A 500L two-vessel brewhouse is usually the first real system a brewpub buys once pilot batches stop covering demand. Ours pairs a mash/lauter tun with a combined whirlpool kettle, both sized for 500 L knockout with about 15% headspace for boilover and foam. Heating runs through an external electric steam generator, which keeps the kettle jacket at low pressure and keeps open flame out of a leased building — a constraint we hear about constantly from taprooms in strip malls.

How they are built

Wetted parts are SUS304, 3 mm shell and 2 mm dished bottoms, TIG welded and ground flush, then pickled and passivated. Where local water runs high chloride, we switch to 316L. Interior finish is Ra ≤0.8 µm, exterior 180-grit brushed. The false bottom is a 0.7 mm wedge-wire screen; it handles coarse crush as well as the finer grist a two-roller mill throws at it. Manway and port gaskets are food-grade EPDM, with silicone specified when CIP runs hot.

Where it fits

Brewpubs, small production houses and contract pilot programs running three to six brews a week are the typical buyers. The two-vessel layout sits in roughly 4.5 m × 2.5 m, so one brewer can run the full day without moving between floors. If your schedule leans on double batches of high-gravity wort, or heavy wheat and oat grists, spend the money on a lauter grant and a slower run-off instead of a larger kettle.

Wort, CIP and steam are separated on the manifold so you are not breaking tri-clamps between steps. The kettle doubles as whirlpool through a tangential inlet, so no separate whirlpool vessel is needed below about 1,000 L.

Can the kettle handle whirlpool as well?

Yes. Tangential inlet plus a slow rake pass gives a stable trub cone at this volume.

Is 500 L the true working volume?

500 L is knockout into the fermenter. The kettle holds more with headspace.

Steam generator or direct electric elements?

We default to a generator; elements in the kettle are harder to clean and to replace.

What do you need before quoting?

Batch size, beer styles, brews per week, ceiling height and available power.

Tell us your batch size, the styles you brew, how many brews per week you expect and the footprint you have. We can then size the vessels, the steam load and the piping layout around your room instead of the other way around.