How do you actually vacuum ... brewing malt?

Steeping, germinating, kilning: these are the three process steps that turn (brewing) barley into malt. Today, this task is performed by specialised malting plants. These include Erfurter Malzwerke, which produces malt not only in Erfurt, but also in Hamburg since 2013. The 80,000 tonnes of malt produced there each year are almost exclusively exported - by ship, of course.

Soaking up brewing malt - on a large scale

80,000 tonnes of malt means 220 tonnes per calendar day. It is therefore inevitable that dust will be generated, particularly during kilning and loading. This is why the staff often use the mobile Ruwac industrial vacuum cleaners, which are stationed in various areas of the plant. Naturally, industrial vacuum cleaners with dust explosion protection (Zone 22) are used here, as grain dust is flammable if it occurs in a certain ratio with air.

Compact solution: Mini extraction system over two floors

The quantities of brewing malt that need to be extracted at the Hausbrauerei zum Schlüssel brewery in Düsseldorf's historic city centre are significantly smaller. For precisely these quantities, the brewery - in collaboration with Ruwac - has realised an interesting and space-saving extraction system concept. The suction hose leads from the suction arm on the shaking sieve for cleaning the malt to a semi-mobile suction unit, which is located on the floor above for space reasons.

This means that the brewery basically has a small "stand-alone" extraction system in operation. When the shaking sieve is switched on, the vacuum cleaner starts automatically and collects the dust produced with the permanently installed extraction arm, which is located directly above the sieve. Alternatively, the hose to the lower floor can also be exchanged for a suction harness in no time at all, allowing the vacuum cleaner to be used for floor and machine cleaning on the upper floor.

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