Industrial Chillers for Kombucha & Fermented Beverages
Kombucha as a drink goes back centuries as a traditional drink in China, Russia, and Eastern Europe. However, the current commercial popularity started in the 1990’s, when commercially bottled varieties became available. There were people claiming that it had health benefits beyond quenching your thirst and people developed a liking for the taste. Plus, the taste can be fiddled with endlessly. The result is an expanding market that was worth $400 million in 2014 and sales rose 37% in 2017. If you want to get in this industry, one of the first things you will need is a good chiller.
Uses For Chillers In Making Kombucha and Other Fermented Beverages
Fermentation is a delicate thing. The SCOBY (the mat of yeast and bacteria used in making the drink) has to do its work at a certain rate and the process itself can heat up a liquid. Any hiccup in the process can lead to products spoiling or having more vinegar in it. Fermenting it for too long also increases its alcoholic content, which can lead to regulatory problems, since it is supposed to only have 0.5%.
The key to controlling the speed of fermentation is temperature, and chillers are the go-to way to control the temperature of your product down to the tiniest degree. This will make sure that the first fermentation for Kombucha is at the prescribed 18 °C to 26 °C.
You also need to be able to stop the fermentation process and preserve the liquid once it is in its completed form. The temperature to do this is 4 °C. Chillers drop the temperature of your product to the point where the yeast stops and other microbes die off.
Special Considerations When Getting A Chiller For Kombucha
Chillers for fermentation can come in a couple of shapes, and what you’ll need will depend on your company. If you have a relatively small business now, you might not want to have your product going through a big machine that uses energy and space that you might need for other things. On the other hand, too small a chiller could slow down your process, which puts your product at some risk.
You’ll want to consider whether you want an air-cooled or water-cooled version too. Air-cooled types need less space but send their water and coolant to towers outside, and water-cooled varieties are more compact. This is when you’ll want to think about where the chiller will be situated, since one can be made that fits in your building.
JC Younger Understands
No two Kombucha and Fermented Beverages businesses are the same in their needs. JC Younger gets this, and that is why they will do the following:
- Custom build a chiller specific to your needs.
- Make it with only UL 1999 standard parts so that it is easy to fix should a piece wear out.
- Rent out chillers for any amount of time that you need, which allows you to use a rental for your normal operations.
- Ship out our rental quickly, so you don’t have to wait to start.
- Include a maintenance plan with our rentals so that you don’t have to worry about keeping it in top shape.
- Our rentals include water-cooled and air-cooled versions so you can find what works for your building.
- Our rentals can be swapped out easily so you can simply rent bigger chillers as your company expands instead of going through the hassle of rebuilding the system.
Your Kombucha and fermented drink business is important to you, and JC Younger wants to help you create it. We have decades of experience in making chillers for many industries, and if you want our help, please feel free to contact us.
