500L Steam-Heated Brewhouse: What It Actually Does on the Floor

Most craft breweries that contact us about a 500L brewhouse are moving from a 200–300L pilot kit and need repeatable wort production without jumping to a full 10BBL plant. The vessel set here covers mash, lauter, and kettle duties with steam jackets, an agitator with raking arms on the lauter tun, and 304 stainless throughout. It suits brewers running 3–5 brews per week on ales, lagers, stouts, and wheat beers where step mashing and a proper grain bed matter.

Steam Heating and Why It Changes the Build

Steam jackets on the mash tun and kettle give even heat across the vessel wall, which matters during protein rests and when you raise from 45°C to 78°C without scorching the grain. We build the jacket as a dimple or half-pipe design depending on your boiler pressure, typically rated for 0.3–0.4 MPa working steam. Every jacket gets hydro-tested before shipment, and we weld per ASME-style joint prep with full penetration on shell seams.

Shell is 3mm 304 stainless; the kettle bottom is 4mm to take direct heat and cleaning abrasion. Internal welds are ground and pickled, with a surface finish around Ra 0.8µm on product-contact areas. The lauter tun carries raking arms with adjustable clearance and a slotted false bottom; grain bed depth and runoff rate are set by your grist load, so tell us your typical grist weight per batch.

Practical Details Brewers Ask About

Agitator speed on the mash tun runs through a geared motor with VFD, usually 20–40 rpm for dough-in and step ramps. Lauter raking is slower, and the arms lift for grain-out. CIP is handled by a spray ball in each vessel with a dedicated pump and caustic/acid cycle; we can supply the skid separate or integrated.

FAQ

Can the same vessel do mash and boil? Yes, in a combined mash/kettle configuration, but separate lauter tun gives better runoff consistency at this size. We build both layouts.

What steam supply do I need? Roughly 100–150 kg/h at 0.3 MPa for a 500L batch with a one-hour heat-up. Oversized boilers waste fuel on short cycles.

Is 316L worth it? For standard wort, 304 is fine. Choose 316L if you handle high-chloride cleaning chemicals or brew sours in the same vessel.

Lead time and installation? Typically 45–60 days after drawing approval; we supply layout drawings for your floor slab and steam, water, and drain tie-ins.

Tell us your batch size, beer type, brews per week, and available floor space. We can recommend vessel configuration, jacket area, and the steam and CIP connections your brewhouse will need.