Mash tanks are part of a process for producing beer, wine, whisky, cereals, potato and fruit-based spirits and fruit wines.
These tanks are generally made of metal. Stainless steel is highly suitable as it’s corrosion-resistant and can be easily cleaned.

Wine mash
Wine mash is nothing more than the slurry of fruit pulp and seeds that’s produced when the grapes are initially pressed. For white wine, the juice is pressed straight away and filled into the anaerobic digestion tank. In the production of red wine, the mash is cooled and then begins to ferment. The juice pressing only takes place after fermentation.

Beer mash
Mashing is a very important step in beer brewing. This process determines the colour and fermentability of the subsequent wort liquid. Furthermore, fermentable wort can only be obtained from the grain through the mashing process. The malt grist must be quickly mixed under the mashing water so that no lumps are produced. It’s important that all the starch is broken down, otherwise a brew that contains non-fermentable sugars cannot be produced. This will make the beer murky and taste slimy or floury.

Equipping a mash tank
So that mashing is carried out without issue, a mash tank requires certain additional equipment. This includes an inspection glass in order to be able to regularly check the mash. It’s also important to have a residue outlet so that residue doesn’t flow out with the actual mash and is instead removed separately at the end of the process. The mash tank needs a cooling function as well, as in the production of red wine the mash must be cooled down prior to fermentation. The mash also warms up during the fermentation process. So it needs to be cooled back down to the desired temperature.

Cleaning a mash tank
Mash tanks fall under the category of storage and foodstuff tanks. It can be stored both vertically and horizontally. It’s cleaned either in a single pass with other tanks in the relevant process or individually. Process cleaning can also be referred to as cleaning in process, or CIP for short. This cleaning process saves time in that nothing has to be taken apart, no parts go missing and no issues can occur when re-assembling.

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