Glossary¶

FUERST WIACEK Brewery terms — German / English / process jargon

This page lists terms used across the SOPs. Some are German (we run a German Botec system on a German-built brewhouse), some are brewing-specific, some are FW-specific.

A–C¶

Term	Meaning
Absaugung	Dust extraction (turn on before handling grain)
Acid (IC 3002)	Phosphoric/nitric acid blend used for descaling and acid CIP. See Chemical Management.
ATP test	Swab test measuring residual organic contamination. Target after CIP: < 20 RLU.
Botec	The German process control system that runs the brewhouse, cellar, CIP, and recipes. Most SOPs reference Botec recipes or screens — see Botec Navigation.
Brink	The yeast brink — the mobile vessel used to harvest, hold, and pitch yeast.
Caustic (IC 1002)	Sodium hydroxide cleaning solution — the primary CIP chemical. Also called Lauge in German.
CIP	Cleaning In Place — automated or semi-automated cleaning of equipment without dismantling.
CIP arm	The vertical pipe with valve on top of fermentation tanks, used as the entry point for CIP solutions, top pressure, and venting.
Cone dump	Opening the bottom cone valve to drop trub, yeast, or hops from the cone. See Cone Dumping SOP.
Conductivity (mS)	Used to confirm rinse completeness after a CIP step. Target before proceeding: < 0.15 mS.

D–H¶

Term	Meaning
DN25 / DN40	Hose / fitting nominal diameters (25 mm / 40 mm). DN40 is the standard production hose.
DO	Dissolved oxygen. Tracked via Haffmans during canning runs.
Dosing tank	The mobile ~80 L tank used for manual CIPs (Tank CIP, Yeast Brink CIP, Kegger CIP).
FG	Final gravity. Considered reached when today's Plato reading equals or exceeds yesterday's.
First Brew	Botec recipe option that includes a hot-water rinse of the mash tun and lauter tun. Selected for the first brew of the day; skipped for the second brew.
Foam-down	Manual chemical foam clean of the canning line after a filling run. See Canning Line Foam-Down SOP.
Grist case	The vessel in the malt room (separate room, not above the mash tun) where milled malt is collected after milling. A chain conveyor transports the grist from the grist case to the mash tun on mash-in.
Haffmans	Handheld meter measuring CO₂, O₂, and TPO from tank or can samples. See Haffmans SOP.
HLT	Hot Liquor Tank — supplies hot water across the brewery.
Hop creep	Re-fermentation triggered by enzymes carried in dry hops. Particularly relevant for warm dry-hopped (West Coast) beers — requires a second VDK + FG check after dry hop.
HPA hops	Compressed hop pellets / blocks. May need to be broken up before adding to the tank.

I–P¶

Term	Meaning
IBC	Intermediate Bulk Container — the cubic plastic-in-cage tank used to receive spent grain from the lauter tun.
Knockout	The transfer of cooled wort from the kettle through the heat exchanger into the fermentation tank. See Wort Knockout SOP.
Krausen	Foam ring formed at the surface during active fermentation — visible as a deposit on the tank wall after fermentation drops.
Lauge	German for caustic / IC 1002. The "Lauge bath" is the caustic bath.
Manway	The hinged access port present on every fermentation tank — used for inspection and Tank CIP. On old tanks (1–11) the manway is also the dry hop access; on new tanks (13–19) dry hops go through the smaller dedicated dry hop port instead, but the manway is still there for inspection and CIP. Some SOPs use manhole as a synonym.
PAA (DI 1011)	Peracetic acid sanitiser. Final step of every CIP. Soak limit on fittings: 10 minutes (longer degrades gaskets). Also called Saure in German (in the bath context).
Panel 1 / Panel 2	Cellar panels for routing wort and CIP between brewhouse and tanks. Panel 1 → tanks 1–11, Panel 2 → tanks 13–19.
PPE	Personal Protective Equipment — goggles, gloves, ear protection, steel-toe boots as listed per SOP.
Plato (°P)	Gravity scale used for wort and beer. Measured with the Anton Paar DMA 35.
Production sheet / spreadsheet	The shared spreadsheet tracking each batch through brew, knockout, fermentation, packaging. See Spreadsheets.

Q–Z¶

Term	Meaning
Racking arm	Movable beer outlet inside old tanks (1–7). Position is set by rotation — 2 o'clock for CIP recirculation, 1–2 o'clock for carbonation bubbling.
RLU	Relative Light Units — the unit reported by an ATP swab. Target after CIP: < 20 RLU.
Saure	German for "acidic" — used in our shop to refer to the PAA bath (not to be confused with acid IC 3002).
Sightglass	Inline glass fitting installed in flow paths so the operator can see what's moving (yeast, hops, wort, water). Decision-making point for Cone Dumping, Yeast Harvest, Wort Knockout, Tank CIP.
Soft crash	Cooling step where the beer drops from fermentation temp to ~12°C — used for hop-forward beers before dry hop.
Spund	The pressure relief valve / regulator on top of the fermentation tank. Set during fermentation to hold back pressure (typically 0.2 bar early; 1 bar for spunded lagers; 0.5–0.6 bar at packaging-ready).
Spund Haube	"Spund hood" — additional fitting fitted on top of the spund post-CIP that connects to the Zwickel.
Standing pipe	Fixed vertical beer outlet in newer tanks (9–19, except those with racking arms). Equivalent function to the racking arm but not movable.
Sterile air	Filtered compressed air used to displace residual CO₂ during Tank CIP. Shared from a generator — open the valve only a tiny amount or other equipment may starve.
TPO	Total Package Oxygen — sum of headspace O₂ + dissolved O₂. Measured by Haffmans on cans.
T-piece	Three-way fitting used at tank outlets and pump inlets — provides a side connection for sample/drain or for pump inlet flow control.
Trub	The post-knockout solids in the cone — dead yeast, hop particles, protein. First cone dump (Day 1) removes trub.
Up-concentration	Restoring the caustic concentration and temperature in CIP Tank 1 / Tank 2 before a CIP. See CIP Up-Concentration SOP.
VDK	Vicinal diketones (diacetyl). Detected by sensory check after a forced 30-minute hot-water steep. See VDK Check SOP.
Vorlauf	German for "first runnings" — refers to the lauter tun first wort or to the brewhouse-to-cellar wort line.
Würze	German for wort. The "Würze/CIP outlet" is the wort outlet at the cellar panel that doubles as the CIP delivery line.
Zwickel	Sample port on the fermentation tank — present on all tanks. On new tanks (13–19) the Zwickel is removable and must be taken off during Tank CIP and brushed inside (always residue). On old tanks (1–11) the Zwickel is fixed and cleaned in place.