How to maintain a brewery?

Every brewhouse should be a palace of production, safety and innovation. The brewhouse is the heart and engine of your brewing business, and its many complex systems and operations (from mills and mashing tuns to kettles and fermenting tanks) require constant vigilance, maintenance and safety. The journey to the perfect brewhouse and brew crew is a long road rife with big decisions. What’s the size of your system, space available, desired flavor impacts, heating time and, of course, ease of cleanliness using the right chemicals at the right frequency? There are so many questions. What will be the heating source for your kettle or hot liquor tank, or do you have a Lock Out, Tag Out Program to help workers avoid getting hurt when machinery is being serviced?

When selecting a brewhouse, it’s important to do some homework and understand what size beers you will be brewing and how much [or how often] you want to brew. Most of the suppliers out there can help with this, but it’s good to crunch the numbers yourself.

For example, many high-quality brewhouse suppliers are from Germany, and they design their brewhouses to brew German-style lagers. Higher gravity brews and high hop usage like what we have in the United States are not things they always factor into their equations. Make sure you calculate your lauter tun loading, proposed grain bed depths for the range of beers you want to brew and also whether you want to brew 24/7. All those things will factor into the size of the brewhouse you need.

A second tip is to visit a few breweries that are operating the equipment you are considering and talk to them about the project management process and the commissioning process. Most brewers are happy to candidly share their experience. Were the suppliers easy to work with? Were they on time? How much support was provided during commissioning? In the end, much of the brewhouse selection process will be highly dependent on your comfort level with the supplier. The opinions and experiences of brewers who have worked with the suppliers can help you develop a decision.

After you calculate the size brewhouse you need, increase it by 50 percent. Just about every brewer out there over the last few years has underestimated growth. More quickly than they imagine, they are out of brewhouse capacity and either have to expand or build a new facility.

Operating a brewhouse: My biggest tip is to make sure you identify critical spare parts and keep them on hand, especially those with long lead times. Work with your supplier and maintenance teams to develop an effective preventive maintenance program that includes proactive replacement of valves, lauter tun plow blades, etc. Another tip is to get into the routine of auditing your brewhouse process. Track a beer you brew often from start to finish, make notes on how the mash and wort move through the brewing process, and then recheck this periodically to make sure things are still working consistently. Measure details such as first-wort gravity, final runnings gravity, and evaporation during the boil, and strive to make these consistent from batch to batch.

Size: What is the final production capacity you want to achieve with the new brewhouse and what is your projected growth rate? Do you (initially) want to work in two shifts? Brewhouse capacity is determined by batch size and number of brews per 24 hours. Modern brewhouse equipment can produce up to 12 brews per day, even with the strong craft brewer beers.

Flexibility: Look for expandability of the system. What is the desired degree of automation? Can you easily add and integrate new process vessels in the future? Is the brewhouse able to grow with your sales? Take into account alternative technologies, e.g. lauter tun vs. mash filter.

Yield: The craft brewer market is growing and is getting increasingly competitive. Raw materials are getting more expensive. In a couple of years it will be difficult — even for small breweries — to run a successful business with a brewhouse that produces 20 percent losses when you brew an IPA.

Guarantees: Here the most important of all advices: Make sure you get guarantees for yield and brewhouse production capacity and make sure your contract makes them enforceable.

WEMAC,founded in 1958, is a brewing equipment manufacturer and brewing technology engineering company that provides many kinds of customized tanks and turnkey projects throughout the world. The company attaches great importance to the research and development of core technology. On the basis of maintaining the manufacturing cost of China, the company can design according to CE PED standards and ASME design codes, and institutes production and quality control methods according to both European and American quality standards.

Based on the customized requirements of global customers, the company has established an ERP management system and has passed quality audits for internationally recognized certifications; ISO9001, 2000 International Quality Management System Certification, ISO14001 Environmental Certification, ISO18001 Occupational Health and Safety System Certification, DI, and DII Pressure Vessel Certification.  We have also been recognized at a national-level as a scientific and technological innovation enterprise with many patented technologies granted in China.

Craft beer is more and more popular all over the world. And nothing brews delicious beer better than Grain beer brewing equipment.

Whether it’s a brewpub, taproom microbrewery or large scale brewery, our brewery equipment are what you need to share your passion with the world.

If you are willing to have your own brewery, no matter it is small or big, please feel free to let us know.