PI & BEER BREWING
Photo: Wil Stewart / Unsplash.com
Beer is one of the oldest beverages in the world and is still incredibly popular until this day. In the Middle Ages, people even drank beer as if it were water. In those days, beer was safer than the polluted water since the water had to be boiled and filtered. Moreover, beer also contains grains and vitamins so it was even considered nutritious!
Source: Roorda Reclamebureau.
But wait a minute: did the children also drink beer? As crazy as this sounds, it was true! Because the beer contained almost no alcohol, it was pretty normal. For this reason, medieval people drank a lot: on average about 300 liters per person per year! Cities could therefore house hundreds of breweries.
Photo: Daniel Vogel / Unsplash.com
Today's breweries have become a lot more sophisticated. However, they still use the knowledge and old recipes of the past. There are an awful lot of ways to brew beer and during the brewing process π is used quit often! Initially, π can be used to calculate the volume of brewing kettles. Brewing kettles are usually shaped like a cylinder so the volume formula of a cylinder can be applied.
The constant π is also used to obtain maximum yield from the brew. During the brewing process, the brew must be moved several times from one kettle to another. This displacement is done with the help of a hose between the two kettles. When the hose is properly connected, the beer automatically flows away to the other kettle. The animation below shows this process.
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When the first kettle is empty, there is still beer left in the hose. In large breweries, these hoses are usually quit long. It is therefore important to remove the brew in the hose to avoid loss. The brewer therefore puts a new liquid into the first kettle. This results in the remaining beer flowing to the new kettle. To add the correct amount of liquid, the brewer must know exactly how much beer is in the hose. The formula from above can be used again because the hose has a cylindrical shape. To use the formula, the brewer has to measure the radius and length of the hose by hand to make the correct calculation.
This calculation is important for the profit but also important for the quality of the brew! Of course, you don't want another liquid to end up in the second kettle! Breweries make different types of beers and experiment with new recipes. For this reason, many different combinations of kettles are made that always need a new hose tailored to their needs. Therefore, the brewer regularly uses a calculation with π in his daily work!
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Geschiedenis | Kennisinstituut Bier
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