Brewery Floor Tile

[bford]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a specific floor tile that works well in the brewery? It seems that the name "quarry tile" is a bit of a misnomer and implies that the tile may be based with a percentage of clay ( according to my Architect anyway!).
I have used concrete and a few different types of epoxy (a seperate discussion altogether), but never tile.

Any advise?

[BelgianBrewer]

I have used American Olean's Quarry Tile and it works great. Make sure to talk to your architect concerning the setting of the tiles while installing. We have a thin-set (opposed to a mud-set) and have had no broken tiles or issues.
Disadvantage of thin-set is that you have to get your slopes in with the concrete and not with the tile setting.

From experience my recommendation would be to stay away from concrete or epoxy. Concrete is too porous in a brewery, epoxy can be slippery and will wear quickly (a lot depends on installation). Epoxy with a granular addition to avoid slipping is not a good idea either as it is impossible to clean.

For installation in bottling lines, ask written guaranties from the manufacturer and installer.

Good luck!
BelgianBrewer
www.sbmbrew.com

[lhall]

What effect does the thinset have on tile breakage? Does it somehow cushion the tile? I have never heard of this, that's very interesting.

[beertje46]

Thin set is an adhesive product used to adhere tile directly to a substrate. Mud bed or set is a sand and portland cement mixture. With mud bed the thickness varies to create the slope to drains. Thin set (as BelgianBrewer states) relies on the slope of the concrete as the adhesive is only 1/4" - 3/8" thick. Thin set tile tends to break easier IMHO and I've layed a bunch.

[realale]

We just finished an installation with Argelith tile with an epoxy grout. It is a German Quarry Tile that was around 3/4" thick. It is a traditional brewery tile and has been installed in thousands of breweries across the planet. We purchased it from a company in Geogia called Vibrofloors, they offer a service of installing the tiles using a vibrating drum, but we just had a talented local tile guy figure it out. Feel free to e-mail me for any further info or picts of our installation.

Brad Farbstein
real ale brewing co
blanco, tx
brad@realalebrewing.com

[bford]

Thanks to everyone who offered up some info!
I am aware of American Olean, I built a Microbrewery in one of their closed down factories in 1999! Maybe a sign?

Brad I will e-mail you for more info on the Argelith tile.
Anyone else have any advice?

Thanks again brew people!

[dlgore]

I am familiar with very thick tile used in Germany. They are brick in color, roughly 4"x6"x.75". When layed properly they are indistructable and support entire bottle washers. A brewery I worked in replaced the tile with epoxy which looked great for about a month. Tile, if chosen and installed properly is the way to go. Sorry, but I don't know of any brands. Good luck!

[GlacierBrewing]

I would suggest to contact John Legnard at Sandlot Brewing (Coors micro) at Coors Field in Denver. They use a tile in their brewhouse that John has claimed he can drop a full 1/2 bbl onto with no damage. I think the tile is Coors-manufactured. Also, I've used concrete-sloped floors with Home Depot floor epoxy on it with success. I do have to recoat the floor every five years or so, though.

Luck to ya'
Dave