Chapter 24

Winery Refrigeration

(book excerpts)

Modern wine making is an energy intensive process that involves refrigerated cooling at various stages - cooling of must, controlling temperature during fermentation and maturation, cold stabilization, as well as cooling the cellar where barrels are stored. Each phase of the process requires controlling the temperature to achieve optimum quality. Refrigeration accounts for as much as 50 to 70 percent of winery electricity consumption. Winery refrigeration systems typically employ a vapor-compression cycle. In wineries, wine or juice may be heat exchanged directly with the evaporating/expanding refrigerant at the evaporator in which case the operation is described as direct expansion. Alternatively, a secondary coolant (glycol solution) may be heat exchanged with the evaporating refrigerant and then distributed around the winery to cool juice or wine. Smaller wineries will tend to use standardized packaged water/glycol chillers, while larger wineries will tend to use more customized direct expansion systems. Packaged chillers used in smaller wineries can have low capital costs but higher running costs.

Click on the following topics for more information on winery refrigeration.

Topics Within This Chapter:

  • Refrigeration System
  • Refrigeration Cycle
  • Refrigeration Units
  • Sizing a Refrigeration Unit
  • Direct Expansion versus Secondary Loop System
  • Direct Primary Refrigeration System
  • Secondary Refrigerant System
  • Winery Chillers
  • Sizing the Chiller
  • Glycol
  • Water/Glycol Mixture
  • Distribution System
  • Portable Chillers
  • Heat Exchangers for Wineries
  • Types of Heat Exchangers
  • Tube-in-Tube Heat Exchangers
  • Plate Heater Exchangers
  • Dimple or Channel Plate Heat Exchangers
  • Maintenance