry hopping is an ongoing practice in the brewing industry that’s often associated with high beer losses and low extraction efficiencies of hop aroma in the cylindroconical tank (CCT). With the improved HOPSTAR® Dry, GEA offers a next-generation dry hopping technology to improve both the quality and productivity of the process.

Industrial trials showed, that extraction efficiencies and raw material demand can be decreased by up to 30–50 % compared with static processes. In addition, hop solids are retained inside the unit by sedimentation, which reduces beer losses to a minimum.

Fully automated plug-and-play unit

The GEA HOPSTAR® Dry is a fully automated plug-and-play unit that can easily be integrated into existing cellars and connected to CCTs. The unit is accomplished by an additional self-cleaning filter and a GEA liquid jet mixer in the connected CCTs. The skid has a standalone unit control and interfaces for signal exchange with the periphery. The unit comes in a number of standard sizes for hop loads up to 750 kg (larger batch sizes upon request).

Dynamic process increases hop oil extraction efficiency

After hops are manually loaded into the extraction vessel, the fully automatic process begins with a dynamic extraction step supported by a low-shear force agitator inside the vessel.

Efficient separation of hop particles

The aroma enriched beer is transferred in the CCT and replaced by a fresh batch, while a sedimentation step is used to keep a majority of the solids in the HOPSTAR® Dry extractor. The extraction and transfer step is repeated until all desired aroma oils are transferred.

Flexible process and highest product quality

The HOPSTAR® Dry enables soaking, dissolving and sedimentation times to be adjusted, as well as extraction cycle parameters, according to product characteristics such as hop product, variety or desired aroma profile. To ensure the highest quality of the dry hopped beer the system is kept under CO₂ atmosphere to avoid oxygen uptake during the dry hopping process.

User Benefits at a Glance

Extraction vessel is adapted to maximum hop load
Comes as pre-piped, pre-wired and tested unit
Efficient dynamic extraction for reduced raw material demand
Solids retained in extraction vessel to minimize beer losses
One HOPSTAR® Dry system can be used for several storage tanks
Process conditions (soaking or suspending of pellets, number of extraction cycles, etc.) can be adjusted individually to reflect pellet quality or hop variety
Fully automated process allows reproducible product quality
CO₂ purge prevents oxygen ingress
Automation (standalone unit) or integration into an existing installation
Meets the highest standards of quality and hygiene, fully CIP-compatible and can be integrated into existing clean-in-place cycles.