Category: Brewing Equipment
Brewery Equipment explores all the equipment needed to produce quality craft beer throughout the brewing process including brewhouse, cellar, packaging, lab, quality control and more.
Expert Topic Why Brewers Look to Space for Inspiration
Humankind has long stared into the heavens at night, admiring the stars, searching for inspiration, and asking questions about the universe and themselves. Many brewers, it turns out, do the same while looking into a pint of freshly poured beer. Maybe it’s that sense of wonder and “what if” that has also led professional brewers to name their lagers and ales after celestial bodies, or to work with space programs on innovations and recipes.
(more...)
News Impact on Craft Brewers of New Steel & Aluminum Tariffs
The President announced yesterday that the US would immediately begin imposing a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imported into the country. Unlike the recent threat of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which were largely seen as a negotiating tool and political postering, the tariff on steel and aluminum are expected to remain in effect indefinitely and will likely have a significant cost impact on alcohol beverage manufacturers.
(more...)
Expert Topic Best Practices for Your Brewery Equipment
To create and release beer on a commercial level these days takes more than just a brewer’s talent. The equipment used is instrumental to making sure the beer is made and packaged properly. World class beer does not need multi-million-dollar equipment. Working within a budget to make the most of what you have has worked for brewers for a long time. But making sure the equipment meets your needs, is well maintained, and learning how to spot problems on the horizon can save a brewery time, money, and unneeded frustration.
(more...)
Sponsored Boost Efficiency and Save Space with Customizable Utility Carts in Your Brewery
In the brewing industry, efficiency and space management are crucial to maintaining smooth operations and maximizing productivity. One often overlooked yet incredibly versatile tool that can help achieve these goals is the utility cart. By customizing utility carts, you can transform them into specialized equipment that caters to various brewing needs, ultimately enhancing your brewery’s efficiency and saving valuable space! With a few modifications using appropriate fittings, these sturdy carts can be converted into specialized equipment that addresses specific brewing processes. Here are some innovative ways to customize utility carts for your brewery:
(more...)
Sponsored Yeast Plays the Pivotal Role in Craft Breweries
Craft brewing is filled with passionate brewers dedicated to perfecting their recipes and delighting patrons with the latest beer styles. Most beer enthusiasts marvel at the hops, malt, and other flavoring agents in beer, yet yeast is the silent hero behind the scenes. Yeast plays a pivotal role in the flavor and aroma of craft beer. Often overshadowed by other ingredients, the choice and treatment of yeast can drastically shape a beer’s character. Yeast is a delicate creature. Meticulous handling, propagation, and management of this miraculous microorganism significantly impacts a brewery’s operational costs and beer quality.
(more...)
Sponsored Tri-Clamp Sizing Made Easy: A Comprehensive Guide
Choosing the right tri-clamp size ensures a secure and leak-free connection in your brewery. Tri-clamps, also known as tri-clover clamps, are essential components in brewing and other sanitary applications. They connect various pieces of equipment, such as pipes, valves, and tanks, while maintaining a sanitary and tight seal. However, figuring out the correct tri-clamp size can be a bit perplexing, especially for those new to the brewing industry. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the world of tri-clamps, their history, terminology, and the essential tips you need to know to select the right size and ensure a proper connection.
(more...)
Expert Topic Understanding Online Brewery Auctions
The emails seem to come a bit more frequently these days. Previously used brewery equipment going on the auction block. Get your bids ready. Own a piece of a brewery’s history and make it part of your future. Business auctions are nothing new, of course, but the last few years of trouble for the brewing industry couple with the sheer volume of brewers has meant that more stainless steel equipment than ever before is coming to the marketplace.
(more...)
Expert Topic Questioning the Pros and Cons of New vs. Used Equipment
Take a scroll through social media these days, or browse the forums on this site, or simply open your email and you’re likely to come across previously used brewing equipment for sale or that is going up for auction. For the breweries where expansion or adding extra capacity is in the cards, there is a lot of choice and a lot to consider. What are some of the things you should consider when making the decision on purchasing something new versus previously owned? Here are some questions that can help you make the decision.
(more...)
Expert Topic Considering Automation In Your Brewhouse
Brewing is often a physical job, one involving interactions with hot elements, slick surfaces, and heavy machinery. Craft brewers have long touted the “hand-crafted” nature of their lower volume operations, suggesting it somehow improves the flavor or character of the beer. When it comes to most brewery operations, however, the intense manual labor involved in moving liquid around a brewery just stresses the bodies of workers rather than improves a beer’s body or nose.
(more...)
Expert Topic Assessing Lab Needs, What You Need, What To Wish For
Starting a brewery is an exciting, nerve-wracking, whirlwind experience for many, with much of the focus on finding the perfect location, keeping costs down during buildout, and crafting recipes and brand identities. Breweries also need to keep an eye on beer quality as the competitive beer marketplace won’t support off-flavors and aromas for long. That means focusing efforts on critical but less visible operations, such as testing your brewery’s beer.
(more...)
News Six Craft Brewery Equipment Suppliers Merge into Lotus Beverage Alliance
Six U.S. craft beverage equipment suppliers have merged in a $100 million deal to create Lotus Beverage Alliance. The six merged companies are Alpha Brewing Operations, GW Kent, Twin Monkeys, Stout Tanks and Kettles, Brewmation and Automated Extractions.
(more...)
Expert Topic Beyond the Basics in Brewery Sanitation
By now, anyone even remotely associated with the brewing industry should know that sanitation is the key to success. Not only does it show a commitment to quality but it also keeps customers safe. There are tried and true standard operating procedures that good breweries follow to keep unwanted germs and microbes at bay, but what does the future of sanitation look like?
(more...)
Expert Topic Putting Sanitation First in the Brewery
Once, a few years ago, a friend was sharing a experience after visiting New Glarus Brewing Company. The brewery was so clean, they said, that you could drop a fried egg on the floor and pick it up a few minutes later and eat it without worry. The surfaces were so clean that no grit would touch the egg.
(more...)
Expert Topic Making a Brewery Pasteurization Decision
Pasteurization has been in the brewing space since it was invented more than 150 years or so, but it is only in the last several years that small brewers have begun to embrace the technology. This is for a variety of reasons including consumer popular recipes that benefit from the process as well as increased availability and scalability on the marketplace.
(more...)
Expert Topic Deciding on New vs. Pre-owned Equipment
Running a brewery, even without designs on growing the overall footprint, output, or distribution, means having the right equipment in place and working properly. Over time the need will come to add or replace the everyday equipment that keeps a brewery running properly.
(more...)
Expert Topic Hoses in the Brewery – Finding the Right Type and Proper Maintenance
There is perhaps no more utilitarian object in a brewery than the lowly hose. Used to transfer beer from place to place, where gleaming stainless steel piping does not go, or clean systems, brewery hoses rarely get much love or thought. Yet the role they play is crucial and it’s important to give some thought before investing in them and how to maintain them.
(more...)
Expert Topic Setting Up a QC Lab with Neva Parker of White Labs
My favorite part of any brewery tour is seeing the lab. It’s not that I’m a science nerd or even particularly conversant in what goes on in these scientific sanctuaries. A lab is a sign that a brewery takes quality serious enough to invest resources in pursuit of it.
(more...)
Expert Topic Adding a Pilot Brewery
When walking through a brewery, attention is often paid to the workhorse brewhouse, the large-barrel mash tun doing a yeoman’s lift and the large fermenters where the magic is happening. More and more these days there are little brew kits tucked in a corner or off to the side that are not as flashy, but are doing the heavy research and development lift, resulting in beers that could one day get a full commercial release. The pilot brewery.
(more...)