Liquors & Spirits

Grapes are a particular raw material for beverage production. The yeast bacteria that settled on the surface of the grapes, in combination with the sugar contained in the grapes, led to fermentation within a short time. Ideally, the result is a delicious wine on our dining table.

In industrial wine production, fermentation is not left to chance. Today, state-of-the-art technology enables the commercial wine industry to produce consistent quality and to compensate for seasonal or weather-related differences. In addition, the continuous availability of analytical data, generated with NIR spectroscopy enables better decision-making during the winemaking process.

Numerous quality-related must and wine parameters, such as alcohol, acids, sugar, density, and extract content, are determined quickly, efficiently, reproducibly, and cost-effectively with just one measurement.

In modern brewing processes, reliable and accurate analysis results are necessary at every stage of beer production. In addition, consumers expect the highest and most consistent quality. This is a daily challenge for manufacturers, as they have to compensate for regional and seasonal fluctuations in the raw materials used.

NIR spectroscopy offers manufacturers a wide range of possible applications. These include analyzing raw materials such as barley and hops for their chemical composition, monitoring during germination and fermentation, and quality control of the finished beer-based beverage. In the production of beer-based beverages, precise knowledge of the alcohol content is crucial. However, conventional analysis methods from the laboratory only provide results with a time lag and, thus, only a snapshot of the analysis parameters when the sample is taken.

Designed as a modern and flexible analysis system for the brewing industry, the PAS spectrometer from Polytec determines the typical quality parameters in beer quickly, reproducibly, and in a resource-saving manner. Alcohol, density, sugar content, original wort, and pH value are  some of the parameters that can be determined with NIR spectroscopy.

Polytec inline spectrometers are an ideal tool for routine analysis of the most important quality parameters during beer production. Using up to 6 measuring probes, the entire production process - from mashing, lautering, wort boiling, fermentation, and filtering to bottling - is monitored in real-time with just one spectrometer system.