Maintenance and Safety Tips for Breweries

Brewing is an art, but also a science. Brewing beer requires specialized raw materials, strict temperatures, well-maintained machinery, corrosive chemicals, and the highest safety. The brewery is filled with professional brewing equipment and systems, including malt mills, brewhouses, fermentation tanks, and bright tanks. For craft breweries to succeed, they need professional staff to maintain and safely operate brewery equipment.

• Keep The Inside Of The Tank Clean

Cleaning with the right chemicals at the right frequency is necessary to ensure the efficient operation of brewery equipment. Establishing a periodic cleaning plan helps to save wine time, cost, and labor. With the continuous growth of the craft beer business, many breweries producing craft beer began to brew around the clock. The brewing process is always going on, it will scale in the brewery equipment, and the thermal conductivity is easily lost, which will have a great impact on the final product (beer). So, you need to clean the inside of the tank before the problem arises.

You need to use a nitric acid-based cleaner to clean the inside of the tank so that it can remove the scale and allow the caustic alkali to work more effectively. The use of oxidants during the alkali cycle helps to remove stubborn deposits on stainless steel. Also, be sure to use hot water to flush the caustic alkali and ensure that all related pipes can be thoroughly flushed. You also need to check the drain, pump, and steam jacket every two weeks, which can help spot problems before major errors occur. If you need to perform manual cleaning, be sure to use softer metals for scrubbing. Harder metals will scratch the stainless steel and cause irreversible damage to the chromium oxide protective layer of the stainless steel.

• Choose The Right Heating Source

There are many factors to consider when choosing a heating source for your brewhouse and hot liquor tank. The size of your equipment, available space, heating time, and brewing process will all affect the choice of heating source. Of course, the cost is also a factor. There are mainly three methods to provide a heating source for brewhouse and hot liquor tank. The traditional method is to place a burner at the bottom of the wort for heating, also known as direct flame heating. Now, most breweries use steam boilers as heating sources, which are cheaper than the other two methods. The third heating method is to use electric heating, which is only suitable for heating the brewery equipment below 1000L. The larger the brewery equipment, the higher the power required for electric heating, and the higher the cost.

Which type of heating method you need depends on your requirements for craft beer, as well as your local heating costs. We hope to help you use the lowest cost to brew the best craft beer in a shorter time.

• Optimize Spare Parts Management

The spare parts management system is very easy to implement, it helps to provide a higher production efficiency and safety level for the brewery. To find a suitable balance in the spare parts inventory, you can use the ABC analysis method to classify the spare parts. Class A is a critical spare part. You need to maintain enough inventory in the brewery and replace it directly when you need to use it. Class B spare parts refer to spare parts of general importance. You should ensure that your brewing system supplier or service provider has stocks to ease delivery within a short time. Category C refers to non-critical spare parts, which can accept a delivery time of several weeks. We recommend that you inspect the brewery equipment every week to ease the timely detection of errors and timely changes. This classification allows you to optimize the operating costs and production efficiency of the brewery.

• Employee Safety

After the interview, you have selected the most suitable employees, and it is very important to explain safety knowledge to the employees. There is a lot of beer manufacturing equipment in the craft brewery, and each piece of equipment uses a fixed method of operation. You need to provide new employees with training on the operation of related equipment, and only after passing the training can they start to brew beer.

Also, craft breweries can be counted as food processing producers. They need to be clean and hygienic during the brewing process, and the clothing of their employees needs to be managed. For example, when and where you need to wear safety glasses, and precautions when using chemicals. This not only helps to improve the safety level of the brewery but also helps to keep the best talent. Studies have shown that when work-related accidents occur, 40% are employees who have worked in the company for less than a year.

• Selection Of Solenoid Valve

In the brewing field, solenoid valves are used to close, release, meter, and dispense liquid or gas. A solenoid valve is an electromechanically operated valve, controlled by the current through a solenoid (a long spiral wire with many loops and a relatively strong magnetic field). In craft breweries, solenoid valves are often used for proportional control-such as the glycol jacket on the tank. Before buying a solenoid valve, you need to know some specifications, such as port size, power supply current, and power consumption, and whether the valve is normally closed or normally open. It all depends on whether you want to be open for a long time or closed for a long time. On a normally closed solenoid valve, the valve opens when energized, and closes when power is off. On a normally open solenoid valve, the valve will close when energized, and open when the power is off. The solenoid valve needs to be selected according to factors such as temperature, working pressure, and cleanliness.

• Forklift And Pedestrian Safety

Brewery employees work around the moving forklift every day, and sometimes they have a false sense of comfort and security due to frequent contact. The development and implementation of a comprehensive workplace transportation safety plan can help control risks while preventing potential accidents. For example, clear signs and floor markings can be used in breweries to distinguish pedestrian and forklift traffic routes; reflective tapes and highly visible reflective vests can be used to provide visibility to the warehouse. Combining all this with the workplace transportation safety plan to train employees can effectively reduce the economic compensation caused by employee operating errors.

• Boiler Maintenance

Many brewers choose steam boilers as the heating source when purchasing brewery equipment. The steam boiler is a very powerful tool, but many people do not know how the steam boiler works. If you don’t know how to maintain the steam boiler, it may cause the equipment to malfunction or even be damaged. The easiest way to maintain a steam boiler is to repair steam and condensate leaks. In addition, try to use city water rich in oxygen and chlorine as condensate, which can prevent boiler rot.