Method of boiling wort

A method of continuous pressure-boiling of beer wort in a multistage column having an upright inner wall enclosing a head region near the top of the column, a sump region near the bottom of the column and a wort compartment between the head- and sump regions, the wort compartment including a plurality of superposed, substantially horizontal plates, each of the plates being provided with an overflow weir on its upper surface and with an opening between the overflow weir and the wall of the column, the plates communicating with each other and with the head- and sump regions via the openings to permit the wort to flow downward from plate to plate, the method comprising the steps of

• preheating the wort in a regenerative preheating process;
• feeding a heated gaseous medium into the sump region to heat the column to a process temperature;
• continuously charging the preheated wort onto an upper plate in the wort compartment to establish a downward flow of the wort from one plate to another over the overflow weirs and through the openings while the gaseous medium rises through the openings causing intensive movement and bubble formation in the wort;
• heating the wort during its descent to a boiling temperature by partial condensation of the rising gaseous medium whereby the wort is kept in boiling condition for such a period of time until the gaseous medium degasses the wort and frees the same from undesirable foreign substances;
• condensing in the head region vapors emanating from the processed wort due to the action of the gaseous medium and discharging the condensed vapors from the head region and the processed wort from the sump region.