Kaiserblick Knowledge

Wet Milling Equipment

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Wet Milling Equipment

Sources: Pinhalense (website) · Penagos (website) · Motores y Maquinaria de El Salvador (website) · JM Estrada (website)

Wet milling (beneficio húmedo) equipment converts ripe coffee cherries into clean parchment ready for drying. The machinery sequence typically runs: pre-cleaning → washing/flotation sort → pulping → mucilage removal → drying. Each step can improve or destroy cup quality depending on equipment calibration and throughput management.

See Coffee Processing for method context. See Pinhalense and Penagos for the two primary reference manufacturers covered here.

Pre-Cleaning and Pre-Sorting

Winowers

Remove light impurities — leaves, small sticks, and fine debris — from cherry before it enters the washer or pulper. Uses an aspiration system (air current) that blows light material aside while denser cherry passes through.

Pinhalense models:

  • ABC — installs directly on the washer’s pre-cleaning chute; enhances washer and separator performance by preventing clogging
  • AB — similar function, compact alternative

Benefits: prevents clogging in downstream equipment; improves drying efficiency (fewer impurities in the drying drum).

Pre-Cleaner PL

For large-volume operations handling dry cherries or parchment. A vibrating deck fitted with screens of different hole sizes separates impurities larger and smaller than coffee.

  • Capacity: 12,000 kg/h parchment / 20,000 kg/h clean coffee
  • Motor: 5 HP
  • Stable structure; does not transmit vibration to the floor
  • Models: PL-20, PL-40

Coffee Washer and Separator

Combines flotation density sorting with stone removal and impurity cleaning before pulping.

Function:

  1. Vibrating conveyor removes leaves, branches, and soil
  2. Water flotation separates cherries by density: ripe cherries sink; floaters (overripe, hollow) and unripe (light) rise and are routed separately
  3. Highly accurate siphon separates the three streams (ripe / floater / unripe)
  4. Stone removal via dense-particle settling

Pinhalense differentiator: exclusive turbine system moves water without pumps — reduces blockages and maintenance.

Capacities: 4.5, 6.0, 12.0, or 18.0 t/h cherry (model-dependent); low water consumption.

Pre-sorting by ripeness before pulping is the single most impactful upstream step for lot consistency. Only ripe cherries with similar sugar content should enter the pulper together.

Pulpers

Depulping machines remove the cherry skin from ripe cherries, leaving the bean covered in mucilage (wet-process) or partially covered (honey process). The key quality distinction between pulper types is whether they pre-sort unripe cherries before pulping.

EcoPulp (Zero-Water Pulper)

  • Zero water consumption — separates pulp from parchment physically, not hydraulically
  • Routes unpulped beans and pulp to separate outlets; clean parchment exits ready for fermentation or honey drying
  • Capacity: 650 kg/h cherry (1,000 L/h); 1 HP; 130 kg weight
  • Compact and lightweight

Best use: small-scale operations; honey process (zero-water aligns with minimal intervention philosophy); farms without reliable water access.

EcoSuper (Low-Water Pulper — Top Seller)

  • Pre-pulping green separator: unripe cherries are separated before entering the pulper — only ripe cherries are pulped
  • Low water consumption; low residual water volume
  • Efficient pulp separation: no parchment lost with pulp
  • Interchangeable pulping channels for different coffee types and screen configurations
  • Modular design — can be scaled for small, medium, or large wet mills
  • Ease of cleaning, maintenance, and drum replacement
  • Capacity: 4,200 kg/h cherry (7,000 L/h); 7.5 HP (green separator) + 3 HP (pulper)

Best use: quality-focused wet mills where ripe-only pulping is the priority; the leading choice for specialty wet milling at scale.

EcoSuper 3

  • Combined EcoSuper pulper + mucilage remover in a single machine
  • Reduces footprint, handling steps, and water use
  • Best for operations wanting to integrate pulping and mucilage removal without separate equipment

Mucilage Removers (Demucilaginators)

After depulping, beans are still covered in mucilage (a sticky layer of sugars and pectin). Mucilage can be removed by:

  1. Prolonged water fermentation (traditional washed process) — 6–72 hours
  2. Mechanical demucilaging — faster and more controllable

Mucilage Remover (DMPE)

  • Mechanically removes mucilage using friction and minimal water
  • Upward flow minimises the need for mechanical feeding devices
  • Can fully replace fermentation tanks or complement them (partial fermentation + mechanical finish)
  • Stainless steel parts in contact with coffee — prevents contamination and oxidation
  • Low power consumption
  • Capacity: 1,270–1,690 kg/h (1,500–2,000 L/h); 3 HP
  • Models: DMPE-0, DMPE-3, DMPE-5

Benefits over fermentation tanks: precise mucilage level control; saves time and water; repeatable from lot to lot.

Trade-off: mechanical demucilaging removes less complexity from the cup compared to controlled fermentation — for producers seeking fermentation-derived flavour character, tanks may still be preferred or combined.

Equipment Sequence for Common Processing Methods

Washed (Full Wash)

Cherry reception
  → Winower (leaf/debris removal)
  → Coffee Washer & Separator (density sort: ripe / floater / unripe)
  → EcoSuper pulper (ripe only)
  → Fermentation tank (6–72 h) OR Mucilage Remover DMPE
  → Washing channel
  → Drying (rotary dryer or raised beds)

Honey Process

Cherry reception
  → Winower
  → Coffee Washer & Separator (density sort)
  → EcoPulp or EcoSuper (ripe only; retain desired mucilage level)
  → Drying (raised beds or rotary dryer — mucilage intact)

Natural (Dry Process)

Cherry reception
  → Winower
  → Coffee Washer & Separator (density sort)
  → Drying (whole cherry — no pulping equipment needed)

Capacity Planning Notes

  • For a farm processing 1,000 kg/h cherry at peak, an EcoSuper handles this comfortably with headroom
  • The Coffee Washer & Separator should be sized to the maximum hourly reception volume, not the average
  • Mucilage remover capacity should match pulper throughput (DMPE-3 or DMPE-5 paired with EcoSuper)
  • Multiple smaller pulpers are often preferred over one large one to enable simultaneous lot separation

Penagos Product Range

Penagos (Colombia, 130 years) is the second primary wet-mill equipment candidate for Kaiserblick. Its product families parallel Pinhalense’s but emphasise water elimination as a core design philosophy:

FamilyModelsNotes
Horizontal pulpers (DH)DH-2, DH-4, DH-6, DH-2½, DH-2¾, DH-3½Standard depulpers; interchangeable pulping channels
Sorting modules (MC)MC-2, MC-4, MC-6, etc.Pulper + coarse sorter combined
ECOLINE compact eco-millsECO-400, ECO-800, ECO-1000Integrated pulping + mechanical demucilaging; zero/low water; primary Kaiserblick target
UCBE processing unitsUCBE-500 to UCBE-20000Full-scale integrated vertical eco-pulper units; 7 capacity tiers
DCV / UDC sortersDCV-183, DCV-306, UCD-1, UDC-2, UDC-4, UDC-6Cherry pre-sorting (ripe vs. green) before pulping
Ecomill-500—Combined pulper + demucilager in one compact unit

Key innovation: Total elimination of water in the pulping step — the design driver that opened Central American markets for Penagos (16+ Costa Rican micro-mills, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Peru).

ECOLINE-1000 specs (confirmed via ES distributor product page):

AttributeECOLINE-1000
Cherry capacity700–1000 kg/h
PulperDH-3½ horizontal
Pulper motor1 HP
DELVA (demucilager)3 HP
Combustion engine option8–10 HP
Water0.2 L/kg cherry
Weight220 kg
Integrated water meterYes — records cumulative m³

ECOLINE-800: In stock in El Salvador. Uses DH-6 pulper (6 cylinders — larger than ECOLINE-1000’s DH-3½). Same 0.2 L/kg cherry water claim. The larger pulper head on the 800 vs. 1000 is counterintuitive and warrants clarification before procurement. Full spec sheet: request from Motores y Maquinaria de El Salvador.

Pre-classifier UPT-1500 (upstream accessory for ECOLINE units, also available in ES):

  • Capacity: 1000–1200 kg/h; water tank: 500 L
  • Functions: doses cherry, removes stones, floats light cherry, elevates to pulper hopper
  • Motors: ½ HP conveyor + 1 HP pump
  • Prevents ECOLINE equipment damage from stones entering the pulping channel

ES distributor: Motores y Maquinaria de El Salvador stocks ECOLINE-800, ECOLINE-1000, and UPT-1500. Main contact: +503 2288-1010.

JM Estrada Wet Processing Alternatives

JM Estrada (La Estrella, Antioquia, Colombia) offers two wet processing systems relevant to Kaiserblick as alternatives to Penagos ECOLINE:

BECOLSUB (“Beneficio Ecológico y Manejo de Subproductos”) — integrated wet mill modules from 300 to 20,000 kg/h cherry. Combines depulper + rotary classifier (zaranda) + Deslim mechanical demucilager in one assembly. Key difference from Penagos: BECOLSUB retains traditional fermentation (the zaranda feeds fermentation tanks, then Deslim finishes mucilage removal mechanically). Not a zero-water system. The BECOLSUB-300 (300 kg/h cherry, 1 HP pulper, 1.5 HP demucilager) is the micro-mill scale entry model and a direct alternative to the Penagos ECOLINE-400.

ECOMILL-Cenicafé — water-reduced washing system manufactured under licence from Cenicafé (Colombia’s national coffee research centre). Reduces water consumption from 20 L/kg to 0.3–0.5 L/kg dry parchment coffee (97%+ reduction); removes 98%+ mucilage mechanically after traditional natural fermentation. Three sizes: 500, 1500, 3000. Performance validated in controlled Cenicafé trials.

No Central America distributor — direct from Colombia factory (ventas@jmestrada.com, +57 311 7627829).

Note on BECOLSUB and ECOMILL: both are Cenicafé-standardised designs manufactured by multiple Colombian companies. Jotagallo (Pereira, Risaralda) is a second independent producer of both BECOLSUB and ECOMILL® systems at the same capacity ranges — useful as a price comparison source.

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